Will In the Heights be breakthrough film for Latinos?
NEW YORK (AP)  Color. Dance. Music. Joy. An all Latino cast! The hype for In the Heights has brought great expectation for Latinos in the United States, a group thats been historically underrepresented and widely typecast in films. With upcoming titles like Cinderella with Cuban-American singer Camila Cabello, The Hitmans Wifes Bodyguard with Mexican star Salma Hayek and Steven Spielbergs revival of West Side Story, its just the beginning of a string of productions that place Latinos front and center. In the Heights, which opens Friday, is an adaptation of the Tony-award winning musical by Lin-Manuel Miranda and Quiara Alegra Hudes about the hopes and struggles of residents of New York Citys Washington Heights. Directed by Jon M. Chu (Crazy Rich Asians), many hope it will mark a new beginning on the big screen for the largest minority group in the country  one that mirrors shifts that have already happened for Black and Asian actors and creators. Are they gonna open the doors for a kind of explosion?, says Jimmy Smits, who is of Puerto Rican descent. I think the dynamics right now in terms of where we are culturally, just in terms of our population, and the potential economic power that we have, ... the universe aligned in a nice way. This image released by Warner Bros. Pictures shows director John Chu, left, and Lin-Manuel Miranda on the set of "In the Heights." (Macall Polay/Warner Bros. via AP)AP  You have this beautiful collage of people in the community, says Smits, the star of NYPD Blue and West Wing who plays Kevin Rosario, a single father and the owner a taxi cab service, in In the Heights. Its the immigrant experience thats been part of the fabric of this country since it started. And its positive. So we need that right now after the pandemic.  John Leguizamo agrees. I think that In the Heights is gonna be THE project that changes the whole thing finally, says the Colombian-American actor and playwright, who started his career on film and television but, like Miranda, found a place to tell his stories  and validation of this work  on and off Broadway. Leguizamo, who won a special Tony Award in 2018 for his commitment to bringing diverse stories and audiences to Broadway through his one-man shows including Freak, Ghetto Klown and Latin History for Morons, says hes been pitching stories to Hollywood for 30-plus years. I started to believe that maybe I dont know how to write, maybe I just dont know how to pitch, cause all my stories were rejected, he says. And then I started to realize, Oh my God, its because it was Latin content! They didnt know what to do with it. They werent rejecting my ability, there were rejecting my culture.  He found success on the stage because there arent any gatekeepers in theater, he says. I just needed to write something dope, get somebody to produce it and the audience was so hungry for it. They were dying to see themselves!  This image released by Warner Bros. Entertainment shows Jimmy Smits in a scene from "In the Heights." (Macall Polay/Warner Bros. Entertainment via AP)AP  Almost 60 million Hispanics lived in the United States as of 2018, the Census Bureau estimates. And many are devoted filmgoers: Latinos had consistently led the box office, reaching 29% of tickets sold, according to the latest Motion Picture Association report on theatergoers. Yet they only represent 4.5% of all speaking or named characters and a mere 3% of lead or co-lead actors, a 2019 study of 1,200 popular movies from 2007 to 2018 by the Annenberg Inclusion Initiative found. Awards recognition, too, has been elusive. This years Oscars featured a diverse slate of nominees, but no Latino performers. I think our absence at the Oscars was appalling, Leguizamo says. (But) the Oscars is the symptom; the disease is Hollywood. We need more Latin executives making decisions.  In 1951, Puerto Rican Jos Ferrer became the first Latino actor to receive an Academy Award for his leading role in Cyrano de Bergerac. The same decade, Mexican-born Anthony Quinn got two for best supporting actor, for Viva Zapata! (1953) and Lust for Life (1957). Puerto Rican Rita Moreno became the first Latina to get the best supporting actress award in 1962 as Anita in West Side Story.  Since then, only one more Latino has been recognized in the supporting actor category: Puerto Rican Benicio del Toro for 2000s Traffic. Spaniards Javier Bardem and Penlope Cruz got supporting roles awards in 2008 and 2009, for No Country for Old Men and Vicky Cristina Barcelona, respectively. Kenyan actor Lupita Nyongo, who was born in Mexico, won the same prize in 2014 for 12 Years a Slave.  No Latina has won best actress at the Oscars, and few have even been considered. Hayek was nominated for the English-language movie Frida, but other contenders competed for performances in foreign language films: Fernanda Montenegro for Brazils Central Station, Catalina Sandino Moreno for Colombias Maria Full of Grace and Yalitza Aparicio for Mexicos Roma.  Moreno, an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony winner whose career spans seven decades, says she has seen huge progress for women and other minorities in Hollywood. What still concerns me mightily and profoundly is that Hispanics havent gotten their hold on our profession, she says in an interview ahead of the release of the documentary Rita Moreno: Just a Girl Who Decided to Go for It. I dont know what the hell is wrong. I dont know what is not working right. The Black community has done incredibly, and I have nothing but the deepest admiration for the Black professional community. Theyve done it. And I think we can take some lessons from them. Why are we not advancing?  Moreno noted that Hispanic identity is often rooted to specific countries. Its very complicated. People forget that were not just Hispanic, she says. Maybe the answer, or the beginning of the answer, lies in some kind of summit.  At 89, and despite all the titles coming this year, she doesnt expect to see this happen in her lifetime: My age forbids it. But I sure as hell hope something happens. I cant believe were still struggling the way we are.  Behind the camera, many Latin American artists have been recognized at the Oscars in different areas, most recently and prominently The Three Amigos  Alfonso Cuarn, Alejandro Gonzlez Irritu and Guillermo del Toro, all Academy Award winning directors from Mexico. This image released by Warner Bros. Pictures shows Olga Merediz in a scene from "In the Heights." (Warner Bros. via AP)AP  Leguizamo, who has been very vocal about the lack of representation in Hollywood, includes them when it comes to representation and achievements: They are from our culture and they are like us. I just wish it was easier to make it in America as a Latin artist.  However, he says hes seen an important change during the COVID-19 pandemic and with the rise of the Black Lives Matter movement. The studios woke up, says Leguizamo, who is now in talks to direct a few projects, including one hes written. I think everybody is making moves to change into being inclusive. I see it from small producers, directors in their offices, in their casting. I see it at Viacom. I see it at Univision. I see it at Netflix. I see it everywhere!  Audiences will too, starting this summer with releases like Everardo Gouts The Forever Purge with Ana de la Reguera (both Mexican); M. Night Shyamalans OLD, with Mexican actor Gael Garca Bernal and Steven Soderberghs No Sudden Move with Benicio del Toro. Spielbergs West Side Story, set for December 10, includes a Latino cast this time around. Many Puerto Ricans in the original were white actors in brown makeup and, although widely successful, the 1961 movie was also criticized for portraying Latinos in a stereotypical way. Beyond that, studios are working on a The Father of the Bride remake with music star Gloria Estefan alongside Andy Garcia (both Cuban-American.) Encanto, the first Walt Disney Animation Studios movie co-directed by a Latino woman, Charise Castro Smith, about a young Colombian girl whos frustrated shes the only member of her family without magical powers, is also premiering this year. Its terrifying sometimes, says Castro Smith, who is of Cuban descent, but is also one of the reasons I decided to do this, because it means the world to me for little brown kids everywhere to get to see themselves and to see themselves represented in a positive way and feel seen.  Anthony Ramos, who leads the cast of In the Heights as Usnavi, the character originally played by Miranda on the stage, says that now is an incredible, beautiful moment where we can capitalize on Hollywood being receptive to what is naturally happening in the streets.  Spike Lee and Black Panther helped pave the way for Miranda writing himself into history, Ramos says. Nobody was going to write this part for him.  As for Miranda, who became a superstar with the Broadway hit Hamilton and since then has been working also on TV and film, says the way time has caught up to In the Heights, I think, is we have learned as people of color to build a coalition around ourselves and advocate for ourselves.  Were part of a larger series of voices, Miranda says. I remember how important it was for me to go support Black Panther opening weekend, to go and support Crazy Rich Asians opening weekend, to vote with my wallet, to go and support Minari opening weekend. If you want newer and richer stories beyond the ones youve heard, you vote with your wallet on that stuff.