- Melissa Barrera recently spoke out about her experience with the topic. “In the Heights.”
- The actress spoke out about the film’s reception. “It just felt very personal.”
- The film’s highly anticipated musical was criticized for not featuring Afro-Latinx actors as the main characters.
Melissa Barrera believed that it was “so unfair”How her breakout film was made “In the Heights,”praised by critics, and was a hit at the box office.
Barrera, who played the role of Vanessa, in the musical adaptation, said Interview with The Hollywood ReporterThat was how she felt. “shitty”After learning about the reception “In the Heights” received.
“All the headlines that started coming out after we premiered were so brutal and horrible, and they felt very personal to me,”She said this while promoting her new film “Scream.”
“It just felt like the industry was blaming us for not doing well and was blaming the fact that we were all Latinos and was blaming the fact that it was a musical that not a lot of people knew,”She went on. “So it just felt very personal, and I remember feeling very shitty afterwards.”
“In the Heights,”The film was set in New York City’s Washington Heights neighborhood. It was adapted from Lin-Manuel Miranda.”Hamilton”) and Quiara Alegría Hudes Broadway musical of the same name. It is the story about the Latin-American community living in the area, as led by Usnavi (played here by Anthony Ramos).
Insider’s Debanjali Bose reported that the movie was released on June 20, 2021.
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It immediately faced criticism for the lack of Afro-Latinx actors playing main roles.
“In The Heights” director Jon M. Chu (“Crazy Rich Asians”() claimed they tried to cast “the people who were best for those roles” As a response to your criticism. Rita Moreno, who produced the music, is now in interim. “In The Heights,”She initially supported the casting of white-passing Latinx actors as the main characters. But, she eventually admitted that she was wrong. “disappointed”For defending colorism, she was with her mother.
Despite the fact that the film was not a commercial success, it was made after major films featuring diverse casts such as “Crazy Rich Asians,” “Black Panther,” “One Night in Miami.”
“It’s such a weird time that we’re living in, and what happened with ‘In the Heights’ wasn’t our fault,” Barrera told THR. “I’ve just learned to not have any expectations. All I can control is my experience while making a film and feeling proud of the work that I’ve done.”
“Scream,”This film also stars Barrera and is now in theaters.