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Acknowledging criticism that the film’s adaptation of its musical “In the Heights” failed to portray the darker-skinned Afro-Latino population of Washington Heights, the upper Manhattan neighborhood where it was set, Lin-Manuel Miranda apologized for the failure to “attempt to paint a mosaic of this community.” “
The film, adapted from the Tony Award-winning Broadway musical about a Bodega owner dreaming of returning to the Dominican Republic, was shown in cinemas and on HBO Max last week, and garnered positive reviews and high-profile celebrations.
But the film also sparked criticism online for the film’s makers’ choice to cast light-skinned Latinos in the lead roles, despite the prevalence of dark-skinned Latinos in the neighborhood where the film was shot.
Miranda, who was a member of the film’s creative team, said in his statement that he was listening to comments online, including expressions of pain and frustration over the coloring and a “feeling that you are still invisible” in the film.
“I started writing ‘In the Heights’ because I didn’t feel visible,” Miranda wrote in a statement posted to Twitter Monday night. “And for the past 20 years, all I wanted was for us – all of us – to feel visible.”
He continued, “I hear that without adequate Afro-Latino representation, the work seems extracted from the community we wanted to represent with pride and joy.”
“I can hear the hurt and frustration with the coloring, and the feeling that I’m still invisible in the reactions,” he said in the statement.
The film, a decade-long project with a budget of $55 million, starred Anthony Ramos as Bodega’s owner, Melissa Barrera as aspiring fashion designer and Leslie Grace as Nina, a struggling Stanford student.
In a recent interview, the film’s writer, Quiara Alegría Hudes, spoke about the decision to make Nina an Afro-Latin character in the film’s version. “I wanted to consciously make Nina Afro Latina in this version of ‘In the Heights’.” “Since we opened the show on Broadway, there’s been this national conversation about micro-assaults and really interesting things that I feel would be applicable to Nina’s setting.”
Corey Hawkins, who plays Nina’s love and a taxi service employee for her father, is black but not Hispanic (some have also criticized the filmmakers for removing a plot point that was in the musical, where Hawkins’ character says Nina’s father doesn’t. I don’t think it’s good enough for her).
Phyllis Lyon, video producer with The Root, addressed this issue in a recent interview with the film’s director, John M. Choo, and some of the film’s lead cast, saying, “As a black woman of Cuban descent, specifically from New York City, I would be remiss if I didn’t acknowledge the fact that Most of the main actors were fair-skinned or white-skinned bystanders.”
Lyon admitted that there were a number of black background dancers and black women in the scenes at the hair salon, a sort of social hub for neighborhood women, but there was a lack of black roles.
“We want to see Afro-Panamanians, black Cubans, black Dominicans,” she said. “That’s what we want to see, and that’s what we’ve been longing for.”
It was a topic that the filmmakers discussed but “in the end, when we were looking at the actors, we tried to get the best people for these roles,” Cho said.
In the interview, Grace, who is of Afro-Latina descent, replied, “I wish I could see my brothers and sisters darker than me lead these films.”
The “In the Heights” debate is unfolding at a time when a lack of Latino representation in Hollywood has drawn increased scrutiny, leading to calls for change.
A study by the Writers Guild of Western America last year found that while Hispanics make up 18.3 percent of the population, only 4.7 percent are feature film writers and 8.7 percent are television writers. The USC’s Annenberg Inclusion Initiative called this lack of Latinos behind and in front of the camera an “erasing” in a 2019 study.
Some have jumped to Miranda’s defense, noting that he has long featured diverse actors on Broadway and Hollywood, and that In the Heights celebrates Latino communities in a way rarely seen in film and television.
Miranda’s statement reflected the tension in trying to celebrate the film – with its star-studded premiere at the opening of the 20th Tribeca Film Festival – while addressing the criticism it faced.
He wrote, “I try to reserve space for both incredible pride in the film we made, and being accountable for our flaws.”
Michael Paulson contributed reporting.
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