Lin-Manuel Miranda wants In The Heights to start a wave of "bankable" Latinx movie stars

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It’s always a joy to chat with Lin-Manuel Miranda, who’s not only a wildly talented actor, producer, and creator, but also a total A.V. Club dork. He revealed as much when we sat down for the video above, telling us he keeps an A.V. Club tab open when he edits, and enjoyed watching our recent interview with his pal Andrew Garfield.

Enough about us, though. The reason we were talking to Miranda is the imminent release of the long-awaited, long-languishing cinematic adaptation of his first big Broadway hit, In The Heights. A sweaty, ecstatic love letter to New York’s Washington Heights, the movie was originally scheduled to hit theaters last year, but was delayed for all the obvious reasons. We talked to him about his reaction to the delay—spoiler alert: He wasn’t into it, but he came around—and about all pushback he’s had in the decade or so he’s actually been developing this project. Studios have backed down, citing “no bankable Latinx stars,” but he persevered, and now that the movie’s finally about to hit theaters, Miranda says the whole process has “meant everything.”

Perhaps he should celebrate with a piragua? His favorite flavor, as he tells us in the clip, is tamarind.

In The Heights will be in theaters and on HBO Max June 11.

 
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