The opening scene of In the Heights took six months to edit. The film is based on the Broadway musical by the same name created by Lin-Manuel Miranda (Hamilton). The story follows Usnavi (Anthony Ramos), who runs a bodega in the Washington Heights area of New York. He works hard to save enough money to pursue his dreams. The film is set from the perspective of various residents, as they all do what they can to achieve their life goals.
The opening sequence song sets up the story by introducing the main characters and explaining Usnavi’s goals and how he intends to reach them. The complex scene clocks in over seven minutes long and is filled with complicated choreography and camera moves. In the Heights went on to receive generally rave reviews from critics. However, it received some backlash for including a cast that erases the presence of Black Latinos that are actual residents of Washington Heights.
Editor Myron Kerstein spoke with Variety, explaining the process of working with the film’s director, Jon M. Chu. In particular, he broke down what it was like editing the opening number. Kerstein said that it wasn’t shot consecutively but took the length of the entire production to put that one scene together. Read below to see how the process unfolded:
Jon had shown me some storyboards cut together with rehearsal footage. I started crying and he said, ‘Remember that feeling.’ All of my choices for every musical number, every scene was just trying to capture that feeling.
The opening was about whether we were going to use jump cuts or words on the screen, or stop a scene on a manhole cover, and then spin it back up with a record scratch. We could stop a scene to show Usnavi (Anthony Ramos) and Vanessa (Melissa Barrera) flirt. We wanted to plant our flag to say that this wasn’t going to be a regular Broadway show.
With the beach, we were showing that Usnavi was going to narrate this film from there and he could talk to us directly or sing and break that fourth wall.
From Vanessa’s boot to a door slam or the coffee maker or aerial footage, all these things we were showing the audience how we were going to tell our story. I tried not to overcut the choreography and definitely did not treat it like a music video.
I was working on that for six months. It was shot over the course of the shoot. We had to shoot the salon ladies for exteriors and interiors. For example, the inside of the salon was on a set in Brooklyn so that was shot on one day, and due to scheduling, the interior was done another time.
The beach was shot in Long Island to stand in for the Dominican Republic.
It was a long process of figuring out the pieces. The manhole cover was not supposed to turn into a record scratch, but that was invented in the edit.
Another scene, with the iPad showing the map, took a long time because we had to figure out our interface.
The starting and stopping of the music was something Jon wanted to do, it’s not in the musical. He wanted to be tricky with the audience and tease them that it wasn’t going to be all the way through.
The small detail even with me cutting to the birds on the lamp was something shot by the second unit, that was added in much later. Alice Brooks wanted her second unit to capture all things about Washington Heights, and that little piece came in over the course of the shoot. So, I thought, ‘Okay, let’s build a montage of the city and we’re going to put that in here.’
Kerstein previously worked with Chu on Crazy Rich Asians, so it’s clear that there was a lot of trust involved. Previously, he’s worked as an editor on HBO’s Girls, House of Lies, among other recognizable titles. Given the amount of work that went into In the Heights, it’s no surprise that the film has already been receiving Oscar buzz across several categories, including editing. However, the music, cinematography, and production design are a few of the other categories that will likely get attention come awards season.
From the opening scene of In the Heights, it’s striking how joyous and vibrant the film is. Six months is a long time to put together the opening number, although it does a phenomenal job setting up the tone for the rest of the movie. It also sets a standard for other film adaptations of musicals moving forward. It’s a shame that the movie didn’t do too well at the box office, as this one is best experienced on the big screen accompanied by a loud surround sound system.
