'In The Heights' Director Has Disappointing Response To 'Whitewashing' Criticisms

After a yearlong delay due to the pandemic, In the Heights opened in theaters last week to near-universal praise from critics, many of whom hailed it as a cinematic celebration of Latinx culture.

The movie, based on the 2008 Broadway musical by Lin-Manuel Miranda, has nonetheless drawn a fair amount of online backlash for its glaring lack of Afro-Latinx representation. The cast features many light-skinned and white-passing actors, including Anthony Ramos and Leslie Grace and many see the film as a less-than-accurate depiction of New York Citys Washington Heights neighborhood, where it takes place. The films only Black principal character, Benny, is played by Corey Hawkins, a non-Latino actor.

Speaking to The Roots Felice Len in a video interview last week, director Jon M. Chu touched on accusations that the film had been whitewashed .

I think that was something we talked about and I needed to be educated about, of course, Chu said. In the end, when we were looking at the cast, we tried to get the people that were best for those roles.

I think thats a really good conversation to have, something that we should all be talking about, he added.

Catch the interview below:

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