American Cinematographer - August 2021 - 16

A Musical
Block Party
In the Heights, shot by
Alice Brooks, celebrates a
New York neighborhood's
vibrant culture.
By Samantha Dillard
C
inematographer Alice Brooks' collaboration on In the
Heights with director Jon M. Chu and choreographer Christopher
Scott was a creative pinnacle the trio had unknowingly
been climbing toward for their entire careers. The
project itself, a feature adaptation of the Tony Award-winning
stage musical by Lin-Manuel Miranda and Quiara
Alegría Hudes, had also been two decades in the making;
Miranda completed his first draft of the piece in 1999, while he was still a student
at Wesleyan University.
The story's plot centers on a part of New York City that is rarely explored
or celebrated in the media: Washington Heights, a predominantly Dominican
and Latinx neighborhood in the uppermost part of Manhattan. It's a section
of the city that's " made of music, " according to the movie's protagonist, Usnavi
(Anthony Ramos), and Miranda himself, who explains to AC that the area has
that reputation " because it's loud! That's literally the inspiration for the musical
- my neighborhood has more music in it than everybody else's. "
Chu was attached to the project in 2016, prior to the success of his feature
Crazy Rich Asians, and he asked Brooks to join him on the feature while
the two were working together shooting the pilot of the Apple TV Plus series
Home Before Dark (AC July '20). Brooks was the right cinematographer for the
job, he says, because In the Heights was the culmination of two decades of
" our friendship and our creative collaboration together. " They had previously
worked together on the musical drama Jem and the Holograms (AC Nov. '15),
but had known each other since they were undergrads at the USC School of
Cinematic Arts. " Alice was like a legend at USC film school, " Chu says. While
still a junior, Brooks had written a script for one of the four thesis films selected
to be made, and also served as the project's cinematographer. " Everyone
was like, 'Who is this person?' " Chu recalls. " I said to myself, 'I need to
work with her.' But she was way cooler than me; I was the nerdy guy who
16 / AUGUST 2021
IN THE HEIGHTS PHOTOS BY MACALL POLAY, COURTESY OF WARNER BROS. PICTURES.

American Cinematographer - August 2021

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of American Cinematographer - August 2021

Contents
American Cinematographer - August 2021 - Intro
American Cinematographer - August 2021 - Cover1
American Cinematographer - August 2021 - Cover2
American Cinematographer - August 2021 - 1
American Cinematographer - August 2021 - Contents
American Cinematographer - August 2021 - 3
American Cinematographer - August 2021 - 4
American Cinematographer - August 2021 - 5
American Cinematographer - August 2021 - 6
American Cinematographer - August 2021 - 7
American Cinematographer - August 2021 - 8
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American Cinematographer - August 2021 - 17
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American Cinematographer - August 2021 - 20
American Cinematographer - August 2021 - 21
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American Cinematographer - August 2021 - Cover3
American Cinematographer - August 2021 - Cover4
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