Pop the champagne:In the Heightsis finally in theaters and on HBO Max.
Exasperated at their timing, Vanessa’s true feelings about Usnavi’s imminent departure bubble over.
(“How do you get this gold s— off?")
Anthony Ramos and Melissa Barrera in ‘In the Heights.'.Warner Bros.
“That’s a special one,” says Ramos of the romantic duet.
“But f—, it wasn’t easy.
I can tell you that.”
Even before they got to filming the number, Barrera was a little on edge.
“We weren’t even supposed to do ‘Champagne’ that day,” she says.
“We were supposed to shoot something else, and it was raining.
He was like, ‘We’ve got to make it work.'”
And make it work they did, but not without jumping through some hoops first.
“We did it 17 times.
They knew they had to get it all right for me to use it in the movie.”
“It was figuring out the choreography with the camera and the timing of everything,” says Barrera.
“It was just cool to be present and connect.
[Usnavi and Vanessa] complement each other so well.
“They’re one.”
“He would yell cut, come out, and he’d be crying,” remembers Barrera.
“That was a feat that we were so proud of,” says Chu.
Agrees Ramos, “Everybody was just in sync with one another.
Everybody was just so f—ing locked in.
It was a team effort, man.
Everybody’s heart was open.
As the bubbles simmer in the unopened bottle, the scene grows towards its lip-locking climax.
Yet another moment that when being filmed as part of a continuous take can present some challenges.
Admits Barrera, “Yeah…I didn’t get it right every take.”
“But I kept the cork.”
