In The Heights: Lin-Manuel Miranda’s latest film highlights the struggles and joys of the Latino community
“In the Heights, it gets more expensive every day.”
That’s the message from the fictional residents of the real community of Washington Heights in New York – the focus of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s latest release.
Already synonymous with the record-breaking Hamilton (which is about to hit Broadway and West End stages again), Miranda’s first musical, the Tony-winning In The Heights, highlights the struggles – and joys – of living in this mostly Latino community in the Big Apple.
Lin-Manuel Miranda is the brains behind In The Heights. Pic: Warner Bros Studios
It first ran on Broadway in 2008 – but now 13 years on, the unique issues that community faces remain the same – a reflection on society in the real world.
In just two hours and 20 minutes, we hear about undocumented immigrants, ICE (Immigration Compliance and Enforcement) raids, racism, gentrification and poverty in this diverse neighbourhood – as well as the joy and excitement of a community that is talked about so little in mainstream cinema.
And it wouldn’t be a Lin-Manuel Miranda musical without his rap numbers, comic relief, big dance breaks and catchy pop tunes.
“It’s never a bad time to remind people of our humanity,” Miranda, who grew up in the real Washington Heights, told Sky News, when asked why now was a good time to bring this musical to the big screen.
He added: “It’s always going to be relevant.
“There’s such a meagre representation of Latinos in a positive light in mainstream media that it’s always going to feel like now is the perfect time because it’s always overdue.
“We filmed this in the summer of 2019 and the poignancy and power of seeing people in community together, like singing and hugging each other and kissing, dancing in the streets is the power of what we can do together, I think really radiates off the screen, and as the kids say, ‘it hits different’ now than it may have at an earlier time.”
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Miranda is one of the most in-demand people in showbiz – hot off the heels of his record and ground-breaking musical Hamilton, he has penned songs, acted in movies and voice characters for a number of projects.
And it doesn’t stop there – he is making his directorial debut soon with Netflix’s Tick, Tick… Boom and he’s on board for the live-action remake for The Little Mermaid.
In The Heights, which has a cast entirely made up of Latino performers and was co-written with Quiara Alegría Hudes, is centred around Usnavi (named after the time his father spotted a US Navy ship sailing by their home country of the Dominican Republic), who dreams of ditching his bodega (or corner shop to us Britons) and flying back to the Caribbean.
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Anthony Ramos on his role as Usnavi
He’s played by Anthony Ramos, who UK fans might know, again, from Hamilton, where he played John Laurens and Philip Hamilton.
“Usnavi is a guy that… cares about his community,” he told Sky News.
“He takes care of his cousin, he takes care of, she’s not really his grandmother, but the matriarch of the block, if you will, and of the community.
“Both his parents passed away, he inherited a business that he didn’t ask for, but he does it with as much grace as possible.”
He adds that the character is relatable to everyone, saying: “Who hasn’t gone through that? Where you have days with some good, some not so good. It’s just it’s just a story about community and people in love, and family and music and culture.”
Ramos describes his character as the “invisible thread” that runs through the film as we meet the residents of Washington Heights trying to get through their lives – whether it’s the gossip girls from the salon, his cousin Sonny dealing with his immigration status or Abuela Claudia, who just wants to look after the block.
Sonny, Usnavi’s cousin and assistant in his bodega, is an undocumented citizen – a story that has grown in prominence over the last decade or so in the US due to fierce debates around border crossings – with an estimated 10 million people living in the country without the paperwork.
However, Gregory Diaz III, who plays Sonny, told Sky News that despite the problems sprouting from his character’s immigration status, he wanted to portray the good in his life.
He said: “Not wanting (his immigration status) to be something that defines him or something that holds him down – it’s something that both Sonny and I together want to elevate and really push forward those positive messages.”
And he gets his chance on screen, delivering a powerful rap during musical number 96,000, saying that if he won the lottery, he’d invest in education and technology, adding: “Politicians be hatin’, racism in this nation’s gone from latent to blatant, I’ll cash my ticket and picket, invest in protest, never lose my focus ’til the city takes notice.”
Abuela Claudia (Olga Merediz) and Sonny (Gregory Diaz III) share differing stories of immigration in the film. Pic: Warner Bros Studios
Elsewhere in the film, characters Vanessa and Nina also reflect on their experiences of living in Washington Heights – with both having to deal with racism at some point in the film.
Nina is the first of her family, and everyone she knows, to go to university (at Stanford none the less) with her family sacrificing the business to help her – but she drops out amid fears she is racially profiled by those around her, sharing a story about how she was wrongfully accused of stealing from her roommate on her first day.
Her father, Kevin, who is played by West Wing and Star Wars actor Jimmy Smits, secretly sells his cab company to a wealthy developer (who is slowly taking over the whole block, pricing out the local community) to get her back in – but it is Sonny’s story that gives her the drive to go back to California.
Vanessa dreams of being a fashion designer and has saved a deposit (in cash) for an apartment in Downtown Manhattan where she can work from – however when she goes to hand over the money, she’s told her credit isn’t good enough, despite having cash and rent upfront, before a seemingly middle-class white couple is welcomed into the property instead.
Vanessa (Melissa Barrera) faces a struggle to achieve her dream of being a fashion designer. Pic: Warner Bros Studios
Melissa Barrera, a Mexican music and TV star, who plays Vanessa, told Sky News: “I think it’s a reflection of how a lot of things have not changed in a really long time and how certain communities continue to feel ostracised, especially in countries where they’re minorities.
“I think it’s about time to see their stories told in a positive light and to honour and acknowledge the contributions that communities like these have.”
Leslie Grace, who plays Nina, added: “I think it does reflect that on lots of things we still have a lot of work to do… but it also is aspirational in the sense that we can do it.”
The salon girls offer some comic relief in the film. Pic: Warner Bros Studios
Completing the ensemble we have:
• The salon girls, who share gossip about the Heights in their beauty parlour (Brooklyn 99 fans will spot Stephanie Beatriz ditching the no-nonsense, gruff-voiced attitude of cop Rosa, for the excitable and bouncy hairdresser Carla).
• Benny, played by Walking Dead actor Corey Hawkins, the film’s only black character who works for Nina’s dad and is Usnavi’s best friend, dreams of going to business school. He is worried about the Heights becoming too expensive for the long-standing community there.
• Abuela Claudia, the community matriarch played by Olga Merediz, who performs an emotional number on how her family came from Cuba, lived in relative poverty and didn’t stop working until her parents passed away.
Merediz, who also originated the role of Abuela Claudia on Broadway in 2008, told Sky News: “I want everybody to see us and to see that we are just like everyone else.
“We have dreams like everyone else. We are focused on family, and that we have our nannies or our grandmothers, the rocks of the of the family, the community, that we are hardworking, that we’re joyous, that we’re passionate.“
The person bringing this unique film together is director Jon M Chu, who is perhaps best known as the man behind Crazy Rich Asians.
He told Sky News that the movie shows how people deal with the issues presented to them, saying that “the world is changing and we cannot fight it”.
Chu added: “I’m not from Washington Heights and I’m not Latino, and yet it spoke to me so personally about what it feels like to be raised by your family – not by just your parents or by your aunts and your uncles – by your grandparents and the expectations they put on you and how that can be hard to deal with and finding your own path.”
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Jon M Chu: We use films to cope
But amid the political and emotional messaging, and the struggles in the community – the film is bursting full of singing, rapping and dancing.
At its heart, it is a movie musical with big ensemble numbers (96,000, shot at a swimming pool, is already a fan favourite, as is the colourful block-carnival scene), exciting dance breaks and impressive visuals – something which is sure to make it one of the summer’s biggest films.
Miranda sums it up, telling Sky News: “There’s a really specific kind of weightless goose-bumps feeling that only musicals give me. I remember feeling it for the first time in the movies when I saw the Under The Sea number in The Little Mermaid… just feeling like, ‘oh my God, this is a musical number under water!’
“I’ll never forget the feeling of being a little lighter than air walking out of that theatre – I hope people leave our movie with that same feeling.”
In The Heights is out in cinemas across the UK on 18 June, and tickets for Hamilton in the West End are on sale now.
Entertainment
British authors ‘absolutely sick’ to discover books on ‘shadow library’ allegedly used by Meta to train AI
British authors have told Sky News they felt “absolutely sick” to see their book titles appear in a “shadow library” allegedly used by tech giant Meta to help develop artificial intelligence software.
“It’s my whole life,” said one best-selling novelist. “The thought somebody in Silicon Valley or wherever is taking that work to produce identikit fake AI versions… it’s so upsetting.”
The tool to search the LibGen database was published by The Atlantic last week after court documents filed as part of a lawsuit by US comedian Sarah Silverman and other authors against Meta, which owns Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp and has a current market value of more than £1trn, were made public earlier this year.
Meta is accused of breaching copyright laws by using LibGen – a prominent so-called “shadow library”, operated anonymously, that allegedly contains millions of pirated copies of books, journal articles and other materials – to develop its AI software. Meta has denied the claim and argues the case should be thrown out.
In a legal document filed earlier this week, the tech company said it did not violate copyright law by downloading books from some parts of LibGen to train its flagship AI system Llama 3, saying it made “fair use” of the material, and that Llama 3 does not “replicate” authors’ works.
In earlier court documents, lawyers for Silverman and the other authors alleged internal communications showed Meta chief executive Mark Zuckerberg “approved” use of the LibGen dataset despite concerns from some workers.
Author Rowan Coleman has written dozens of novels. Pic: Carolyn Mendelsohn
The Society of Authors (SoA) trade union has described Meta’s alleged behaviour as “appalling” and says the company “needs to compensate the rightsholders of all the works it has been exploiting”.
“It’s every single book I have ever written,” says novelist Rowan Coleman, who has had about 40 books published since her first in 2002, including the Sunday Times bestseller The Memory Book in 2014, and The Bronte Mysteries series under a pen name.
“I felt absolutely sick… I have no way of knowing how much revenue that has cost me. Like most writers, I struggle to pay the bills. I have three jobs, I have children to support and a mortgage to pay. And there are tech billionaires who are profiting from my work and the work of countless other authors as well. How can that be right?”
Meta, Coleman says, allegedly decided to obtain “what they needed cheaply and quickly”.
But financial compensation aside, she says there is a bigger issue. “It’s a threat to this profession even being able to continue to exist. We are, I think, at genuine risk of not having any books for people to actually pirate – at least not any written by humans.”
Owen Cooper and Stephen Graham in Adolescence. Pic: Netflix
Coleman highlights the recent Netflix drama Adolescence, co-written by and starring Stephen Graham, which has been discussed everywhere from US talk shows to UK parliament. “We wouldn’t have that if it wasn’t for writers sitting down and working and grafting for hours.
While JK Rowling, Stephen King and James Patterson may be worth millions, a survey in 2022 found that authors in the UK earned an average median income of about £7,000.
Hannah Doyle, a romcom novelist who is about to publish her fifth novel, The Spa Break, in May, says two of her previous works appear in the LibGen search.
Like Coleman, she has other jobs to supplement her author earnings. Each book takes about a year to complete, she says.
‘It’s David and Goliath’
Author Hannah Doyle is about to publish her fifth novel
“We’re kind of the little people, it’s like David and Goliath,” she says. “How do we stand up for our rights when we’re facing these tech giants worth trillions of pounds?
“This isn’t right, because it’s theft, ultimately. They’re [allegedly] stealing our work and they’re using it to better their AI systems. What’s going to happen to our careers as a result of that?”
Doyle says the situation might be different had authors been approached and offered remuneration.
“I think AI has so many benefits in certain fields,” she says. “For medical research, for example, it’s got the potential to be incredibly useful. What needs to happen is we really need to give it some boundaries before it totally takes over.”
Award-winning writer Damian Barr, whose books also appear to be featured in the database, shared a post on Instagram, writing: “Readers and viewers – because so much TV and film and theatre starts with a book – are being subjected to BILGE generated by machines… creatively and culturally and financially, AI is robbing us all.”
Richard Osman. Pic: Carsten Koall/picture-alliance/dpa/AP Images
TV presenter and author Richard Osman, who has had huge success with his Thursday Murder Club series, wrote on X: “Copyright law is not complicated at all. If you want to use an author’s work you need to ask for permission. If you use it without permission you’re breaking the law. It’s so simple. It’ll be incredibly difficult for us, and for other affected industries, to take on Meta, but we’ll have a good go!”
In his article, Atlantic writer Alex Reisner, who created the LibGen search tool, gave the caveats that it is “impossible” to know exactly which parts of LibGen Meta has used and which parts it hasn’t, and the database is “constantly growing”.
His snapshot was created in January 2025, he says, more than a year after the lawsuit says it was accessed by the tech giant, so some titles that appear now would not have been available to download at that point.
The SoA is urging authors in the UK to write to Meta, as well as to their local MPs.
“Rather than ask permission and pay for these copyright-protected materials, AI companies are knowingly choosing to steal them in the race to dominate the market,” chief executive Anna Ganley said in a statement.
“This is shocking behaviour by big tech that is currently being enabled by governments who are not intervening to strengthen and uphold current copyright protections.”
A Meta spokesperson told Sky News in a statement that the company “has developed transformational GenAI open source LLMs that are powering incredible innovation, productivity, and creativity for individuals and companies”.
The statement continued: “Fair use of copyrighted materials is vital to this. We disagree with plaintiffs’ assertions, and the full record tells a different story. We will continue to vigorously defend ourselves and to protect the development of GenAI for the benefit of all.”
The US lawsuit
Comedian Sarah Silverman is one of the authors suing Meta in the US. Pic: AP
Authors including comedian Silverman, Richard Kadrey and Ta-Nehisi Coates filed their class-action lawsuit against Meta in California in 2023.
They have accused the tech firm of illegally downloading digital copies of their books and using them – without their consent or offering compensation – to train AI.
The controversy surrounding LibGen is part of a wider debate about AI and copyright law. In the US, the Authors Guild says legal action is under way against other AI companies for allegedly using pirated books, as well as Meta.
The organisation has advised authors that if their books have been used by Meta, they are automatically included in the Kadrey vs Meta class action, the lawsuit involving Silverman and other authors, “without needing to take any immediate action”.
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Separately in 2023, the Authors Guild and 17 authors filed a class-action suit against OpenAI in New York for alleged copyright infringement. The named plaintiffs include John Grisham, George RR Martin and Jodi Picoult.
The issue was also one of the driving forces behind the strikes in Hollywood in 2023. But not everyone in the creative industries is against it.
Last year, publisher Harper Collins reached an agreement with an unnamed technology company to allow “limited use of select non-fiction backlist titles” for training AI models.
And in 2023, award-winning crime author Ajay Chowdhury told Sky News he was embracing the technology.
AI law in the UK – what is happening?
A consultation on AI copyright law in the UK ended in February. Under the plans, an exemption to copyright would be created for training AI, so tech firms would not need a licence to use copyrighted material – and creators would need to opt out to prevent their work from being used.
A government spokesperson said at the time that the UK’s current regime for copyright and AI was “holding back the creative industries, media and AI sector from realising their full potential – and that cannot continue”.
No changes will be made “until we are absolutely confident we have a practical plan that delivers each of our objectives, including increased control for rights holders to help them easily license their content, enabling lawful access to material to train world-leading AI models in the UK, and building greater transparency over material being used”, the spokesperson said.
But plenty of authors and others in the creative industries are not convinced.
“It just leaves the door open for so much exploitation of people’s rights, people’s data and their work,” says Coleman. “I would really urge the government to think again about this and to protect what is a jewel in the crown of British cultural identity – to do the right thing.”
Entertainment
Expert predicts GTA VI will cost $100 and believes gamers will snap it up without complaint
Grand Theft Auto VI is the most anticipated game of the year.
The long-awaited sequel by developer Rockstar Games is expected in the autumn – 12 years on from the record-breaking GTA V.
While gamers excitedly await its release, the industry itself is buzzing with anticipation over rumblings the base game could command a premium $100 (about £80) price point and still achieve colossal sales.
Setting this precedent could lead to other game publishers wanting a slice of the action by increasing their own starting prices.
However, the GTA series boasts two winning ingredients that some other games do not have – brand power and fan loyalty.
Gamers queuing up outside a Game store in London for the release of GTA V in 2013. Pic: PA
Expert research analyst Michael Pachter told Sky News he believes Rockstar and parent company Take-Two Interactive Software will be able to charge $100 with little complaint.
Mr Pachter, a managing director at US-based Wedbush Securities, highlighted the rising cost of entertainment since GTA V was released in September 2013.
He said: “Realistically, video games are the only form of entertainment that hasn’t kept up pricing with inflation.
“Look at movie tickets, concerts, Disneyland, video on demand (VOD) – all have doubled.”
Mr Pachter said the key to “charging” more is to justify the value to the consumer.
He explained: “I expect GTA VI to be fully integrated with GTA Online, and Rockstar can offer premium edition purchasers $100-worth of in-game items – currency, skins, vehicles, weapons, etc – as a trade-off for the higher price point.
“The level of integration will make the in-game items more valuable, and I don’t expect a lot of pushback.
“I think $100 or so makes sense, and don’t expect that we will ever see a $500 game.”
The GTA V release in California. Pic: Reuters
If history repeats itself, GTA Online will be the moneymaker.
The persistent online world offers endless monetisation opportunities – with gamers enticed to splash out on new vehicles, weapons, properties, businesses and cosmetic upgrades.
Mr Pachter said GTA VI’s integration with its online offering provides an “excuse” for engaged players to spend more money.
He added: “Some players will spend an additional $500 and most won’t, but those who spend more than $100 will do so if they perceive there is value derived from the purchase.”
The Rockstar North studio in Edinburgh. Pic: Thomas Ortega/iStock
The GTA series – which was created in Dundee, Scotland – is one of the biggest franchises in the industry.
GTA V became the fastest entertainment product in history to make $1bn (in its first three days) and has since sold more than 210 million copies worldwide.
Developer Rockstar North (formerly DMA Design), based in Edinburgh, has achieved additional success by collaborating with fellow studio Rockstar San Diego on the Red Dead Redemption games.
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A GTA V billboard in Los Angeles. Pic: AP
When GTA V made its debut, it launched on PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. That was two consoles ago, with the new game set to arrive via PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S.
AAA (Triple-A) games – big budget, high-profile productions – are now taking longer to make as gamers demand seamless multiplayer experiences, cross-device gaming capabilities, visually impressive graphics, and fully immersive storylines.
From the GTA VI trailer footage, players will be returning to the Miami-flavoured metropolis of Vice City in the fictional state of Leonida.
The Bonnie and Clyde-style story is set to include the first playable female character in the series’ history.
GTA has always poked fun at American culture, with the nation’s past decade of politics like something out of the game.
GTA VI looks certain to continue the series’ tradition of satire, but the trailer also shows that no expense has been spared in regards to bringing the sun-soaked streets of Vice City to life.
The cost of creating a game can vary widely based on a multitude of factors, including the studio size, staff skill level, and development time.
Given the size of Rockstar’s workforce and the number of years the game has been in development, Mr Pachter believes the cost of GTA VI “is highly likely to be nearly $1bn”.
Mr Pachter said: “They spent this much time because they can, and the scope of the game is typically immense.”
Rockstar has so far remained tight-lipped over its budget and whether GTA VI is indeed the most expensive video game ever made.
After COVID all but wiped out trips to see a movie on the silver screen, film studios are now having to contend with the cost of living crisis and audiences preferring to wait for digital releases instead of spending money at the cinema.
For those concerned about a $100 starting point for GTA VI, or indeed if it becomes the new standard for video games, Mr Pachter is advising to similarly wait it out.
He said: “Like theatrical releases, game prices decline over time.
“Rockstar can charge $100 for six months, can drop to $70 for six months, then drop periodically thereafter.
“Nobody has to ‘afford’ $100; they all know they can wait.”
Even if GTA VI fans do wait it out for a cheaper price or for it to potentially drop via Xbox Games Pass, Mr Pachter is confident that will not affect Rockstar’s overall success.
He said: “There is no question they will sell 100 million copies – or more – eventually.”
Pic: Reuters
So, while there is little doubt all eyes will be on GTA VI’s launch, the lasting question is whether other studios will attempt to follow suit if we do indeed see a price rise.
But a word to the wise, there are few games with a legacy as formidable as GTA and any price increase may turn out to be the exception rather than the rule.
As career criminal and former bank robber Trevor Philips (GTA V character) nicely put it: “I said something nice, not expensive.”
Entertainment
BAFTA TV Awards nominations revealed – including nods for Baby Reindeer, Mr Bates vs The Post Office, Rivals and Slow Horses
Nominations for this year’s BAFTA TV Awards have been revealed – with Baby Reindeer leading the field with eight.
Mr Bates vs The Post Office, Rivals and Slow Horses follow with six nominations each.
Mr Bates vs the Post Office. Pic: ITV/Shutterstock
Baby Reindeer, which follows the life of a struggling comedian who is stalked by a woman, is shortlisted for best limited drama.
Star and creator Richard Gadd is up for the BAFTAs for best actor and for writing, while his co-stars Jessica Gunning and Nava Mau are both in the running for the supporting actress prize.
Mr Bates vs The Post Office, based on the true story behind the Horizon scandal, is also up for best limited drama, while stars Toby Jones and Monica Dolan are nominated in the leading actor and actress categories.
David Tennant and Katherine Parkinson, two of the stars of comedy drama Rivals, based on the Jilly Cooper novel, are up for best leading actor and best supporting actress.
Read more:
The full list of nominated stars and shows
The Jilly Cooper adaptation with naked tennis and ’80s makeovers
The true story behind Mr Bates vs The Post Office
Pic: PA/Disney+
Up against Gadd, Jones and Tennant in the leading actor category are Gary Oldman (Slow Horses), Lennie James (Mr Loverman) and Martin Freeman (The Responder).
Anna Maxwell Martin (Until I Kill You), Billie Piper (Scoop), Lola Petticrew (Say Nothing), Marisa Abela (Industry) and Sharon D Clarke (Mr Loverman) join Dolan on the leading actress shortlist.
In the comedy performance categories, Ruth Jones is among the nominees for the long-awaited Gavin & Stacey: The Finale, but there is no nod for co-star James Corden.
Gavin & Stacey: The Finale. Pic: Tom Jackson/PA
For almost half of the nominees in the performance categories – 21 of 44 – this is their first BAFTA TV Awards nomination, including for Gadd and Gunning, as well as stars including Danny Dyer (Mr Bigstuff), Lolly Adefope (The Franchise) and Nicola Coughlan (Big Mood).
Blue Lights, Sherwood, Supacell and Wolf Hall: The Mirror And The Light are all shortlisted for best drama, while Alma’s Not Normal, Brassic, G’Wed and Ludwig are in the running for best scripted comedy.
One Day and Lost Boys And Fairies complete the limited series category.
Michelle Keegan and Joe Gilgun in Brassic. Pic: Sky UK
The BAFTA TV Awards also celebrate the best TV moment of the year, with nominees this year including scenes from Gavin & Stacey: The Finale, Bridgerton, Mr Bates Vs The Post Office, Rivals, Strictly Come Dancing and The Traitors.
More than 130 programmes have received nominations in total.
BAFTA chief executive Jane Millichip said 2024 had been “a standout year”, and added: “The power of television to drive national conversation, to tap into the stories of public interest, and to inspire societal change, is second to none.”
The BAFTA TV Awards ceremony will be hosted by actor Alan Cumming on Sunday 11 May.
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