#FIRSTLOOK: SHOWCASE AND W NETWORK ANNOUNCE WINTER 2026 MIDSEASON PROGRAMMING INCLUDING “THE COPENHAGEN TEST” STARRING SIMU LIU

Corus Entertainment’s drama networks Showcase and W Network announced today their strong midseason lineups packed with buzzy, star-powered new series and returning seasons of well-established fan favourites. As the exclusive Canadian home of Peacock Originals and Hallmark content, Showcase and W Network are the ultimate destinations for premium entertainment delivering big laughs, edge-of-your-seat action, heartfelt moments, and intense drama. All series will be available to stream on STACKTV.

“This midseason delivers everything audiences come to Showcase and W Network for: star power, characters with emotional depth, and stories that truly resonate,” said Jennifer Abrams, Senior Vice President, Content and Marketing, Corus Entertainment. “From the edge-of-your-seat thrills of The Copenhagen Test with Canada’s own Simu Liu to the triumphant return of Outlander, viewers can look forward to a season filled with unforgettable characters and powerful storytelling on linear and to stream on STACKTV.”

SHOWCASE

First up, Showcase hits the right note with Amadeus premiering on Monday, January 5 at 9 p.m. ET. This limited series stars Will Sharpe (Girl/Haji, The White Lotus) as musical prodigy Wolfgang ‘Amadeus’ Mozart Paul Bettany (WandaVision, A Very British Scandal) as envious court composer Antonio Salieri, and Gabrielle Creevy (In My Skin, Black Doves) as Constanze Weber, Mozart’s fiercely loyal wife. When 25-year-old Amadeus (Sharpe) arrives in bustling Vienna, no longer a child prodigy and craving creative freedom, his world collides with two pivotal figures: his future wife, Constanze Weber, and devoutly religious court composer, Antonio Salieri. As Amadeus’ brilliance continues to flourish despite his personal demons, a questionable reputation, and skepticism from the conservative court, Salieri becomes increasingly tormented by this apparent divine gift. Salieri sees Amadeus as a threat to all that he holds dear in life – his talent, his reputation, even his faith in God – and vows to bring him down. What begins as a professional rivalry turns into a deeply personal obsession spanning 30 years, culminating in a murder confession and Salieri’s desperate attempt to entwine himself with Mozart’s legacy forever. Amadeus also stars Rory Kinnear as Emperor Joseph, Lucy Cohu as Cecilia Weber, Jonathan Aris as Leopold Mozart, Ényì Okoronkwo as Da Ponte, Jessica Alexander as Katerina, Hugh Sachs as Von Strack, Paul Bazely as Von Swieten, Rupert Vansittart as Rosenberg, Anastasia Martin as Aloysia Weber, Nancy Farino as Josepha Weber, Olivia-Mai Barrett as Sophie Weber, Viola Prettejohn as Princess Elizabeth and Jyuddah Jaymes as Franz Süssmayr.

Then, espionage thriller series The Copenhagen Test starring Canadian Simu Liu (Barbie, Marvel’s Shang-Chi) infiltrates Showcase on Tuesday, January 6 at 9 p.m. ET. The series follows first-generation Chinese-American intelligence analyst Alexander Hale (Liu) who realizes his brain has been hacked, giving the perpetrators access to everything he sees and hears. Caught between his shadowy agency and the unknown hackers, he must maintain a performance 24/7 to flush out who’s responsible and prove where his allegiance lies. The Copenhagen Test also stars Melissa Barrera (In the Heights, Scream V and VI) as Michelle, Sinclair Daniel (The Other Black Girl, Insidious: The Red Door) as Parker, Brian d’Arcy James (Spotlight, 13 Reasons Why) as Peter Moira, Mark O’Brien (City on a Hill, Ready or Not) as Cobb, and Kathleen Chalfant (Wit, The Affair) as St. George.

Next up is limited drama series Devil in Disguise: John Wayne Gacy premiering Wednesday, January 7 at 9 p.m. ET. The series filmed in Toronto stars Michael Chernus (Severance, Dead Ringers), Gabriel Luna (The Last of Us, Terminator: Dark Fate), James Badge Dale (Savant, 1923), Michael Angarano (Oppenheimer, This Is Us), Chris Sullivan (This Is Us, Mercy), and Marin Ireland (The Irishman, The Umbrella Academy). From 1972-1978, thirty-three young men were kidnapped, murdered and buried in a crawl space beneath their killer’s house. Devil in Disguise: John Wayne Gacy peels back the twisted layers of Gacy’s life while weaving in heartrending stories of his victims; exploring the grief, guilt, and trauma of their families and friends; and exposing the systemic failures, missed opportunities and societal prejudices that fueled his reign of terror. Starting December 22, viewers can also binge the entire series exclusively on STACKTV ahead of the broadcast premiere as part of STACKTV’s Holiday Sampling Event.

Rounding out the midseason schedule is PONIES starring Emmy Award®-nominated Emilia Clarke (Game of Thrones, Me Before You) and Haley Lu Richardson (The White Lotus) premiering Thursday, January 15 at 9 p.m. ET. Moscow, 1977. Two “PONIES” (“persons of no interest” in intelligence speak) Bea (Clarke) and Twila (Richardson) work anonymously as secretaries in the American Embassy. That is, until their husbands are killed under mysterious circumstances in the USSR, and the pair become CIA operatives. Bea is an over-educated, Russian-speaking child of Soviet immigrants. Her cohort, Twila, is a small-town girl who is as abrasive as she is fearless. Together, they work to uncover a vast Cold War conspiracy and solve the mystery that made them widows in the first place. The series also stars Adrian Lester (Sandman, Day After Tomorrow), Artjom Gilz (Tar, Das Boot), Nicholas Podany (Saturday Night, Hello Tomorrow), Petro Ninovskyi (Shttl, Silence), and Vic Michaelis (Very Important People, Upload).

W NETWORK

Over on W Network, the schedule heats up with the delicious Season 2 return of The Chicken Sisters on Sunday, January 4 at 8 p.m. ET/PT. The second season follows Amanda (Schuyler Fisk), Mae (Genevieve Angelson, The Handmaid’s Tale, Good Girls Revolt), Nancy (Lea Thompson, Switched at Birth, Back to the Future) and Gus (Wendie Malick, Young Sheldon, Shrinking, Just Shoot Me!) as they use The Chicken Sisters restaurant to officially put a generations-long feud to rest, while Frank Jr. begins another by opening a Mr. Chicken’s Cluckery on Merinac’s Main Street. Meanwhile, the longest running Hallmark Channel original series, When Calls the Heart, returns for Season 11 on Sunday, January 4 at 9 p.m. ET/PT. Starring Erin Krakow, Kevin McGarry, Chris McNally, Jack Wagner and Pascale Hutton, this season explores renewal, redemption, and of course romance as Hope Valley enters the 1920’s.

Up next, generations clash in laugh-out-loud series Z Suite starring Lauren Graham (Gilmore Girls), Nico Santos (Superstore) and Madison Shamoun (The Lake) premiering with two back-to-back episodes on Monday, January 5 at 9 p.m. ET/PT. Advertising maven Monica Marks (Graham) and her loyal right hand executive Doug Garcia (Santos) have long been at the top of the Madison Avenue world. But after a record scratch blunder, they are suddenly canceled, pushed out and replaced by the agency’s rising Gen Z employees led by social media manager, Kriska Thompson (Shamoun). Refusing to go quietly, Monica launches her biggest campaign yet – getting their careers back and taking down the eager team of Gen-Zers who are just getting comfortable in their new roles.

Also joining the midseason lineup is horror comedy The ‘Burbs, a new series adaptation of the 1989 film of the same name starring and executive produced by Keke Palmer (Nope, Password). Set in present-day suburbia, The ‘Burbs follows a young couple who have reluctantly relocated to the husband’s childhood home. Their world is upended when a new neighbour moves in across the street bringing old secrets of the cul-de-sac to light, and new deadly threats shatter the illusion of their quiet little neighbourhood. The series also stars Jack Whitehall (Jungle Cruise), Julia Duffy (Palm Royale), Paula Pell (Girls5eva), Mark Proksch (What We Do in the Shadows), and Kapil Talwakar (Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist). Broadcast details will be announced at a later date.

Lastly, beloved series Outlander takes its final bow with the Season 8 premiere on Monday, March 9 at 9 p.m. ET/PT. In the closing chapter of the Sony Pictures Television produced series Outlander, a heart-wrenching journey lies ahead for Claire and Jamie’s enduring love story. As Season 8 begins, Jamie and Claire soon find the war has followed them home to Fraser’s Ridge, now a thriving settlement that has grown and flourished in their absence. With new arrivals and changes made during their years away, the Frasers are confronted with the question of what they are willing to sacrifice for the place they call home and, more importantly, what they would sacrifice to stay together. While the Frasers keep a united front against outside intruders, family secrets finally coming to light threaten to tear them apart from the inside. Although they’ve left the war for America’s freedom behind, their fight for Fraser’s Ridge has only just begun.

Outlander stars Caitríona Balfe as Claire Fraser, Sam Heughan as Jamie Fraser, Sophie Skelton as Brianna MacKenzie, Richard Rankin as Roger MacKenzie, John Bell as Young Ian Murray, David Berry as Lord John Grey, Charles Vandervaart as William Ransom, Izzy Meikle-Small as Rachel Hunter Murray and Joey Phillips as Denzell Hunter. Matthew B. Roberts, Ronald D. Moore, Maril Davis, Toni Graphia, Luke Schelhaas, Andy Harries, Jim Kohlberg, Caitríona Balfe and Sam Heughan serve as executive producers on Outlander, which is produced by Sony Pictures Television.

Showcase and W Network’s hit series can be streamed via STACKTV, available on Amazon Prime Video, Bell Fibe TV app, Fubo, Rogers Ignite TV and Ignite Streaming. The network is also available through all major TV distributors, including: Shaw, Shaw Direct, Rogers, Bell, Videotron, Telus, Cogeco, Eastlink and SaskTel.

#SPOTTED: MELISSA BARRERA AT SPECIAL TORONTO SCREENING OF “YOUR MONSTER”

Melissa Barrera‘s star continues to rise and it should come as no surprise. She’s absolutely magnetic. She was stellar in Starz series LIFE, enchanting in Jon M. Chu‘s IN THE HEIGHTS and she branded herself a Scream Queen with starring roles in SCREAM and SCREAM VI. Barrera even starred TIFF selection Carmen, the directorial debut of Benjamin Millepied.

The Actress is now in Toronto filming an upcoming Peacock Spy Thriller series alongside Simu Liu, Brian d’Arcy James and more and will be here for about five months. Amidst her busy filming schedule, she found time to promote her acclaimed anti-Rom-Com-Horror YOUR MONSTER, which won raves at Sundance. It gets a release here this Friday, October 25, 2024 via Renaissance Media.

And guess what? She popped-in to surprise fans at a screening of the Film last night at Cineplex Yonge & Dundas!

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A post shared by William Wong (@mrwillwong)

See the Trailer:

The Film is a delight! Think, a very dark quirky cousin to Beauty & The Beast! With Musical Numbers too!

(Photo/video credit: Renaissance Media/Mr. Will Wong)

#FIRSTLOOK: NEW CHARACTER POSTERS FOR “SCREAM VI”

Today we get brand-new Character Posters for SCREAM VI!

OFFICIAL SYNOPSIS 

Following the latest Ghostface killings, the four survivors leave Woodsboro behind and start a fresh chapter. In Scream VI, Melissa Barrera (“Sam Carpenter”), Jasmin Savoy Brown (“Mindy Meeks-Martin”), Mason Gooding (“Chad Meeks-Martin”), Jenna Ortega (“Tara Carpenter”), Hayden Panettiere (“Kirby Reed”) and Courteney Cox (“Gale Weathers”) return to their roles in the franchise alongside Jack Champion, Henry Czerny, Liana Liberato, Dermot Mulroney, Devyn Nekoda, Tony Revolori, Josh Segarra, and Samara Weaving.

DIRECTED BY 

Matt Bettinelli-Olpin & Tyler Gillett

WRITTEN BY

James Vanderbilt & Guy Busick

BASED ON CHARACTERS CREATED BY

Kevin Williamson

PRODUCED BY

William Sherak, James Vanderbilt, Paul Neinstein

EXECUTIVE PRODUCED BY

 Kevin Williamson, Gary Barber, Peter Oillataguerre, Chad Villella, Courteney Cox,

Ron Lynch, Cathy Konrad, Marianne Maddalena

STARRING

Melissa Barrera, Jasmin Savoy Brown, Jack Champion, Henry Czerny, Mason Gooding, Liana Liberato, Dermot Mulroney, Devyn Nekoda, Jenna Ortega, Tony Revolori, Josh Segarra, Samara Weaving with Hayden Panettiere and Courteney Cox.

SCREAM VI arrives March 10, 2023 via Paramount Pictures Canada and Spyglass Media Group.

(Photo credit: Paramount Pictures Canada)

#FIRSTLOOK: “KEEP BREATHING”

Melissa Barrera‘s star continues to rise. With starring roles in IN THE HEIGHTS and this year’s SCREAM, it’s safe to say this has been a career year for the up-and-coming Actress. Up next is B.C.-filmed KEEP BREATHING, which has her starring as Liv, a successful Lawyer who in an out-of-character move taking time off, suddenly decides she has to get to Inuvit. Of course her flight gets cancelled – not naming airlines here – and she finds herself desperate, convincing some strangers to let her fly with them. The plane crashes in the wilderness, and it’s a fight to survive.

As the six episodes (a highly-digestible 30 minutes each) unfold in this Limited Series, in flashbacks we learn just a little bit more about Liv‘s past, pain and trauma including her relationship with her ailing father (Juan Pablo Espinosa) and her on-again-off-again co-worker boyfriend (Jeff Wilbusch). When reduced to survival mode, we see Liv navigate her past and the rage she is experiencing in her dire circumstances. All the while, she uncovers the truth about the people she was flying with and this could change her life forever. She just has to survive.

Directed by Maggie Kiley and Rebecca Rodriguez, the Series manages to throw just the right amount of scares at us and never give away too much, to keep us invested in Liv‘s mysterious story. Most of all, Barrera delivers a fantastic performance with range – nuanced, but also full throttle when required and we can’t wait to see more from her ahead.

KEEP BREATHING arrives July 28, 2022 only on Netflix.

#FIRSTLOOK: NEW STILLS + TRAILER FOR “KEEP BREATHING”

Melissa Barrera is a star on the rise. After starring in IN THE HEIGHTS and SCREAM, she next can be seen in Netflix’s KEEP BREATHING, filmed here in Vancouver. Here is the brand-new Trailer for the Series which consists of six episodes.

Synopsis:

After her private plane crashes in the remote Canadian frontier, lone survivor and New York lawyer, Liv (Melissa Barrera), must battle both an unforgiving wilderness and past personal traumas to stay alive.

New Stills:

KEEP BREATHING arrives July 28, 2022.

(Photo/video credit: Netflix)

#GIVEAWAY: ENTER FOR A CHANCE TO WIN PASSES TO AN ADVANCE SCREENING OF “SCREAM”

Paramount Pictures Canada and Spyglass Media Group x Mr. Will want to give Readers a chance to win Advance Passes to see SCREAM.

Screenings take place January 12, 2022 at 7 PM at International Village Cinemas in Vancouver and Scotiabank Theatre Edmonton in Edmonton. We had anticipated additional screenings in other cities, however this has changed in light of recent public health announcements.

Synopsis:

Twenty-five years after a streak of brutal murders shocked the quiet town of Woodsboro, a new killer has donned the Ghostface mask and begins targeting a group of teenagers to resurrect secrets from the town’s deadly past. Neve Campbell (“Sidney Prescott”), Courteney Cox (“Gale Weathers”) and David Arquette (“Dewey Riley”) return to their iconic roles in Scream alongside Melissa Barrera, Kyle Gallner, Mason Gooding, Mikey Madison, Dylan Minnette, Jenna Ortega, Jack Quaid, Marley Shelton, Jasmin Savoy Brown, and Sonia Ammar.

A new Featurette for you to check out!

To enter for a chance to win, click “like” on this Post at MR. WILL ON FACEBOOK and indicate on the comments there your City. Re-Tweet this Contest Tweet below for an extra chance!

Rules and regulations here.

NOTE: Winners will be contacted only from this account. Do not accept friend requests from others asking you for your personal information. Please guard your personal information.

Paramount Pictures Canada and Spyglass Media Group release SCREAM January 14, 2022.

(Photo/video credit: Paramount Pictures Canada)

#INTERVIEW: “IN THE HEIGHTS”

After 13 Tony Award nominations and four wins, Lin-Manuel Miranda‘s Musical IN THE HEIGHTS, based on the Novel by Quiara Alegría Hudes, is ready to be seen by the world. A dazzling love letter to the people of Washington Heights in New York City, the story centers on a bodega owner named Usnavi (Anthony Ramos) who is in a relationship with Vanessa (Melissa Barrera), but longs to go to the Dominican Republic to reconnect with his roots. Vanessa works at a beauty salon but dreams of a career in fashion. We meet also Nina (Leslie Grace), finishing her first year at Stanford, but what her proud family and the tight-knit community don’t know is that she is dropping-out. Through Latin rhythms, Hip-Hop and breathtaking choreography, stories of love, dreams and the uphill battle immigrants and descendants of immigrants face, are told through this Jon M. Chu-directed Adaptation of this beloved Musical.

We had the pleasure of chatting with Chu and several cast members in advance of the Film’s eagerly-awaited release, including:

MELISSA BARRERA – Vanessa
LESLIE GRACE – Nina
DAPHNE RUBEN-VEGA – Daniela
DASCHA POLANCO – Cuca
GREGORY DIAZ IV – Sonny
OLGA MEREDIZ – Abuela Claudia
JIMMY SMITS – Kevin (Nina’s father)

See the Trailer:

Was ask Gregory Diaz IV, Daphne Ruben-Vega and Dascha Polanco about the experience of working with Jon M. Chu and Lin-Manuel Miranda.

Gregory: I think the combo of Jon, Lin and Quiara, their minds are just so creative and you see the bigger picture that I know for me personally, I could never really see at first when it came to the Film. Jon is just great and thinks on a such a big spectrum. If there was a scene where I was struggling to reach that point that I wanted to get to, he would take me to the side and tell me one, two or three things and immediately I was like, ‘Yeah! That’s what I wanted.’. Lin and Quiara, it’s such a beautiful story they’ve crafted. I think it’s really evolved from the Broadway production.

Daphne: For me it was one of the first movies where the Director brings you in and has a conversation with you and shows you the Mood Board and the skeleton of the story and so forth.

Dascha: At first I was wondering, the Director’s calling me in… I was wondering if I still had a job or not! (laughs) And it was like, ‘Oh! You want me to see what the sets are going to be like and what I’m thinking, what you want me to bring to life and what my thoughts are.’. That doesn’t really happen, especially when we do this for a while and IN THE HEIGHTS was really that. Everybody was included. We had a set vision, but wanted to incorporate what everyone artistically can bring forth. In that regard, Jon was really careful of – to stay respectful and authentic to the community and beyond. So as an Actor, I then understood how necessary it is for you to be included and feel it, but when you’re actually doing it, it makes sense.

Daphne: Jon‘s just a Homie, a guy who’s so approachable. And that allows us to have a conversation. So we’re no longer just the Talent, we’re the participators in a collective experience. With Jon, Lin and Quiara leading the way, we feel comfortable that we can bring our A-Game and trust them.

Olga Merediz’s performance as Abuela Claudia, the woman who helped raise Usnavi and many of the kids in the neighbourhood, delivers the Film’s showstopping moment. She embodies what it meant to be an immigrant in a country that speaks a language she can’t. Having originated the role both off and on Broadway, we ask what different approaches she took in the Film.

Olga: So much to talk about. I’m so happy you were touched. She touches me. When I think of Abuela Claudia, I think of women like her, like your mother. I just tried to maintain her dignity even though she went through so much. There’s a big difference between the stage and the Movie because Jon Chu really just broke the barriers of the Fourth Wall and his visual genius allowed me to just to be in it and for him to all around me create that magical world of Paciencia y Fe (Patience and Faith) – which is the number I sing. I just wanted to make her into this quintessential matriarch we all wanted in our lives, whether you had a wonderful mother or not, because that’s complicated. So I took a little bit of my mother, my aunties, my grandmothers and I wanted to give her that giving nature where the people in the community could go to her for advice, or wisdom, or a cooked meal, or just to rest their heads. And I’m humbled that I was able to have this incredible journey with this character from workshops, to readings to off-Broadway to the Movie.

Jimmy Smits and Merediz are asked where this Film ranks in their careers.

Olga: This is number one for me. It’s a climactic point in my career and life.

Jimmy: I have been fortunate to have been in a couple ensemble pieces throughout the decades and we always feel this is the one that’s going to break through. But then there’s always that one or two. The difference is – and I think this relates to so many topics, not just in the Latinx community. And now that we’re coming out of this pandemic, where the world got jolted and we had to think about other social things that relate to inclusivity, this is gonna be a little bit of joy that I think the audiences are really gonna relate to because of the universal themes. Not just because of the specificity of the culture. We’re trying to be as authentic, spot-on and positive as possible. Because it’s time. Because the population in both Canada and the U.S. are changing and different, but are the same having immigrants come with a dream. Whether you’re from Ireland or the Caribbean, you want community and you want your children to do better than you. Am I thinking about the home that I left, or the new home that has all of those things? I think this resonates really well in the Film and I’m hoping audiences will take this little bit of joy and go with it!

We ask Melissa Barrera and Leslie Grace about landing the gig of a lifetime here and the fantastic vocal work we hear, and what it took to get to that level.

Leslie: The gig of a lifetime. I felt so many times I felt unworthy of the experience because I felt I was being spoiled. I was reminded every day by my lovely castmates, ‘Yo! It’s not always like this!’. And so I was walking around like I was in Disney World every day. And even in production when we were sweating and sometimes bleeding on each other learning all these dance steps, it just felt like home and I just feel so fortunate and blessed to have gone through this process. So much of our hearts are in this. They are our stories. We finally get to tell what feel like our stories on the big screen and in a feature film, so it is the gig of a lifetime with amazing people.

Melissa: We both had really long casting processes. It took us over a year from the first time we auditioned. She auditioned, I sent a tape and then over a year I got called-in and she also over a year later got called-in, so it was a long process. But I think for both of us, it was perfect because it gave us time to prepare. For Leslie she was like, taking acting classes because she was an incredible singer already. And for me, I needed to work on my voice, so I had the time to take voice lessons and really feel comfortable with the material because Lin writes really hard songs to sing! (laughs) For me it was that, nailing the vocal aspect.

Leslie: And that you did, darlin’!

Melissa: But I think the amount of time, the timing was perfect because it let us get to where we needed to take on these roles.

At the heart of IN THE HEIGHTS’ story is community, but also the love stories. We ask the two stars how they built that believable chemistry that jumped-off the screen.

Leslie: It’s all real. We were just on Zoom for the first couple weeks together and every time each of us started to talk, we’d cry. Just having these people in your life, it’s not something everyone gets to experience and it’s not every day you come across people you just met and feel like you’ve known your whole life. If we had just done the experience of this Movie and nobody ever really saw it – which would be sad – the experience alone changed our lives. Sometimes you do a movie, waiting for everyone to see it so your life will be changed. But there’s a before and after for me in my life, after doing this Film with Melissa, Anthony, Corey, Jon, Lin and all the family. So that joy you feel from the screen is real.

Melissa: I think we were lucky we got such a long rehearsal period. We got ten weeks. During those ten weeks, we spent a lot of time together bonding over our frustrations, bonding over not getting Choreography. And going into a corner and wanting to cry, wondering if we were ever going to get this! All of that being there for each other really brought us so close and we became family. So the love and the chemistry that you see is real. We got so close that we became family and I think in a way it was perfect. These characters grew-up together and knew each other their entire lives. They live in this neighbourhood and it’s like a tight-knit community and for that to feel so real, I think we needed to have that in real life.

Leslie: You definitely can’t fabricate that in a Movie like this which has so much heart.

We ask Jon M. Chu how as a Taiwanese-American from the West Coast, what are some of the conversations and questions he had to ask when coming into a Film like this, which is so deeply-embedded within the Latinx community and set on the East Coast?

Jon: I had so many questions, even the question ‘Should I be doing this?’. And I think that’s a fair argument to have. What a great argument to be able to go back and forth on. But the fact they allowed me to ask stupid questions was huge. I couldn’t understand things like, ‘The blackout in this show is a really big deal, but we get blackouts all the time, what’s the thing?’. Lin and Quiara explained ‘You don’t know how one feels when the plug goes out and you don’t know when you’re gonna get it back and you’re the last person to get it back. And that’s what power is essentially about. And I was like, ‘So is it all negative and do bad things happen?’. And they were like, ‘Actually it’s the opposite. It’s about love. When God pulls that plug, you turn to the people you take care of and who take care of you.

So this brilliant night that was supposed to happen – this brilliant dinner – never happened because of a fight. And in the end it did happen because they turned to Abuela Claudia for safety and they all came together and had this moment. In a weird way, I look at right now. The world has gone through a really tough year where we feel isolated and we turn to all the people that we care about the most. Usnavi actually says that in the Movie. Once you get there, how do you get back up, how do you get back out? Daniela goes out and does her last makeover for the evening for the neighbourhood and says, ‘Believe in yourself, you are beautiful. You never needed me for the Air Conditioning for your hair to be done. Grab your flag and be proud and dust yourself off, and you have each other!’. This is the message that the world needs right now and how appropriate that the neighbourhood is Washington Heights showing the world how to survive, how to get back up and it’s going to guide the world out of darkness and into the next light.”.

See our Chat on Video:

Warner Bros. Canada release IN THE HEIGHTS in theatres and on-demand Thursday, June 10 2021.

(Photo/video credit: Warner Bros. Canada)