The actress who starred in Lin-Manuel Miranda's 2021 movie admits she had high hopes for the film and initially took disappointing performance of the big-screen musical personally.
- June 13, 2023
AceShowbiz - Melissa Barrera was aggrieved by the failure of "In the Heights". The 32-year-old actress played Vanessa in the 2021 film adaptation of Lin-Manuel Miranda's Broadway show and confessed that the movie's disappointing performance at the box office hit her hard.
"At the time, I did take it very personally. I don't anymore. But it was my first big movie, everybody was saying it was going to be this huge hit, and it meant a lot to have a big studio movie with an all-people-of-colour cast," Melissa told NME.
"The reviews were great, and the movie was fantastic - I'm proud of it - but then it didn't do well because of Covid and it was released simultaneously on HBO Max when people weren't going to theatres. There were so many things that were out of my control."
The "Scream" star says the experience has taught her to realise that she cannot control if audiences will respond to a film and has provided her with a valuable lesson about the industry.
Melissa said, "It wasn't a great time. But I wouldn't change it because it taught me a lot about the industry. If it had come out and become this huge hit and I had skyrocketed and become a global superstar, I don't know if I would understand the industry so well."
"There are so many things that I have no power over, so I learned the valuable lesson that I can't let that stain or dampen my experience of making a film. The only thing that matters is whether I've had a good time and I'm proud of what I've made, and whether I've made lasting relationships out of it."
