-My next guest is
a very talented director whose latest film "In the
Heights" is now in theaters... [ Cheers and applause ] ...and on HBO Max. Please welcome Jon M. Chu! -♪ Meet a director,
don't know what to do ♪ ♪ If you got dollars,
better hire Jon M. Chu ♪ ♪ He did not do "Soul Plane,"
neither "Harlem Nights" ♪ ♪ But he did
"Crazy Rich Asians" ♪ ♪ And he's here
for "In the Heights" ♪ ♪ Yeah ♪ -Oh, beautiful! -The time has come. -The time has come!
It is. The time has come. Welcome, and thank you so much
for being here. Standing ovation.
-Good to be here. I know. The audience is here.
[ Cheers and applause ] -Full audience. -Can I show my movie after this?
'Cause I just want to feel that. -Yeah, we're going
to screen the movie, yeah. Thank you
for coming on the show. We've talked on the phone
before. -[ Laughs ] Yes, we -- Lin was with you,
and we briefly chatted. I was on the set,
and I had an embarrassing moment that I need to say. We were talking, and I took --
We were talking, and I was like,
"I'm with Jimmy Fallon. Oh, my gosh."
So I took a screen grab, and it says, "Jon Chu has taken
a screen grab" on your phone. And I was like, "Oh, uh, nice to meet you, Jimmy. Um..." And then you handed the phone
off to Lin. -Yeah, no, no.
-Was that okay? -That was way okay.
It's more than okay. Yeah, I was so --
'cause I was with Lin, and he was saying, like, he's
like, "Jon, Jon Chu is amazing. He edits as he's --"
as you're doing it. 'Cause this was --
This was a while back. -It was a while back.
-And it was -- And you edit while --
like right after you shoot? -I mean, listen, I have
an editor, a great editor, Myron Kerstein,
but I do a little rough -- just so I know I got the shots. -And he showed me
the first opening scene, and then we talked to you
on the FaceTime. And I was like,
it was just amazing. -Yes. You're being so nice, and I was like [Imitates click]
"He took a screenshot." -[ Laughs ] No. No, I mean, I want to talk to you
about "In the Heights" 'cause it is so great. Congratulations. You really
did a great job with this. -Thank you.
[ Cheers and applause ] -What a big week for you, because not only is
"In the Heights" out right now, but also, your wife
is expecting a baby literally any second. -Yes.
[ Cheers and applause ] -I know. Get your phone out.
-Got to make sure. -Make sure
your phone's on, yeah. -I was leaving. I was like,
"I'm going to my premiere. Can you, like, not have a baby?" I was -- "Keep your legs tight." I googled. I literally googled "What not to do
to not have a baby." So I --
-Really? -No shampoo. No shampoo.
-Is that right? -I guess there's a smell
triggers something. -Yeah. But it's really --
It might happen any -- -Literally. I'm going
to keep this here for real. -Oh, my gosh. I'm so excited.
That's fantastic news. What was it like last night? What was it like
in Washington Heights? -Oh, man. It felt -- I mean,
to hear this audience, it felt very similar,
just in a larger space and to have -- to show
in Washington Heights, where the songs were inspired -- You know, Lin-Manuel Miranda
wrote these songs. Yeah.
[ Cheers and applause ] -Oh, he's unbelievable. -And to return to his hometown to show the movie
where we shot it? That audience went nuts. You could feel the energy, so...
-You could, right? -Yeah. I mean, that's why
it says the time has come. The time has come
that people are coming out and joining hands again to know
you can get back up out of this. So...
-Yeah. And it's -- [ Cheers and applause ] You can.
-Yeah. -How important was it for you to
have the movie play in theaters? -Super important. I mean, I went
through "Crazy Rich Asians" a couple years back. Yeah, yeah.
[ Cheers and applause ] -Not too shabby. -But what I love about it,
and it was that it's the stars, these actors who never had
these opportunities, got to be on the cover
of magazines, got to be here on your couch,
Henry Golding, which, thank you for that.
-He's the best. -And hosting "SNL." I mean, they are now
creating a path for them. And for "In the Heights,"
I was like, "We need the marketing
department of Warner Bros. to, like, go and spend money
on these people," to show that the people
of Washington Heights, that -- you know, Latinos
only get 4.5% of talking, of dialogue in movies, and they make up
over 40% of the audience. And so we need to say
we want more of this. And so the fact that -- Yeah. [ Cheers and applause ] And the box office
is one of the only places that the audience can say, "We want this. I don't care
about your precedent. I don't care what your --
what you think in a boardroom. We want it," and they will
give it to you, I promise you. So, yeah, it's great.
-Well, this was clearly -- I was saying backstage the movie
is made clearly with love and you could feel it,
and it is emotion, and the story is so great. You did such an amazing job
capturing New York City and how hot it is in the summer. And -- No, it is something
about that, and it's something
that we all can relate to when it's just a hot day,
and you're like, "I'm just -- Anything," like Piragua Guy. You want anything. You want
to put the hose on you. It doesn't matter.
-Yeah. -And then, also, it's like, don't forget
where you came from, and don't forget
to keep dreaming, and what is the dream? -Yeah, that's why we connected,
Lin and I. It was like we knew what --
I'm from Northern California. I grew up
in a Chinese restaurant that my dad has for 51 years,
still open -- Chef Chu's in California. And --
[ Cheers and applause ] I got to plug it.
I got to plug it. -And -- And I knew what it
felt like to grow up there, to be raised
by not just your parents, but your aunties and your uncles and to hardworking people
who take care of their families. And we should be looking up
to these people. That bodega owner on the corner,
he does not have a small store. He has a dream
bigger than any screen that you can
put in front of him. He has hopes and dreams. And to me,
that's what movies can do. That's what movies can can say. And if we see it,
you can't un-see that. -Yeah. And it was -- Was it -- You shot
in the neighborhood. -Yeah. Oh, yeah.
-In Washington Heights. -It was awesome.
They really welcome you there. They yell at you
if you're in their parking spot. -Of course. It's New York City. -Yeah. And they don't care
about a cone in the street. They'll just drive right there.
-Yeah! -But they took care of me.
I put my mom on on the stoop. And I was like,
"Mom, do not move. I've got to direct
this musical sequence." And we do it,
and I come back, she's gone, and she's on the second floor with a family
who's invited her up, and they're drinking beers,
hanging out the window. "Hey, good job!" Like, "Mom? Oh, gosh." -I love that. You brought a clip which just shows
exactly what I was saying I think earlier,
like how much love everyone -- what a team,
what a crew, what -- Everybody top to bottom
wanted this thing to work. When you yell cut,
they continued to celebrate. -Yeah.
-And dance. And that's when you know,
it's like, "Wow, we're actually making something
out of love, and it's fun." I want to show this footage
that you brought us. Check this out. [ Crowd cheering, chanting ] [ Cheers and applause ] That's not even in the movie.
-Come on. -That's not even in the movie.
That's just people loving. -I literally called, "Cut,"
and they just kept going. And then people who were there
in the neighborhood are hanging out the window
with their flags, and they're so proud. And then Lin is standing
up there on the fire escape, and they all look up at Lin,
and they start chanting, "Lin, Lin, Lin, Lin,"
all the crew members. "Lin, Lin." I'm out there.
Because he manifested this. He didn't have a role
for himself, so he wrote a role for himself. His community didn't have
a role, so he wrote this. And now a decade later,
more than a decade later, they're here in front of him
making a movie. And they all know
that big dreams can happen. They're all going to take that
for the rest -- I'm going to take that
for the rest of my life. -I love it. I want to show everyone a clip
from "In the Heights," which is out now! Take a look at this. Go see it. -[ Rapping ]
♪ Here goes Mr. Braggadocio ♪ ♪ Next thing you know,
you lyin' like Pinocchio ♪ -♪ Yo, if you scared of
the bull, stay out the rodeo ♪ -♪ Yo, I got more flows
than Obi-Wan Kenobi, oh ♪ -♪ Oh, you better stop rappin',
you not ready ♪ ♪ It's gonna get hot and heavy,
and you already sweaty ♪ -♪ Yo, yo, yo ♪
-♪ Yo, yo ♪ ♪ I'm sorry,
was that an answer? ♪ ♪ Shut up, go home,
and pull your damn pants up ♪ ♪ As for you,
Mr. Frodo of the Shire ♪ -What?
-♪ 96 G's ♪ ♪ Ain't enough to retire ♪
Come on! -♪ I'll have enough
to knock your ass off its axis ♪ -♪ You'll have a knapsack
full of jack after taxes ♪ [ Cheers and applause ] -Anthony Ramos.
-Anthony Ramos. -Anthony Ramos, I mean --
-That kid. -Everything was fantastic. Jon M. Chu, everybody. "In the Heights" is in theaters! Go to the theaters! Did we get anything,
any messages from the wife? We're all good.
Give her my love.
