Director Alessandra Lacorazza and cast René Pérez Joglar AKA Residente, Sasha Calle, Lío Mehiel and Leslie Grace stop by The Hollywood Reporter's studio in Park City during the Sundance Film Festival to chat about their film 'In the Summers,' about two sisters who navigate their loving but volatile father during their yearly summer visits to his home in Las Cruces, New Mexico. Grace talks about gaining that "family" feeling again after filming her first movie 'In the Heights' and Residente dishes on acting for the first time.
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00:00 I would like to do it more.
00:02 You know, I have a tour that I have to do this year.
00:05 But you have to.
00:06 [laughter]
00:07 You see?
00:08 I have to.
00:09 He's got the bug.
00:10 We got him.
00:11 We got him!
00:12 [music]
00:13 I mean, I'm just so excited to finally get it out into the world.
00:17 You know, we've been working on it for so long.
00:19 I mean, I've been writing.
00:20 My first draft was in 2018 and I've been slowly working on it, so it's been a long process.
00:25 And for the world to see this type of Latin representation, I'm just really pumped about
00:29 that.
00:30 I'm excited for everyone to see Rene act.
00:31 I remember that, you know, this is my first movie.
00:34 I'm not an actor.
00:35 Yes, you are.
00:36 Like, why are you absent here?
00:37 I mean, I'm in the music industry, but I like to direct.
00:42 And this is how I got to this film, because I'm working with Alex, who is the producer
00:47 of the Alex de Nel Ares, who wrote Birdman.
00:50 So he's writing with me and he invited me to be part of the movie.
00:55 And I read the script and said, "Yeah."
00:58 And anyways, like, they told me that they were going to start like slow, like easier
01:03 for me, you know, because I don't have experience.
01:06 So I started with the little girls and they were amazing.
01:10 And I was so like, "Oh, shit, like, they're good."
01:15 It wasn't a slow start for me.
01:18 And then later on, I started to feel more comfortable.
01:22 And everyone was so nice, you know.
01:24 So it was so easy to feel like, I don't know, like a family, very relaxed.
01:30 You know, I didn't feel the pressure of, "Oh, I'm here."
01:35 And I've been in front of a lot of people performing, so I'm kind of used to that.
01:39 Yeah.
01:40 You also have such good chemistry with the little ones from the beginning.
01:43 Like, immediately they were calling you Papi, even like off screen and everything.
01:47 And it was just, it was beautiful to see that, like, love you had.
01:50 Like, I direct my videos.
01:52 So this time I'm not directing, so I was controlling myself.
01:55 I was like, "Where's the camera?"
01:56 It's, you know.
01:57 But I was not understanding Alexandra from the beginning.
02:03 But you know, there's something that I felt when I was acting that I feel in the concerts
02:14 in certain songs that I feel it like here.
02:17 And I was feeling that all the time while I was shooting.
02:21 So that was great, you know, because it's a feeling that I want to have when I'm performing
02:27 in front of a lot of people.
02:29 Like I have it in, I don't know, three songs out of 20.
02:33 So I have to wait for that song to come.
02:36 So when I was shooting, I was feeling it every, I don't know.
02:41 It's beautiful.
02:42 Like, more often.
02:44 It's always in particular songs, but also the place.
02:48 Like when I perform in Argentina, you're going to cry because the crowd is crazy.
02:54 It's amazing.
02:55 You know, like it depends on where you perform too and the crowd.
02:58 But yes, every, these particular songs give me that feeling that I felt with your script.
03:06 And damn, I'm not tired of the music industry.
03:09 I've been for a long time, but I felt so relaxing.
03:14 I know that this was a different kind of a set and we were kind of like a family.
03:18 You had the family vibe, but I don't know, like I, I'm ready to, to start doing this
03:25 more and yeah, I've been performing for 20 years.
03:29 So I'm kind of like, yeah, let's do this.
03:31 Rene called me and he was like, Hey, I'm going to be a part of this movie.
03:36 I was like, you're acting like I need to see this.
03:40 And I just felt so honored to, to know that I would have the opportunity to work with
03:45 this cast.
03:46 We're all family now.
03:48 We're all, most of us have been friends for some time.
03:52 And more than strategy, I think it's just rare when you get to work with one people
03:58 that you, that you know and admire.
04:01 You're lucky when you get to do that, that you work with people that you've admired for
04:05 some time from afar or up close, but then also in a, in a film where you get to be a
04:12 family that looks maybe similar to your family.
04:16 It's a different feeling and I've had the blessing of being a part of another film.
04:20 My first film was in the Heights and I got to experience that and I've been longing to
04:24 feel that again.
04:25 And so to be able to do that and feel that on the set with your story out is, is a blessing.
04:33 What was so cool was that the crew, the talent, writer, director, producers, financiers, everyone
04:40 is Latin.
04:42 Everyone is bilingual.
04:43 So I would be on set and the sound guy would be setting me up and he's talking Spanish
04:47 to the grip and I'm just like, I've, as you know, as a white passing Puerto Rican person,
04:52 like I don't get to honor that part of my identity very often.
04:55 And so to be able, as you said, to be a part of this team and the fact that we were on
04:59 location I think just made it feel more like summer camp and allowed more intimacy to develop
05:05 because we could, or we would have to go to dinner together after and help each other
05:09 with shit that came up, you know?
05:11 But it was really beautiful.
05:12 I mean, even Lynette, one of our producers, always jokes that like, I just dance at a
05:18 real cake, like, you know, every moment I get to grab Lynette, I'm like, "And we going!"
05:22 And it's like, that's such a special, um, to be able to work with people that understand
05:28 your culture and understand what that's like.
05:30 I loved how bilingual it was, actually.
05:32 I've never had that experience.
05:33 You know, I've been on other sets on smaller things, but the fact that sometimes I didn't
05:36 even know what language I was speaking on and I was talking to like a white American,
05:39 I was like, "I'm sorry."
05:40 I actually got most of that, but it was fine.
05:43 [BLANK_AUDIO]