Lin-Manuel Miranda Was Almost Cast In One Of Barry Jenkins’ Best (And Most Underrated) Films

Despite the backlash, I’m still a fan of Lin-Manuel Miranda. (His excellent feature directorial debut, “tick, tick…BOOM!”, was one of my favorite films of 2021.) Still, I’m grateful he was not cast in “If Beale Street Could Talk,” a film I consider to be just about flawless. Empire never makes it clear which role Miranda may have been up for, but given the period piece nature of the movie and Jenkins’ adherence to realism, it’s fair to guess he may have been considered for Pedrocito, a restaurant waiter and friend of one of the protagonists, Fonny (Stephan James). Diego Luna ended up playing that role, and he brought the precisely correct level of charm and warmth to his brief appearance in the movie. It’s not that Miranda wouldn’t have done a good job — he’s a capable actor who I can imagine bringing his own sense of warmth to that character — it’s just that Luna was absolutely perfect for that part, and the film would be worse without him playfully interacting with Fonny and smiling at Tish.

The movie also might be a smidge worse because, without Luna, it potentially wouldn’t have included one of its most gorgeous shots: Tish and Fonny walking through the rain under an umbrella after they leave the restaurant where Pedrocito works. When I spoke with Barry Jenkins about the movie back in 2018, Jenkins explained how that moment was actually Luna’s idea:

“We didn’t bring in rain. It just poured rain that day. So there was not meant to be an umbrella. So much of the way we framed that was not meant to be. But even though this movie had more resources than Moonlight, it’s still a modest budget, so we had to work with the elements. So it just poured rain that day, so once we got to the setup, it was just like, “What’s the best way to film this gorgeous free rain that we have?” It was Diego who was like, “paraguas,” which is how you say “umbrella” in Spanish. The whole thing just took on a life of its own […] To me, when you make a film or any kind of art, you have to be open to inspiration from the elements, from your collaborators.”

I’m personally very glad Luna was the person there to offer inspiration that day.