Jimmy Smits Says He'll Need His 'Hankie' After Reuniting with Family for 'In the Heights' Premiere

Jimmy Smits is preparing for a whirlwind of emotions for the premiere of In the Heights.

The 65-year-old actor stars in Lin-Manuel Miranda's movie musical, playing Kevin Rosario. Ahead of Wednesday's premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York's United Palace, Smits told PEOPLE the emotions he felt preparing to reunite with his family.

"I haven't been back to New York at all," he said. "This whole thing about the premiere with the movie is going to be so emotional for me because I haven't really seen my extended family. I haven't seen my kids, my adult kids. They're on the East Coast. Everybody's in New York, so it's just me and my honey here. Yeah, it's going to be... I'm going to take my hankies with me."

The In the Heights in-person premiere was kicked off with Smits' castmates, including leading star Anthony Ramos. Directed by Crazy Rich Asians' Jon M. Chu and co-written by Quiara Alegría Hudes, the film follows the lives of residents living in Manhattan's predominantly Latin neighborhood of Washington Heights — an area that Smits says he's very familiar with.

Although growing up all over New York City, Smits spent 12 years in Hamilton Heights along the neighborhood's border with Washington Heights. He says he's glad the film was an accurate depiction of the Latino community.

"I'm so happy that they fought hard in terms of doing it actually on streets that were in Washington Heights. We didn't eat catering, we didn't have movie catering. We were going to restaurants there in the community because... they knew we were there and they were so supportive on every level. I can't imagine having shot it, like, 'Oh yeah, we got brownstones in Canada and Toronto, we can shoot.' Nah," the actor said.

"Anthony Ramos would constantly say when we were in the middle of one of those crowd type of scenes, 'We're doing this for the culture!'" Smits added.

Smits also discussed some of the themes that the movie touches on, noting that it will resonate with a lot of people after the past year filled with the pandemic and social justice issues, despite it being a musical.

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"The whole thing about the delivery system being the musical and joy and bubbly, all that stuff is good but there's some themes I think in there that run through that relate and touch on some of those things that I think people have been thinking about," he said, sharing that viewers will experience themes of family, community, immigration, and sexuality.

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"It doesn't have to be dealt with in a kind of, 'let's put a ring around it' way. It is what it is. What that kid is facing, it is what it is in terms of what we've been dealing with on the political level from different administrations," Smits continued.

In the Heights, starring Ramos, Corey Hawkins, Melissa Barrera, Leslie Grace, Olga Merediz, Dascha Polanco and Stephanie Beatriz, is in theaters. It's also now streaming on HBO Max until July 11.