When filmmaker Ben Snyder approached actress Daphne Rubin-Vega (In the Heights) with a movie idea that he and actress Elizabeth Rodriguez (Orange is the New Black) were co-writing, she was game from the start. Rubin-Vega describes it as a “therapeutic unraveling” of their “wackity whack past” living in New York City during the ’80s and ’90s.
“It was a project that incorporated stories that were gleaned from our real lives,” Rubin-Vega, 54, told the Current during a recent interview. “It was very organic storytelling. Nobody else was going to tell this story like we would.”
In the family dramedy Allswell in New York, two Nuyorican sisters, Daisy (Rodriguez) and Ida (Liza Colón-Zayas), and their sister-in-law, Serene (Rubin-Vega), navigate through their lives while leaning on each other for strength.
Ida is a counselor at a clinic who reconnects with her and Daisy’s estranged brother. Serene is a vocal coach who is trying to save her daughter from making some very bad career decisions. Daisy is a Brooklyn restaurant owner who plans to adopt a child from a birthmother she invites into her home.
“There are a handful of people whose work I respect and who I consider my artistic family,” Rodriguez, 43, said. “I got really excited about getting Daphne and Liza [on board]. Ben spearheaded it, and we started writing and creating. Then one day, it all happened.”
During our interview with Rubin-Vega, Rodriguez and Snyder, we talked about where the idea for the film came from and what makes someone a quintessential New Yorker.
Allswell in New York premieres at select theaters and on VOD platforms November 15, 2024. The film will be released on DVD November 19, 2024.
Were any of these stories pulled from personal experiences or from people you knew, perhaps?
Elizabeth Rodriguez: I mean, [the stories] are pulled from a lot of things. Some of it is personal. A lot [are from] different stories of friends or people we knew when we were younger. There was so much to draw from. It went every single way. [The script] is full of whatever was going to work best and whether it lined up with the tone of [our characters].
Daphne Rubin-Vega: Some of [the stories] actually did happen; maybe not exactly in [the same] ways. They are twisted and reformulated. But as a storyteller, I just talked about a lot of colorful things from the past that were vibrant and traumatic. [Dan and Elizabeth] took those milestones and wrote the script and made it us.
Ben, what did each of your three leading ladies bring to the film to make it such an ensemble?
Ben Snyder: I feel like the energy and voice of the characters is driven by the actors. If you let [Daphne] talk for a little bit, some of [her dialogue] will start to feel like poetry. Then, I knew Elizabeth could be both incredibly vulnerable and ferocious. And Liza has her very specific, unique voice; the cadence of it.
Elizabeth, Allswell in New York is the first writing credit for a film you’ve ever received. Was there anything that surprised you about how the process worked from the page to the screen?
ER: I guess the one thing I kept feeling anxious about was when Ben would go to scout locations and come back and say, “We can’t really [shoot this scene] like this. We’re going to have to do it like this instead.” But I had seen [that scene] in my head for so long. So, there were moments where I felt like my heart was going to break. But we were able to pivot. I’ve never known something as well as [this script] – from beginning to end. There was just a lot of magic.
Elizabeth and Daphne, what makes you quintessential New Yorkers?
ER: I was born and raised here. I’m always very clear when someone asks, “Where did you spend your formative years? Where were you created?” New York City, in these boroughs, is a very specific place. The experience of the streets, what was going on at the time, public schools [and] everything that each of us experienced. I think New York is an enormous character in this film in ways that haven’t been seen even in New York films. The women in this film, all three of us, were raised here since we were very young. The culture – the music culture, the club culture, the artistic culture – formed us.
DRV: I wasn’t born in New York. I was born in Panama. But I was raised absolutely in New York City. I’ve been here since I was nine years old. I went to many public schools. Growing up in New York City is a real thing. Back in the 80s and 90s, there was a specificity about growing up looking like us in New York City and surviving as young Latinas. That’s a very particular kind of parallax view. I’m really proud of it.
Do you feel as Latinas in this industry, you still have to create the roles you want to play because no one else will do it for you?
DRV: Absolutely! No one’s going to write this story for us. How could they? The study of other cultures is usually done with a white coat and a pad. [Making this film] was like getting in there and rolling up your sleeves. It’s another thing altogether. The style, the budget, the humans [and] the bodies in it reflects all of that.
ER: The community that came together to support us to make this film, I don’t think I have fully allowed myself to absorb what that means and how huge that was. We asked a community of actors that are beyond talented to come in and do bit parts. It’s enormous. People gave up apartments and the restaurant and everything in New York City to support our vision. Personally, if I don’t like a script and someone [asks me], “Can you do this?” I’d rather give them money than support them in other ways. So, I have to believe that [they supported us] because they really were moved by it.
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This article appears in Oct 30 – Nov 5, 2024.