Lin-Manuel Miranda is not throwing away his shot to make the perfect “Hamilton” movie.
“I’ve always said I’m open to it, if I hear a director with a great take,” Miranda told Variety during an interview for his latest film “Mufasa: The Lion King.” (He wrote the original songs for the Disney prequel, in theaters Dec. 20.)
“I already have an amazing production of the one we made on Broadway [which debuted on Disney+ in 2020],” he continued. “I’m really happy that exists and that we’re able to share it with the world. But if someone’s got an idea, holla at me.”
But since “Wicked” soared to the top of the box office, Miranda concedes, “I have weirdly gotten more questions about it.”
Of course, there’s a link here — “Wicked” director Jon M. Chu also helmed “In The Heights,” the 2021 big-screen adaptation of Miranda’s first Broadway musical. The 2008 production, in which Miranda wrote the music and lyrics and starred, was nominated for 13 Tony Awards and won four, including best musical.
2015’s “Hamilton,” a musical that dramatizes the life of founding father Alexander Hamilton, was Miranda’s highly-anticipated follow up and, upon its debut, became a bonafide pop culture phenomenon. “Hamilton” won the Pulitzer Prize for drama and was nominated for a record 16 Tony awards and won 11, including Miranda’s first Tony win for best book of a musical. The music of “Hamilton” was a crossover hit, too; the cast recording spent 10 weeks at the top of Billboard’s Top Rap Albums chart and cracked the top 10 of the Billboard 200 for the year.
“I want to live in this moment of triumph,” Miranda said of the “Wicked” movie’s success. The film, starring Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande, is already the highest-grossing Broadway adaptation in domestic box office history, raking in more than $322 million domestically and $457 million worldwide.
“Honestly, that movie has been in development for pretty much half of my life, and the fact that Jon knocked it out of the park the way he did is so thrilling. I felt so taken care of. As someone who loves musicals, I was like, ‘Theater kids are getting their own “Lord of the Rings,”‘” Miranda added, referring to Chu splitting “Wicked” into half, with Part 2 set to arrive next November. “I waited a year for ‘The Two Towers,’ so everybody relax.”
But in terms of “Hamilton,” Miranda is in no rush to bring it to the big screen. He shared similar sentiment with Entertainment Tonight, saying, “It would take a really good vision from a director to convince me that ‘Hamilton’ could be adapted, because these things aren’t easy! ‘Wicked’ took 20 years. It took a long time! We’re hitting our [‘Hamilton’s’] 10th anniversary next year. So, give it ten years. … I haven’t yet heard a take that would make it a thing.”
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