Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Film Plan Is To Direct “Funky Little Musicals” And Leave The ‘Wicked’-Scale Projects To Others
16.06.2023 - 05:18
/ deadline.com
Lin-Manuel Miranda wants to keep directing movies, but don’t look for him to mount any large-scale spectacles.
“My responsibility as a filmmaker — and I really hope to make more movies — is to make the weird little musicals that no one else can get made,” he told Rosie Perez during an appearance Tuesday at the Tribeca Festival. His 2021 debut as a director, tick … tick … BOOM!, was “a really nice size for me,” the Hamilton creator said. “I really love working with actors. I really love unlocking musical storytelling, and that’s the fun part.”
Miranda maintained he “would never” attempt something as lavish as Wicked, the forthcoming Universal adaptation of the long-running Broadway show. Jon M. Chu, a friend as well as the director of the film adaptation of Miranda’s In The Heights, “is going to do something amazing, and I can’t wait to see it,” he said. “I want to direct funky little musicals that no one else would make as a movie.”
The hour-long entry in the Tribeca fest’s Storytellers series managed not to touch on any current events, instead zeroing in on craft and Miranda’s upbringing and influences. The WGA strike did not come up as a topic. Neither did Miranda’s appearance at last Sunday’s Tony Awards, even though they were held in his neighborhood’s United Palace, which he and his family helped restore.
While Perez mostly asked the questions, the tables were turned briefly as the actress described her roots as a choreographer as well as an amusing backstage encounter between LL Cool J and Keenan Ivory Wayans. The moment came as she was getting set to leave LL Cool J’s tour and start working on Wayans’ pioneering Fox series In Living Color, her show business breakthrough.
The audience remained rapt as Perez