Lin-Manuel Miranda’s other Tony Award-winning musical is making its way to the big screen in 2021. The brand new trailer for the musical adaptation directed by Jon M. Chu has arrived featuring Miranda, Stephanie Beatriz, Anthony Ramos, Jimmy Smits, Leslie Grace, Dascha Polanco and Corey Hawkins.
Winner of four Tony Awards, the film adaptation of the musical focuses on a bodega owner who has mixed feelings about closing his store and retire to the Dominican Republic after inheriting his grandmother’s fortune.
It is, as the cast told ET Canada in a Q&A, a celebratory musical all about what “home” means for not just these characters, but for viewers. While fans of the musical will be able to see and hear what they love from the Broadway show, the creators of the movie promise viewers will “discover even new things in it as opposed to repeating the same experience.”
“I have to say Jon dreams bigger than any of us dares to dream in terms of the size and scope of this…he was committed to the authenticity of the size and scope of this; this is a big movie musical,” Miranda says. “We were allowed to go that big and I’m just thrilled with what he did because I think it’s bigger than what we ever dreamed of.”
Some of those differences include a same-sex relationship between Beatriz and Polanco’s characters.
“What was so gratifying to me as a person who is queer is see this relationship in the film be part of the community and normal and functioning,” Beatriz says. “It’s a happy functioning relationship that happens to be gay in the movie. I love that they did that because that is such a part of our world.”
During Sunday’s MTV Movie and TV Awards, a new clip debuted.
Get ready to 💃!
Here's an exclusive clip from @intheheights! #InTheHeightsMovie pic.twitter.com/rvMSU5q2ek
— Movie & TV Awards (@MTVAwards) May 17, 2021
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“In The Heights” has had a long journey to the screen. First optioned back in 2008, the project was originally tapped to begin filming in 2011. But various factors contributed to delays with the film eventually shifting to Warner Bros. with Miranda serving as co-producer and Chu directing. The musical was scheduled to be released last summer but was pushed to 2021 due to the ongoing pandemic.
Now, the wait is finally over and fans will get to check out the film when it arrives in theatres on June 18 and, in the U.S., on HBO Max on the same date.