Lin-Manuel Miranda and Jon M. Chu are gearing up to release the movie of the summer, “In The Heights”.
Ahead of its release, Chu, who directed the upcoming flick, and Miranda, who composed the Broadway musical, covers Variety magazine‘s upcoming issue and shared what fans can expect of “In The Heights”.
“In The Heights” follows a bodega owner (Anthony Ramos) who has mixed feelings about closing his store and retiring to the Dominican Republic. The In The Heights musical made its Broadway debut in 2005.
According to Miranda, he fought to make the hit a movie for years.
“I was so naive,” he said, revealing Universal Pictures originally optioned the script. “I thought once a studio buys the rights to the movie, the movie’s getting made. I didn’t know the sheer tonnage of miles between acquiring the rights and a green light. You can find interviews of me being like, the ‘In the Heights’ movie is happening any minute now!”
But with Chu, who directed 2018’s “Crazy Rich Asians”, on board, the film is finally able to tell its important story.
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“When you are trying to make stories that change what we’ve seen before, you can get caught in the small things,” Chu told Variety. “But you try to do as much as you can, to be as truthful as you can. And the rest, other people are going to fill. We got to crack it open a little bit.”
He added, “This is a vaccine for your soul.”
“In The Heights” hits big screens on June 11.
Read more from Miranda and Chu at Variety.com.
