Lin-Manuel Miranda, Star Of ‘Hamilton,’ To Make Movie Of Tony-Winning ‘In the Heights’

Lin-Manuel Miranda, the star and creator of Broadway’s smash hit Hamilton, is about to see his earlier Tony-winning play, In the Heights, become a movie. CBS News has announced that The Weinstein Co. wants to adapt In the Heights as a movie.

Lin-Manuel Miranda is currently the golden boy of show business. He is starring on Broadway in Hamilton, which has been nominated for a record-breaking 16 Tony Awards, and he has already won a Pulitzer and a Grammy. Not only does Miranda star as Alexander Hamilton in the musical, but he wrote the book, music, and lyrics. As previously reported by Inquisitr, Disney has hired Miranda to star in the new, live-action Mary Poppins Returns as Mary Poppins’ friend, Jack the lamplighter. And now, his 2008 musical, In the Heights, is going to be made into a movie.

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Dr. Lin-Manuel Miranda is the George M. Cohan of his generation: actor, singer, composer, director, producer, writer, and rapper. He was awarded a MacArthur Fellowship genius grant last year. He also received an honorary degree from Yeshiva University in 2009, an honorary doctorate from Wesleyan University in 2015, and an honorary doctorate from the University of Pennsylvania on May 16. He has won the Tony, the Grammy, and the Pulitzer Prizes, the prestigious Drama League Distinguished Performance Award, and the History Makers Award from the New York Historical Society. Miranda is married to attorney Vanessa Nadal. They have a son, Sebastian, who is almost 2-years-old.

In the Heights ran on Broadway from 2008 to 2011, and is currently touring around the world. Set in a Hispanic neighborhood in Washington Heights, Manhattan, In the Heights is the story of romance, dreams, and second chances. Usnavi, a bodega owner, longs to go back to the Dominican Republic, which he left as a child. Lin-Manuel Miranda created the role of Usnavi as well as writing the songs for the play. Vanessa wants to escape the barrio and get an apartment in a nice neighborhood downtown. Nina is the first of her family to go to college, and the first in the neighborhood to escape the barrio through higher education. Her parents don’t want her to date a boy who isn’t Hispanic. The Piragua Guy, who sells piraguas (Puerto Rican shaved ice) has a rivalry with an American ice cream shop, Mr. Softee. The inhabitants of the Heights must deal with money problems, a summer heatwave, death, and difficult decisions.

Given Miranda’s busy schedule, and the fact he is now 10 years older than the character he played originally, it’s uncertain what role — if any — he will have in the movie version of In the Heights. He may play another character, or he might only act as a backstage consultant.

The Weinstein Company picks up Lin-Manuel Miranda's In the Heights film adaptation: https://t.co/GP8l6jprGx pic.twitter.com/gC2TPNXWae

— CONSEQUENCE (@consequence) June 1, 2016

Harvey Weinstein is looking forward to bringing the In the Heights to the silver screen, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

“As a kid from Queens, I’ve always loved bringing New York stories to film. In the Heights and Lin-Manuel brought Washington Heights to Broadway back in 2008 and in the process turned the theater world on its head. The movie musicals of the 1950s were incredible, but In The Heights will revolutionize what movie audiences expect from the genre.”

Scott Sanders, a veteran of film and theater, will be producing the movie. Sanders is reportedly looking forward to working with Miranda and Weinstein.

“It’s been nearly 10 years since In the Heights opened on Broadway, revealing, for the first time, Lin-Manuel’s ground-breaking artistry to the theater world. I’m thrilled to be working with Lin and Harvey to share with audiences that same authentic sound and story from the Broadway stage to the big screen.”

[Photo by Theo Wargo/Getty Images]