The Broadway musical Hamilton, Lin-Manuel Miranda’s hip-hop version of American history, is expected to sweep the Tony Awards this Sunday night.
But despite the frenzy, Alexander Hamilton’s rise and fall won’t be seen on the big screen anytime soon, according to sources.
It’s a good time for Hollywood musicals. Into the Woods and Les Miserables scored at the box office, reviving a genre that many thought was dead.
Television has been equally receptive. “Glee” ended its run, but NBC continues to find success filming live versions of musical classics such as “The Sound of Music” and “The Wiz.”
“Gypsy,” “Cats” and “Guys and Dolls” are making their way to screens, and Miranda’s Tony-winning “In the Heights” will get the movie treatment from the Weinstein Company.
But Miranda isn’t even taking meetings. The creator and star is focused on finishing out his run with the Broadway production (set to end next month) and mounting a stage version in Chicago.
At the same time, “Hamilton” backers, including producers Jeffrey Seller, Sander Jacobs, Jill Furman and the Public Theater, where the show originated, are focused on launching a national tour that will begin in Los Angeles in March 2017.
Eager movie producers will have to wait until Miranda clears his schedule. He has to film “Mary Poppins Returns, and is also working on the music for the Disney animated film “Moana.”
Miranda was disenchanted by his Hollywood experience on “In the Heights.” Universal originally planned to make a movie of the musical in 2011 with Kenny Ortega (High School Musical) directing, only to scrap the project. Last month, Weinstein Company resuscitated the project.
In a Rolling Stone interview, Miranda joked that it will take 20 years for Hamilton to become a movie: “Someone’s going to have the brilliant idea of how to make this into a film on its own terms, filming is an act of translation.”
Hollywood’s attempts to mount big-musical productions often take years. Six years after its Broadway debut, by storm, The Book of Mormon is only now starting creative meetings on a movie. It’s been 13 years since Wicked opened, and there is no screen version yet.
Rent” and The Producers were the popular at their time, playing to sell out crowds and winning awards. But when the poor movie versions debuted, they failed.
Miranda is willing to wait as long as it takes to find the right partners for Hamilton the movie.
