From Oscar Contender 'Tick Tick...Boom!' To 'Encanto' and More, Lin-Manuel Miranda Has Been On Fire Lately...And He's Not Slowing Down
Lin-Manuel Miranda has been on fire lately.
It's honestly really a stretch to say "lately," even in the context of his song "We Don't Talk About Bruno" from Disney's Encanto reaching number one on the Billboard charts last week - outclassing literally every Disney song that has come before it, including Frozen's famed "Let It Go."
Lin-Manuel Miranda has consistently been putting out hit songs and stories since Hamilton hit Broadway in 2015 - and really, even before that, because the Broadway production of In The Heights originally premiered in 2008.
It's easy to say that Miranda is this generation's Alan Menken or Howard Ashman - his history of putting out proven hits for both stage and screen looks a lot like the track record of the two famed composers responsible for both Little Shop of Horrors and The Little Mermaid.
Since Lin-Manuel Miranda's star doesn't look like it's going to stop rising anytime soon (speaking of The Little Mermaid, he's already hard at work on the upcoming live-action version) let's take a look at everything the artist has got coming up - and some lesser-known projects that people might have overlooked or forgotten in all the recent hype.
Moana
Let's not forget Moana! The 2016 Disney Animated Feature, starring Dwayne Johnson and newcomer Auli'i Cravalho was a carefully researched love letter to Polynesian culture, featuring totally awesome and catchy songs like "How Far I'll Go" and "You're Welcome."
Moana may have lost the Animated Film Oscar to Zootopia (another excellent Disney film), but that doesn't diminish how beautiful and powerful the story - and the music - is. (Plus, you can't forget when Disney adds an official member to their Princess lineup.)
Mary Poppins Returns
Did you forget that Lin-Manuel Miranda played alongside Emily Blunt in the 2018 sequel to Disney's Mary Poppins, Mary Poppins Returns. The audience score on Rotten Tomatoes may only have reached a 65% - it's hard to imitate a classic, especially a classic starring the legendary Julie Andrews - the critical reviews gave it an 80%. The critical consensus reads:
"Mary Poppins Returns relies on the magic of its classic forebear to cast a familiar -- but still solidly effective -- family-friendly spell."
Definitely sounds like it was a fun one - and besides, what Lin-Manuel Miranda fan wouldn't want to see his goofy self stand where Dick Van Dyke once stood?
Vivo
Vivo was the film that was directly overshadowed by the success of Encanto. This Sony Pictures animated release is another cultural love letter - this one to the music of Cuban culture.
In this sweet animated picture, featuring a story and eight original songs all concieved by the artist himself, Lin-Manuel Miranda voices a talented little kinkajou named Vivo, who plays music in a lively Havana square with his owner, Andrés. But when Vivo awakes one morning to discover that Andrés has died in his sleep, it's up to him to take the musician's secret love ballad to Miami, so that he can give it to the love of his life, a retiring superstar named Marta (voiced by Gloria Estefan).
Along the way, Vivo befriends a young girl named Gabi, who joins him on his quest.
The film scored very well on Rotten Tomatoes - so if you missed out, it's definitely worth the watch.
The Little Mermaid
As we mentioned before, Lin-Manuel Miranda is already hard at work on the music for the live-action remake of the classic 1989 animated film The Little Mermaid. This film caused quite a stir a few years ago when they announced the casting of Halle Bailey, a Black actress, in the role of Ariel, but most sane people quickly got over it when they remembered that Ariel, being a FISH, has no perscribed race to begin with.
The rest of the cast for this upcoming 2023 flick includes Daveed Diggs (who played Lafayette and Jefferson in Hamilton) as Sebastian, Room's Jacob Tremblay as Flounder, Awkwafina as Scuttle, and Being The Ricardos' Javier Bardem as the intimidating but lovable King Triton.
The Kingkiller Chronicle
We don't yet know much about this upcoming film The Kingkiller Chronicle, but it's based on a book series by author Patrick Rothfuss, about a musician and adventurer recalling the events of his life. In other words...this is a Bard movie. (Fans of The Witcher character Jaskier will be clapping their hads with glee right about now.)
The screenplay for the film was written by Lindsay Beer, best known for her 2018 comedy film Sierra Burgess Is A Loser, and the legendary Sam Raimi of the Spider-Man franchise (the Tobey Maguire one, we mean) is set to direct.
This is a different one for Lin-Manuel Miranda: This time around, he's being billed as the producer.
Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe
Speaking of Lin-Manuel Miranda as producer, here's another one he's got going on: Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe, based on a 2014 novel of the same name by author Benjamin Alire Sáenz.
This one is another movie about the intersection of Latino and American culture, much like In The Heights or Vivo: It tells the story of two Mexican-American teens who struggle with such issues as race, relationships, identity, and sexuality. The teens, named Aristotle Mendoza and Dante Quintana, will be played by actors Max Palayo and Reese Gonzalez, respectively.
Miranda was apparently approached about joining the project after voicing the audiobook of the novel.
The Making Of
Here's a rarity: A movie that Lin-Manuel Miranda is NOT in the driver's seat of in any capacity. The composer, director, and producer seems to be taking a bit of a break on this one, simply taking an acting role in this upcoming star-packed rom-com. This movie, written by Ed Zwick and Marshall Herskovitz, is honestly pretty meta:
Two filmmakers who have been married for a long time - played by Diane Keaton and Richard Gere - are trying to work on a project about their lives while simultaneously fixing their flagging relationship. In order to make this film, they have to cast younger versions of themselves - enter Lin-Manuel Miranda and Blake Lively.
That's already enough of a setup for us to know this is going to be absolutely hilarious - and it'll be nice, after all these years, to see Miranda truly just acting again.
