Yesterday Lin-Manuel Miranda sat down with Vulture to discuss his upcoming work and relationship with Disney. Since his exit from his smash broadway hit musical Hamilton, Miranda has been busy at work with the Magic Kingdom. His next project is Mary Poppins Returns starring alongside Emily Blunt and is expected to be heading to London soon to shoot. But first, he will celebrate the release of Disney’s Moana, an animated feature that Miranda wrote several songs for.
It was revealed this past summer that Miranda had been working on Moana, but he’s been secretly working on it for years. In fact, Disney chief creative officer John Lasseter and Moana directors John Musker and Ron Clements hired him way before Hamilton became a huge success.
Miranda looks to continue this collaborative relationship saying:
That’s the fun thing about working with someone and having it go well — you go, ‘Okay, what else can we do?’
Lasseter took me aside and said, ‘I have an idea: Here’s Byron, and you guys should start talking.’
Unfortunately, Miranda couldn’t divulge any specifics about the project, even saying it could take years before we hear anything given the slow pace of the animation process. He added, “We literally haven’t gotten in the room yet- but we’re plotting.”
Besides the “secret project,” we do have the live-action adaptation of The Little Mermaid to look forward to, which Miranda signed on for last July. It’s publicly known that Miranda is a huge fan of the 1989 Oscar winning film, even naming his son Sebastian. He had this to say about the project: “This came out of a conversation with Disney, and basically they were like, ‘There’s no bigger fan of this movie than you and no bigger public supporter.'”
It was reported that Miranda would co-produce along with writing some new songs for the film with Alan Menken, but it’s still unclear what his position is, adding:
We’re in super-early talks — I literally don’t have a title for what my job on The Little Mermaid is yet. Right now, it’s the guy who wears the ‘don’t mess it up’ hat. If I could sign a contract with that job title on it, that would be great! But that’s sort of where we are.
If this requires new music, I’m here for that, and if this requires me weighing in on who makes this thing, I’m here for that. If this requires me just saying, ‘That doesn’t look like it’s underwater,’ I’m even here for that! It’s going to be a huge challenge to not make it feel uncanny valley–ish. I’m such a fan that I can’t picture where I’d fit into that universe, But no matter what, I’m here for the ride.
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