After shelling out a whopping $50 million to acquire the rights to the Tony award-winning musical, In the Heights, Warner Bros. is racing to hit that 2020 release date and casting is officially underway.
Last week, Variety announced that Hamilton alumnus and fellow Nuyorican actor Anthony Ramos is in talks to star and presumably take on the film’s lead character, Usnavi, originally played by Lin-Manuel Miranda. There’s been no official confirmation though a tweet from Crazy, Rich Asians director, Jon M. Chu, who is set to helm the In the Heights adaptation appears to indicate something more concrete.
Following the story of a New York bodega owner who wins the lottery and decides to leave his hometown, In the Heights has been a hot property for film since it finished running on Broadway. The rights were originally purchased by The Weinstein Company, but in the wake of Harvey Weinstein’s numerous rape allegations, Miranda got back the rights which he eventually sold to Warner Bros.
It would definitely make sense for Ramos to star. He’s previously worked opposite Miranda in the musical short 21 Chump Street and, most famously, in Hamilton, playing the dual roles of John Laurens and Alexander Hamilton’s son, Phillip. Since that time Ramos has gone on to star in the Netflix series She’s Gotta Have It, Reinaldo Marcus Green’s Monsters and Men and has a supporting role as Lady Gaga’s bestie in the recent remake of A Star is Born. Ramos is certainly a worthy successor for the role. Another good excuse to put the In the Heights soundtrack on right now.
In the Heights arrives in theaters June 26, 2020.