Lin-Manuel Miranda, the celebrated playwright of the hit Broadway musical Hamilton, is ready for the premiere of his directorial debut at the AFI Film Festival in November this year before eventually releasing it on Netflix. Titled Tick, Tick… Boom!, the narrative will revolve around a theatre composer who realises that he has achieved nothing as he gets closer to his 30th birthday.
Tick, Tick… Boom! has been confirmed as the opening feature of the AFI Festival by the officials. The President and CEO of AFI, Bob Gazzale, explained the decision to start with Miranda’s debut feature by describing his artistic vision as “imperative”. Starring the likes of Andrew Garfield and Vanessa Hudgens, Tick, Tick… Boom! promises to be an interesting start to the film festival.
In an interview, Hudgens revealed: “We started right before Covid. We were in rehearsals every day, dancing, singing, just being put through the whole musical theatre works – which we both love. We love it. We live for that. That’s like playtime. And then we started principal photography, and I think got only a couple days in and had to shut down the entire thing. And then we picked it back up in September, and we had to go back into rehearsals because it had been months, but we picked it up there.”
Adding, “It was challenging because of Covid. It was the first production we had done since the lockdown. Rules were very restrictive for cast and crew, for everyone involved, but it kind of made everyone have to go the extra mile in order to be there.
“But Lin being the shining light that he is brought such an energy of joy and playfulness and just excitement, because he loves Jonathan Larson and he loves Tick, Tick Boom!
“He’s been dreaming about this as long as he can remember. So the fact that he got to do it, that radiates. That’s a whole other energy. And for us to be there with him – we all have our own connections I think with Jonathan Larson, and it just felt like there were moments of magic, and he’s a big reason why that was.”
