Netflix Acquires Film Adaptation of TICK, TICK... BOOM! with Lin-Manuel Directing, Andrew Garfield in Talks to Star

Steven Levenson to Write the Adaptation

By: Jun. 19, 2019
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Netflix Acquires Film Adaptation of TICK, TICK... BOOM! with Lin-Manuel Directing, Andrew Garfield in Talks to Star

Netflix has acquired worldwide rights to Imagine Entertainment's film adaptation of Tick, Tick...Boom!

Tony, Grammy, Emmy and Pulitzer Prize-winning composer, lyricist and actor Lin-Manuel Miranda, who starred in the New York City Center's Encores! Off-Center production of Tick, Tick...Boom!, will direct the film.

Andrew Garfield is in talks to star, according to Variety. Garfield recently won a Tony for his role in the "Angels in America" revival.

Tony Award Winner Steven Levenson (Dear Evan Hansen, Fosse/Verdon) will adapt the screenplay based on the original stage show by the late Rent creator Jonathan Larson.

Larson is the playwright behind Rent, the multiple award-winning musical, including the Tony Award for Best Musical in 1996. Rent was awarded a Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1996, an honor Miranda's Hamilton also received in 2016. Only nine musicals have won the Pulitzer for Drama. Larson tragically died the night before the show's first preview performance Off-Broadway. Rent ultimately spent twelve years on Broadway, MAKING IT the 11th longest running show in Broadway history.

Set in 1990, Tick, Tick...Boom! tells the story of Jon, an aspiring theater composer who is waiting tables in New York City while writing Superbia - which he hopes will be the next great American musical and finally give him his big break. Jon is also feeling pressure from his girlfriend Susan, who is tired of continuing to put her life on hold for Jon's career aspirations. Meanwhile, his best friend and roommate Michael, has given up on his creative aspirations for a high paying advertising job on Madison Avenue and is about to move out. As Jon approaches his 30th birthday, he is overcome with anxiety - wondering if his dream is worth the cost.

Brian Grazer, Ron Howard and Julie Oh for Imagine Entertainment; and Lin-Manuel Miranda will produce the film with Julie Larson and Steven Levenson executive producing.

Miranda's first musical, In The Heights, opened on Broadway in 2008 and was nominated for 13 Tony Awards, winning four, including Best Musical. Miranda is currently executive producing its film adaptation with director Jon Chu in NYC for Warner Bros. His latest musical, Hamilton, opened on Broadway in 2015 with Miranda in the title role. Hamiltonwas nominated for a record-breaking 16 Tony Awards, winning 11, as well as multiple additional prestigious awards, including the Pulitzer Prize. There are currently six companies of Hamilton (Broadway, Chicago, London, and three U.S. touring productions). Additional Broadway credits includeFreestyle Love Supreme (co-creator/guest performer; opening fall 2019), Bring It On: The Musical (co-composer/co-lyricist, Tony nomination for Best Musical) and West Side Story (2009 revival, Spanish translations). Miranda is the recipient of the 2015 MacArthur Foundation Award and the 2018 Kennedy Center Honors. He has actively supported the relief efforts in Puerto Rico following Hurricane Maria in September 2017, creating the benefit single, "Almost Like Praying" in support of the Hispanic Federation's UNIDOS Disaster Relief and Recovery Program, and performing in Hamilton in Puerto Rico in support of the Flamboyan Arts Fund. He received an Emmy Award with Tom Kitt for their song, "Bigger" from the 67th Annual Tony Awards. TV/Film credits include Fosse/Verdon(executive producer), CURB YOUR ENTHUSIASM (2018 Emmy nomination), Saturday Night Live(2017 Emmy nomination), Sesame Street, The Electric Company, House, Freestyle Love Supreme, DuckTales, 200 Cartas, The Odd Life of Timothy Green, Moana (2017 Academy Award and Golden Globe nominations; Grammy Award for Best Original Song for "How Far I'll Go"), and starred opposite Emily Blunt in Mary Poppins Returns directed by Rob Marshall (2019 Golden Globe nomination).

Levenson is the Tony Award-winning book writer of Dear Evan Hansen. Opening on Broadway in 2016, Dear Evan Hansen currently has a U.S. touring production, and will be launching a new production in London in the fall. In television, Levenson co-created and executive produced the FX limited series Fosse/Verdon, and was a writer and producer on Showtime's Masters Of Sex. Honors include the Obie Award, Outer Critics Circle Award, Drama League Award, Helen Hayes Award, and the John Gassner Memorial Playwriting Award. Upcoming projects include the screenplay for an original movie musical with Marc Platt Productions at Amblin.



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