Hold Up! Oscar Winner Rita Moreno Will Not Join IN THE HEIGHTS Film

Despite an earlier report from the Hollywood Reporter, it has been revealed that Academy Award-winner Rita Moreno (West Side Story) will not join the cast of the upcoming big screen adaptation of the Tony Award-winning Best Musical, In The Heights, after all.

According to a retraction printed this evening, THR states that a studio publicist had confirmed negotiations were under way, but a subsequent an offer had either lapsed or been declined.

Reps for Moreno have stated that no discussions for the film are currently taking place.

According to the previous report, Moreno was to portray neighborhood matriarch, Abuela Claudia, a role originated on Broadway by Olga Merediz.

Anthony Ramos who originated the role of John Laurens and Philip Hamilton in "Hamilton" will star in the film adaptation of Lin-Manuel Miranda's hit 2005 Broadway musical.

"In the Heights" is set in WASHINGTON HEIGHTS in New York City and focuses on a bodega owner who is closing his store and retiring to the Dominican Republic after inheriting his grandmother's fortune.

"In the Heights" will hit theaters on June 26, 2020, released by Warner Bros., who picked up the movie last month after a heated bidding war following the rights' release from The Weinstein Co. The film's script will be written by Quiara Alegría Hudes. Jon M. Chu (Crazy Rich Asians) will direct the movie-musical. Anthony Bregman, Mara Jacobs and Scott Sanders are set to produce.

This past spring, Ramos played Usnavi in the KENNEDY Center production of "In the Heights." He performed alongside Vanessa Hudgens, Ana Villafañe, Mateo Ferro, Eden Espinosa, J. Quinton Johnso, Blanca Camacho, Saundra Santiago, Rick Negron, Virgil Gadson, Arianna Rosario, and Eliseo Roman. Watch a video from this production below!

The Tony Award-winning musical IN THE HEIGHTS features music & lyrics by Lin-Manuel Miranda and book by Quiara Alegría Hudes. The show opened on Broadway production in March 2008 and was nominated for 13 Tony Awards, winning four: Best Musical, Best Original Score, Best Choreography and Best Orchestrations. It won a Grammy Award for Best Musical Show Album and was also nominated for the 2009 Pulitzer Prize for Drama.

Lin-Manuel Miranda is an award-winning composer, lyricist, and performer, as well as a 2015 MacArthur Foundation Award recipient. His current musical, Hamilton - with book, music and lyrics by Mr. Miranda, in addition to him originating the title role - opened on Broadway in 2015. Hamilton was awarded the 2016 Pulitzer Prize in Drama and earned a record-breaking 16 Tony Nominations, winning 11 TONY AWARDS including two personally for Mr. Miranda for Book and Score of a Musical. The Original Broadway Cast Recording of Hamilton won the 2016 Grammy for Best Musical Theater Album.

Ramos is co-starring in police brutality drama "Monsters and Men." He can be seen next in Legendary's "Godzilla: King of Monsters." He also stars in the Netflix series "She's Gotta Have It."