VIDEO: Lin-Manuel Miranda Reflects on IN THE HEIGHTS, Then and Now!

Long before he brought us Hamilton, Lin-Manuel Miranda rocked Broadway with his first mega-hit- In the Heights. Now, fourteen years after it premiered off-Broadway, the beloved musical is changing the world from the big screen in a glorious adaptation with a screenplay co-written by Miranda himself.

"I am absurdly proud [of this film]. I think of talking to you on opening night in 2008, not at the red carpet because I was in costume, but on the way to the party at Chelsea Piers!" Lin recalled. "The fact that we get to celebrate this music and this story again, and with so many new friends and old friends... there are so many love letters to the thing that we spent three years making on Broadway."

Most of Miranda's original score is included in the film, with the addition of a new song in the credits. "We decided pretty early that we didn't think our problem would be writing new music for the film. Our challenge would be keeping as much of the very full score and getting that on screen. That being said, we needed music for the closing credits, and I thought, 'What interaction haven't I gotten to write...? Let's have a Nina/Usnavi collaboration!' So I wrote a song called 'Home All Summer' in November of 2019, before we all were home all summer. It was a real joy to get to write [for those characters] again."

You can catch In the Heights in theatres and on HBO Max now! Before you do, watch to hear more behind-the-scenes stories from Lin with BroadwayWorld's exclusive interview below!