Jon Chu in talks to Direct 'In the Heights' Movie

Image from In the Heights 

By Darian Scalamoni

Lin-Manuel Miranda is one of the most well-known people in all of pop culture right now due to his starring role and creation of the Broadway musical, Hamilton, which is nominated for a record sixteen Tony Awards and is expected to bring home most of them. It was In the Heights, however, that brought Miranda prominence across the entertainment/Broadway community as it was nominated for thirteen Tony Awards and winning four including Best Musical. Well now, it seems that the insanely successful 2008 stage production will be brought to the big screen with a director attached.

            According to THR, Jon Chu (G.I. Joe: Retaliation, Step Up 2: The Streets) is set to helm the adaptation of the musical. This wouldn’t be Chu’s first foray into a film with music involved as he directed the second and third installments of the Step Up series and even directed the Justin Bieber concert documentaries, Never Say Never and Believe.

            In the Heights was set up five years ago at Universal and was supposed to be directed by Kenny Ortega, yet the studio thought his proposed $37 million budget was a little too hefty, but this was pre-Hamilton, mind you. The musical follows narrator Usnavi as he struggles with the idea of shutting down his bodega shop and returning to his roots in the Dominican Republic from Manhattan’s heavily populated Dominican neighborhood in Washington Heights.

            Jon Chu’s latest film, Now You See Me 2 was released in theaters today and stars Jesse Eisenberg, Woody Harrelson, Morgan Freeman, Michael Caine, Mark Ruffalo, Daniel Radcliffe, Lizzy Caplan and Dave Franco.