The collaboration between Hamilton musical icon Lin-Manuel Miranda and the Walt Disney company has been a fruitful one so far: Miranda wrote and performed some of the songs for the upcoming animated adventure Moana and will appear in Mary Poppins Returns. Now, according to the man himself, he's also attached to work with Zootopia*/*Zootropolis co-director Byron Howard on a secret potential new film.
"That's the fun thing about working with someone and having it go well – you go, 'Okay, what else can we do?'" Miranda tells Vulture. "John Lasseter took me aside and said, 'I have an idea: Here's Byron, and you guys should start talking.'" But there is nothing he can say about the new project just yet, because it's so early in the genesis that the "parents" haven't even started work. "We literally haven't gotten in the room yet," he said, "but we're plotting."
Besides, Miranda has a full schedule for now. Apart from preparing for his performing duties on the Poppins sequel, he's been busy helping to set up new touring and other casts for Hamilton and is also in talks with the Mouse House about its planned live-action Little Mermaid. "We're in super-early talks — I literally don't have a title for what my job on The Little Mermaid is yet," he says. "Right now, it's the guy who wears the 'don't mess it up' hat. If I could sign a contract with that job title on it, that would be great! But that's sort of where we are."
Moana is out on in the US on 23 November before sailing to UK shores on 2 December.
Lin-Manuel Miranda and Alan Menken board Disney's new Little Mermaid
Hamilton creator joining Emily Blunt in the new Mary Poppins film