Lin-Manuel Miranda to direct film adaptation of OCTET
Posted: 4/2/26 at 9:20am
I love this score but really cannot imagine it as a film. I’ll be curious to see what they do.
Posted: 4/2/26 at 9:24am
Pretty exciting news. Tick Tick Boom was a show I never got into, but LMM's adaptation made it feel exciting and better than the material itself. Octet was a show I started out liking when I saw it, but felt lost its way toward the middle section, and definitely could have afforded to explode out of its production confines more. A movie adaptation could be exactly what it needs to fully click.
Posted: 4/2/26 at 9:55am
If I had infinite Hamilton and Encanto money, I would also be forcing my musical hyper-fixations on the world. He's just like me 🥲
Very much looking forward to this movie absolutely ruling my life.
Posted: 4/2/26 at 9:58am
Bill Condon has talked about how there's not a lot of stage musicals he thinks should be made into movies. To some extent, I do agree with him. Although in some cases, you need a real visionary to completely rethink it cinematically. Which is exactly what Rob Marshall accomplished with Chicago.
Lin has said that "I want to direct funky little musicals that no one else would make as a movie." As someone who personally finds Tick, Tick...BOOM! to be the very best movie musical of the decade so far, I'll definitely be following this project.
Posted: 4/2/26 at 10:10am
Someone once said "it's not about what a piece means, it's about HOW a piece means." Lin is someone woh gets that instinctively: he's neither someone who reinvents the wheel for its own sake, nor is he someone who is so overly precious with what he adapts that it feels limited or stuck.
I'd love to see him do a film adaptation of Company, and completely rebuild it from the ground up as a stylistic homage to the New Hollywood of the early 1970s. To me, Company resembles nothing so much as "what if you made a classic-era Woody Allen movie as a stage musical instead of a film," and it would be interesting to see the needle threaded in reverse and the musical rebuilt as a cinematic "product of its generation."
Posted: 4/2/26 at 10:42am
darquegk said: "I'd love to see him do a film adaptation of Company, and completely rebuild it from the ground up as a stylistic homage to the New Hollywood of the early 1970s.""
I actually would love to see him tackle Next to Normal.
Posted: 4/2/26 at 10:44am
I had to check when this was posted. Super unexpected.
Posted: 4/2/26 at 10:58am
What a wonderful piece of news. I love that he's using his power and access to resources this way. Good on Lin-Manuel!
Posted: 4/2/26 at 11:57am
The path from "gmorning, gnight" to an Internet detox musical is a winding one.
Posted: 4/2/26 at 12:05pm
Jeffrey Karasarides said: "darquegk said: "I'd love to see him do a film adaptation of Company, and completely rebuild it from the ground up as a stylistic homage to the New Hollywood of the early 1970s.""
I actually would love to see him tackle Next to Normal."
He'd do a great adaptation, but my heart of hearts says we want a horror director for n2n who will recognize the genre and allow it to be genuinely disturbing as much as it is moving. Like... Mike Flanagan maybe.
Posted: 4/2/26 at 12:59pm
This is so exciting. I saw Studio Theatre in DC’s production of this show last month and it was moving and excellent. Lin is a talented director and I look forward to this.
Also, a Next To Normal movie should be directed by Ari Aster.
Posted: 4/2/26 at 1:01pm
Rachel Zegler posted a cryptic picture on IG a month back of the word “Octet” in a crossword puzzle. Looks like this might be her rumored movie musical.
Posted: 4/2/26 at 1:23pm
It's a gorgeous musical and I think Lin could do something really interesting with it on screen.
It is being independently financed, and probably relatively low-budget, so between Lin and the alleged ridiculousness of the cast they should have no trouble drumming up a bidding war for the rights after it screens someplace like Sundance or Telluride.
Wonder when cameras will roll?
Posted: 4/2/26 at 5:09pm
Lin teased on his Instagram stories that the full cast will be revealed soon.
Posted: 4/2/26 at 5:53pm
Holy ****. I’m way too excited for this. I saw the premiere in nyc, then in Berkeley, DC and going to Chicago next month. It’s a top 5 for me.
Posted: 4/3/26 at 9:17pm
I hate to be the skeptical one, because I thought Tick… Tick… BOOM! was an unexpectedly fantastic movie musical so I refuse to doubt Lin-Manuel Miranda’s ability to bring out the best of the material. And I love that he’s directing a Dave Malloy musical.
But I cannot fathom how this show works as a film, even if I can imagine the ways a director can open up the musical.
I was listening to the score again last night, and I was reminded of the fact that most of the songs last forever, and even though it sounds like Malloy, he’s not at his most tuneful here. I realize that’s part of the point, and I enjoyed the show when I saw it at the Berkeley Rep.
So we’ll see. I like the idea of Miranda directing this show when he could be doing anything else and attracting an interesting cast.
Posted: 4/4/26 at 12:40am
this is a vanity project by miranda and malloy
which sounds like the name of a law firm
while artistic success is possible
commercial success is impossible
there is zero mainstream appeal
perhaps they can stunt cast oak
he must have some free time ever since they killed off his character on stagnant 19
Posted: 4/4/26 at 12:58am
MezzoDiva47 said: "
this is a vanity project by miranda and malloy
which sounds like the name of a law firm
while artistic success is possible
commercial success is impossible
there is zero mainstream appeal
perhaps they can stunt cast oak
he must have some free time ever since they killed off his character on stagnant19
"
If this is supposed to be a poem, I think your meter is off a little bit
Posted: 4/4/26 at 10:40am
Making whatever art you want when you’re otherwise not attached to it is vanity now? People produce and sponsor art for any number of reasons, where it’s commercial investment or just that they like the art someone makes. If Miranda has the money to make good art for arts sake, why not?
ugh I should have looked at who I was responding to before I posted
Updated On: 4/4/26 at 10:40 AM
Posted: 4/4/26 at 10:46am
I am giggling thinking of people watching this on their phones and having an existential crisis
Posted: 4/4/26 at 11:02am
raddersons said: "I amgiggling thinking of people watching this on their phones and having an existential crisis"
I was on the train to New York in early 2016, watching the first leaked bootleg of Hamilton, while posters of LMM in costume as Hamilton festooned almost every corner of the Amtrak (he was the cover story of their magazine at the time). It was a weird feeling.
Posted: 4/4/26 at 5:04pm
bear882 said: "I hate to be the skeptical one, because I thoughtTick… Tick… BOOM!was an unexpectedly fantastic movie musical so I refuse to doubt Lin-Manuel Miranda’s ability to bring out the best of the material. And I love that he’s directing a Dave Malloy musical.
But I cannot fathom how this show works as a film, even if I can imagine the ways a director can open up the musical.
I was listening to the score again last night, and I was reminded of the fact that most of the songs last forever, and even though it sounds like Malloy, he’s not at his most tuneful here. I realize that’s part of the point, and I enjoyed the show when I saw it at the Berkeley Rep.
So we’ll see. I like the idea of Miranda directing this show when he could be doing anything else and attracting an interesting cast."
The only thing I see being really hard to adapt is Little God. There's a lot they can do to flesh out the songs/characters
Posted: 4/6/26 at 5:38pm
Apparently filming is imminent, as Lin just posted pictures of set construction on Instagram.
Updated On: 4/6/26 at 05:38 PM
Posted: 4/6/26 at 9:21pm
raddersons said: "Making whatever art youwant when you’re otherwise not attached to it is vanity now? People produce and sponsor art for any number of reasons, where it’s commercial investment or just that they like the art someone makes. If Miranda has the money to make good art for arts sake, why not?
mallloy has some degree of talent
but also a level of arrogance that would make richard wagner blush
he constantly pushes the limits of what ppl are able to tolerate
ugh I should have looked at who I was responding to before I posted"
thank you
MezzoDiva47 has spoken
bow down accordingly
Updated On: 4/6/26 at 09:21 PM
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