Isn’t it neat! Hamilton’s Lin-Manuel Miranda to team with Disney composer Alan Menken for live action The Little Mermaid
Wouldn’t you think the collection’s complete?
Hamilton creator Lin-Manuel Miranda is teaming up with Disney composer Alan Menken to create the music for the live action The Little Mermaid.
The dream team will work together to write new music for the re-imagining of the 1989 animated classic to add to the original soundtrack, Deadline reported.
Isn’t it neat! Hamilton’s Lin-Manuel Miranda (R) is to team with Disney composer Alan Menken for the live action version of The Little Mermaid
Miranda has become the hot ticket thanks to his smash Broadway hit Hamilton, which he also wrote, composed and starred in.
Details of his exact involvement in The Little Mermaid are still being worked out; besides co-writing the music, he will have a producers credit and will supervise the story, but is not scheduled to write the script.
Miranda’s connection to Disney has been steadily growing: he is already due to star in the upcoming live action sequel of Mary Poppins, opposite Emily Blunt, Meryl Streep and Ben Whishaw.
Greener seaweed: The dream team will work together to write new music for the re-imagining of the 1989 animated classic to add to the original soundtrack
He also also worked Disney’s upcoming animated feature Moana, due in theatres in November.
He already has a soft spot for The Little Mermaid in particular, as his one-year-old son Sebastian is named after Ariel’s lobster companion.
Menken meanwhile has won eight Oscars on Disney films; four for Best Original Score and Four for best Original Song — one of each for The Little Mermaid, including Under The Sea.
Star: Miranda (pictured hosting the grease: Live! Q&A panel in New York on Monday) has become the hot ticket thanks to his smash Broadway hit Hamilton, which he also wrote, composed and starred in
Of his 19 nominations, only his first – ‘Mean Green Mother From Outer Space’ from Little Shop of Horrors – was not a Disney project.
Twice Menken has had two songs nominated for Best Song in the same year (1989’s The Little Mermaid and 1992’s Aladdin); and twice he’s had THREE songs nominated for Best Song in the same year (1991’s beauty And The Beast and 2007’s Enchanted).
Disney is not the only studio swimming after the Hans Christian Anderson’s fairy tale: Universal also have an adaptation in the works starring Chloe Grace Moretz.
Revisit: Disney has been enjoying recent success of its live action reboots, such as The Jungle Book
Ready made: The studio is furiously digging through its back catalogue of animated classics to mine for live action versions
Down the rabbit hole: The new wave kicked off with 2010’a Alice in Wonderland
Starting with 2010’s Alice In Wonderland and continuing through the recent successes of Cinderella, Maleficent, and The Jungle Book, Disney is furiously digging through its back catalogue of animated classics to mine for live action versions.
Emma Watson, Emma Thompson, Ewan McGregor and Ian McKellen will take on the roles of Belle, Mrs Potts, Lumiere and Cogsworth in 2017’s Beauty And The Beast, while Emma Stone is set to step into the animal-skin shoes of Ms De Vil for a Cruella stand alone.
Peter Pan, Pinocchio, Dumbo, The Sword In The Stone, Mulan, Winnie The Pooh, and Tinker Bell are all set to get live action treatments, as are Snow White’s sister Red Rose, Aladdin’s Genie and Cinderella’s Prince Charming.