Jon M. Chu May Direct Lin-Manuel Miranda’s ‘In the Heights’

For his next (potential) trick, Now You See Me 2 director Jon M. Chu is in talks to helm the long-developing big screen adaptation of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s hit Broadway musical — no, not Hamilton. The other one. The Weinstein Company recently acquired rights to In the Heights, Miranda’s Tony award-winning musical about a tight-knit Dominican-American community in Washington Heights, New York.

The Wrap reports that Chu is in early talks to direct In the Heights, based on Miranda’s musical which debuted on Broadway in 2008 and bowed on London’s West End in 2014. Miranda wrote the music and lyrics for In the Heights, in which he played the key role of Usnavi, a 20-something bodega owner who serves as the play’s narrator and guides the audience through the daily lives and struggles of the various characters. The show’s events unfold over the course of three days in Washington Heights, a largely Dominican-American neighborhood in New York.

Like Hamilton, Miranda’s music for In the Heights is influenced by hip-hop, but there’s also elements of salsa and traditional latin sounds. The show was nominated for 13 Tony awards and won four, including Best Musical, Best Original Score and Best Choreography.

Chu knows quite a bit about the latter, having made a name for himself with Step Up 2 and Step Up 3. More recently, he helmed Jem and the Holograms and Now You See Me 2, which hits theaters this weekend. Neither the Weinsteins nor Chu have confirmed that the director is in talks for the musical adaptation, and it’s also unclear if Miranda — who is heavily involved in the film version — will reprise his role from the original production.