Lin-Manuel Miranda To Direct Film Adaptation Of Musical ‘Octet’

Lin-Manuel Miranda will direct a film adaptation of playwright-composer Dave Malloy‘s Octet, a critically acclaimed musical that debuted Off Broadway in 2019.

The project was revealed today by Miranda’s 5000 Broadway Productions, which also announced that producer Julie Oh is joining the company as the new Head of Film & TV and will serve as producer on Octet along with John Skidmore for Best Kept Secret Productions and Luis A. Miranda, Jr., President, 5000 Broadway Productions.

Writer and composer Malloy is adapting his own book of a musical for the screen version and will also serve as Executive Producer.

Octet will be Miranda’s follow up to his two-time Academy Award nominated film directorial debut tick, tick…BOOM! Oh served as a producer at Imagine Entertainment where she produced tick, tick…BOOM! and oversaw the film’s acquisition by Netflix.

Cast announcement will be forthcoming.

“I haven’t stopped thinking about Octet since I saw Annie Tippe’s premiere production in November of 2019,” Miranda said in a statement. “Dave Malloy’s score is versatile, brilliant and grows more relevant with each passing year. It won’t leave me alone so here we are.”

Said Malloy, “I am over the moon that Lin-Manuel is turning Octet into a movie. I was utterly gobsmacked by his work on tick, tick…Boom!, and feel so honored to have such a beacon of the musical theater world bring this piece into a new life. As a brilliant storyteller, fellow internet junkie, and dear friend, I know he’s going to make something amazing. And our cast is completely ridiculous.”

Octet tells the story of eight internet-obsessed people who meet in a church basement and lock their phones in a box. The “octet” struggle with digital dependency and chart their compulsions using only “the analog vibrancy of their own voices.”

“With witty lyrics, shimmering harmonies, and virtuosic solos, Octet sings of connection, redemption, hope – and how we can be truly present with each other,” today’s announcement reads.

After Octet, Malloy was Tony-nominated for his 2016 Broadway musical Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812.  

Executive Producers on the Octet film are Johnny Holland (Friendship, Dumb Money), Owen Panettieri, and Diana DiMenna. The film is being financed and Executive Produced by Sander Jacobs, Caren Jacobs, TodayTix Group, Jeffrey Seller, Teresa Tsai, and John Gore for Broadway.com.

Regarding Oh’s hiring at 5000 Broadway, Miranda said, “Julie Oh is a masterful producer and creative with a clear vision. Her contributions to tick, tick…BOOM! were essential to its very existence, and I’m looking forward to continuing our collaboration on Octet and with future projects at 5000 Broadway Productions.”