'Hamilton' Movie Shot During Live Show with Audiences
- Details
- Category: Interviews
- Created: Wednesday, 01 July 2020 16:05
- Published: Wednesday, 01 July 2020 16:19
- Written by Lupe R Haas
The world will get to experience the hit "Hamilton" Broadway musical on Disney+ Friday, June 3rd. What we'll see in the Lin-Manuel Miranda movie version will be the same exact stage play except with an interactive view. Miranda, the cast, and the film's director Thomas Kail reunited virtually to discuss how they shot the show as business as usual during a live performance with audience.
Originally intended as a movie theater release for 2021, the pandemic caused Disney and Miranda to rethink its plans, and allow the filmed version to become available for Disney+ audiences sooner.
To film the stage play, cameras were brought in for three shows in June of 2016. As the saying goes, "the show must go on," and so it did with cameras taking up seats next to audience members. The cameras on stage were not a nuisance for the audience, since some of the scenes were filmed without a live audience.
"So the shows that we did with an audience did not stop," says the director. "The cameras were positioned in the audience. The audience sat around them, but the-all the cameras were in the house or on stage, and we just ran the show as we always did."
Some of the musical numbers were shot on stage with a steady cam, or a camera on a crane and dolly. He wanted to give a different feel to the proximity to the show.
"But the task for me, was to create a document of what it felt like to be in that room," says Kail. This is not trying to be the show."
Miranda, however, says "this is better than the best seat in the house at Hamilton." The cast had nothing to fear by adding cameras to the show.
"This might be the best rehearsed movie of all time. [LAUGHS] Outside of maybe like certain David Fincher scenes. I don’t know another movie cast that got to do like literally hundreds, if not thousands, of performances before the cameras went on. But our job was not to think about that. Our job was to do our show."
The live element of the stage play is also captured in the musical numbers. Miranda guarantees the sound will also be incredible in your home.
The release of HAMILTON couldn't be more timely. The themes hit home now more than ever and reveals history keeps repeating itself.
HAMILTON begins streaming when the clock ticks midnight on Friday, June 3.