SWEEP DREAMS
If Miranda wins Oscar it’ll give him EGOT
AFTER THE INSANITY surrounding his smash hit “Hamilton,” you would think creator Lin-Manuel Miranda would want a break. Instead, he has paved his way to a possible EGOT by penning a Disney hit.
The 37-year-old New York native is nominated for Best Original Song at the Oscars for “How Far I’ll Go,” which he wrote and composed with Mark Mancina and Samoan singersongwriter Opetaia Foa’i for the Disney film “Moana.”
A win could make him the youngest ever EGOT winner — meaning he would have nabbed the coveted combination of an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony award during his career.
But Miranda told the Daily News he never thought about obtaining an EGOT when writing the song — he just wanted to please his 10-year-old self.
“I’m trying to go into the Oscars with the excitement of a kid who used to tape them every year,” Miranda explained.
“My mom is my date because we used to watch the Oscars together — so I’m really trying to make my night about that, about that 10-year-old kid’s dream come true.”
Only a dozen people have ever become EGOT winners: Richard Rodgers, Helen Hayes, Rita Moreno, John Gielgud, Audrey Hepburn, Marvin Hamlisch, Jonathan Tunick, Mel Brooks, Mike Nichols, Whoopi Goldberg, Scott Rudin and Robert Lopez — who currently holds the spot for youngest winner at 38.
The chance to work on a Disney film came while Miranda’s Broadway musical “Hamilton” became a national sensation.
“It sort of helped me keep my sanity while everyone was freaking out about the show,” he said. “I would have to block off days to write.”
The Disney gig wasn’t the only big news he received that week.
“The ‘Moana’ experience has been such a thrill throughout, I got that job the same week I found out I was going to be a dad for the first time — so it was one of those life changing weeks,” Miranda said. “With the offer came a pair of plane tickets to New Zealand ... it was like, you’re going to be a dad, your life is changing, get on this plane.”
But Miranda’s accolades have never stopped him from being fiercely passionate about the current political climate.
The star, who is proudly Puerto Rican, calls President Trump’s recent Muslim ban “unconstitutional" and told the Daily News it is “not who we are as a country."
He also commented on the “Oscars So White" controversy.
“To say, ‘it’s better,’ ‘it’s worse,’ every year, is counterproductive,” he said of the diversity of Oscar nominees. “I think it’s more important to create work and create opportunities and find filmmakers and producers and people in power who are committed to a movie set looking more like our country looks, from everyone on the crew to the cast to the creative team."
The Feb. 26 Academy Awards will determine whether Miranda will join the exclusive club of four-award winners.
But it might not be easy for Miranda to nab the fourth trophy, as “How Fair I’ll Go” is up against two songs from the beloved film “La La Land.”
Miranda earned an Emmy for penning the song “Bigger” for the Tony awards. He’s taken home two Grammys for “In the Heights” (2009) and “Hamilton” (2016), and won three Tony Awards for “Hamilton,” in Original Score and Book of Musical, and “In the Heights” for Best Original Score in 2008.
Miranda also won a 2016 Pulitzer Prize in Drama for “Hamilton.”