Ben Platt discusses making the Dear Evan Hansen movie during the pandemic
© David Gordon
Discussing the project on Corden's talk show, Platt described the process as "bizarre…the whole process was weird because I never saw my director's face from the nose down. I never saw anyone on the crew from the nose down. I could only touch my four closest cast members.
In a way however, Platt states that fits the piece perfectly: "As you know Evan Hansen is quite a lonely, isolated guy…I'm in every minute of it."
He also revealed that, during the Atlanta shoot, he had to both live with and shield from his father (producer Marc Platt), with the Covid restrictions in place meaning that "I could never see him, or talk to him, or be in the same room as him. I'd use the front door of the house and he'd use the back door. I'd order him dinner, bring it to his door, knock and then run away."
Appearing alongside Platt in the movie will be Julianne Moore as Heidi, Kaitlyn Dever as Zoe, Amy Adams as Cynthia, Amandla Stenberg as Alana, Nik Dodani as Jared, Colton Ryan as Connor, and Danny Pino as Larry. DeMarius Copes, Gerald Caesar, Tommy Kane, Avery Bederman, Liz Kate, and Isaac Powell will also appear.
Steven Levenson will pen the script from his original stage version, with Stephen Chbosky (The Perks of Being a Wallflower) directing. Music and lyrics are by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul.
With a Tony-winning score by Pasek and Paul, and a Tony-winning book by Levenson, Dear Evan Hansen is described as follows: "A letter that was never meant to be seen, a lie that was never meant to be told, a life he never dreamed he could have. Evan Hansen is about to get the one thing he's always wanted: a chance to finally fit in."
The "Imagine" singer also revealed that he "100 per cent" plans to return to Broadway soon: "My current dream is to do something that isn't a musical…the idea is a straight piece of theatre without having to worry about my voice. I'd love to do a classic, maybe Amadeus, or Shakespeare."
Dear Evan Hansen will be released in UK cinemas on 11 October, a couple of weeks after its US premiere.
The stage production will also return in October – you can read more about that here.
Watch the Corden interview here:
