Kenny Ortega to direct feature film version of Tony-winning 'In the Heights'

Kenny Ortega, director of the High School Musical franchise and Michael Jackson’s This Is It, will next helm a feature film version of the Tony-award-winning 2008 Broadway musical In the Heights, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The film — which will star Lin-Manuel Miranda, who composed, wrote, and starred in the stage production — will follow three days in New York City’s Dominican-American neighborhood of Washington Heights. Ortega recently bowed out of directing a remake of Footloose, telling EW.com at the October premiere of This Is It that he “wanted to take a few deep breaths and relax before I resurface.”