Despite sitting atop the mega success of Hamilton, which dominated Broadway and was an absolute smash-hit when its film version arrived on Disney+ during the summer of 2020, Lin-Manuel Miranda can still have his whole day ruined by a bad tweet. While taking a break from filming the third season of His Dark Materials for HBO, the multi-talented Miranda made an appearance the Edinburgh TV Festival, where he opened up about navigating the self-esteem crushing minefield of social media. Via Variety:
“[The voices] can be loud in your head, good and bad,” the “Hamilton” writer and actor said. “And when you’re an artist who puts things into the world, you know, you’re always having to balance how much you let in in terms of feedback and how you let it affect you. And you know, one loud negative voice can be a day-ruiner. And that’s anybody who interacts on social media, ever. I think that’s not unique to me.”
Miranda speaks from experience. Following the premiere of In The Heights, he faced intense criticism for the film’s lack of Afro-Latino representation, which prompted him to release an apology statement where he wrote, “I’m learning from the feedback, I thank you for raising it, and I’m listening.” While talking to the Edinburgh TV Festival crowd, Miranda said that this type of criticism is ultimately good in the end.
“I think the good thing about it — and I think it’s a very good thing — is that, you know, the distance between anyone and an audience is gone,” Miranda said. “And I think that can be terribly exciting.”
(Via Variety)
