Why Is 'Hamilton' Creator Lin Manuel Miranda's New Documentary Postponed?

Lin Manuel Miranda's highly anticipated Hulu documentary We Are Freestyle Love Supreme is postponing its release date. The film, which follows Miranda's hip-hop improv group, won't premiere on the streaming site June 5 out of solidarity with the protesters following the death of George Floyd.

The improv group Tweeted a statement on Wednesday, June 3. "We are for the freedom of expression, creativity, inclusion, equality, and most of all, love," the group began. "Our work has always centered around creating a safe space for those ideals to flourish. Our show does not exist without the operations of brilliant black artists that created two of our most beloved American art forms, jazz and hip-hop."

"Today our country, our world struggles to reach an end to this systemic racial injustice, intolerance, police brutality and hate," Freestyle Love Supreme continued. "We add our voices to that fight. To that struggle."

"Because in this moment, our collective attention is turned towards these most pressing concerns, we have decided to postpone the premiere of our film, We Are Freestyle Love Supreme. We believe that through activism, understanding and love, this country will realize that now is the time for lasting, real change and equity." The statement also included a link to Black Lives Matter.

The documentary focuses on the improv group's 15-year journey starting in 2005. Miranda and several Hamilton collaborators used to play an improv game in the basement of the Drama Bookshop. They put on performances together regularly before the success of musicals In The Heights and Hamilton. The film followed the group up to their Broadway reunion at New York City's Booth Theatre that ended earlier this year.

Director Andrew Fried (producer of Chef's Table, Cheer and The Goop Lab) began filming the group when Freestyle Love Supreme performed at Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 2005. His film features archival footage of Miranda, Thomas Kail (director of Grease Live and Fosse/Verdon), Anthony Veneziale (Bartlett), Christopher Jackson (Moana and After.Life), James Monroe Iglehart (Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt), Utkarsh Ambudkar (Pitch Perfect), Chris Sullivan (The Electric Company), Bill Sherman (musical director from Sesame Street) and Andrew Bancroft (SanFranLand).

We Are Freestyle Love Supreme premiered at the Sundance Film Festival earlier this year. The Hollywood Reporter called the documentary "a constant delight," and Variety praised it as "relentlessly feel good." It is the first movie to push off its premiere date because of the protests after George Floyd's death.

Newsweek did not receive a comment from Lin-Manuel Miranda at the time of publication.

A new release date for the documentary has yet to be announced.