With director Stephen Chbosky’s (The Perks of Being a Wallflower, Wonder) Dear Evan Hansen arriving in theaters on September 24th, I recently got to speak with Ben Platt about bringing the Tony Award-winning Broadway musical to movie screens. If you’re not familiar with Dear Evan Hansen, the high school-set film is written for the screen by the show’s Tony-winning writer Steven Levenson, with music and lyrics by the show’s Oscar, Grammy, and Tony-winning songwriting team of Benj Pasek & Justin Paul. The story is about a high school outsider (Platt) who gains friendship and fame by falsely claiming that he had a tight bond with one of his deceased classmates. The film and play is a powerful look at isolation, social anxiety, and grief and shines a light on the importance of talking about mental health. Dear Evan Hansen also stars Kaitlyn Deaver, Amy Adams, Julianne Moore, Amandla Stenberg, Danny Pino, Colton Ryan, and Nik Dodani.
During the interview, he talked about what it was like on the last day of filming knowing it would probably be his final performance, how he is able to sing and cry at the same time, the new ending, and what they were able to add to the movie version that they didn’t have on stage.
Watch what Ben Platt had to say in the player above and below is exactly what we talked about.
Ben Platt
- What was it like on the last day of filming knowing it will probably be the final performance?
- How did he sing and cry at the same time?
- What are his favorite things they were able to add for the movie adaptation?
