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‘I’m gonna kill you’: Lin-Manuel Miranda reveals hilarious DM from Taika Waititi after Encanto release

Lin-Manuel Miranda has revealed the direct message he received from director Taika Waititi following the release of Disney’s Encanto last year.

The Hamilton composer wrote the songs for the hit animated musical, including the chart hit “We Don’t Talk About Bruno”.

In an interview with Variety, Miranda looked back on the immediate reaction to the success of “We Don’t Talk About Bruno”.

“Honestly, before it ever left my house, it was my father-in-law, Frank,” said Miranda. “He was like, ‘Lin, I know I’m not supposed to listen when you’re writing. But I’ve been singing ‘We don’t talk about Bruno’ in my head for three f***ing days!’

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“And that was before I think I even sent it to [the film’s] creative [team] – he just heard me caterwauling in my office.”

According to Miranda, he was sent a message by Thor: Love and Thunder filmmaker Waititi after the film was released on Disney Plus.

He continued: “Then my wife and I went on vacation for two weeks and I started getting messages: First from friends, ‘My kids can’t stop singing it!,’ because it really exploded when it hit Disney Plus.

Mirabel and Bruno in ‘Encanto' (Disney)
Mirabel and Bruno in ‘Encanto' (Disney)

“Then I got a Twitter DM from Taika Waititi, who I’m friendly with but I don’t know that well, who was like, ‘I’m gonna kill you – it’s great, but my kids won’t stop singing it!’ And then when we got back it was like it had taken over the world.”

Despite being the breakout hit from Encanto, “We Don’t Talk About Bruno” was controversially not nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Song.

The film’s producers instead pushed “Dos Oruguitas”, which received a nomination but ultimately lost out to Billie Eilish and Finneas’s James Bond theme song “No Time to Die”.