Dear Evan Hansen is a 2021 American coming-of-age musical film directed by Stephen Chbosky and written by Steven Levenson, based on the 2015 stage musical. Ben Platt plays Evan Hansen, reprising the performance he originated on stage. The cast also includes Kaitlyn Dever, Amandla Stenberg, Nik Dodani, Colton Ryan, Danny Pino, Julianne Moore, and Amy Adams.
Dear Evan Hansen premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 9, 2021, and was released in the United States on September 24 by Universal Pictures. The film underperformed at the box office, grossing $19 million against a $27–28 million budget, and received generally negative reviews from critics. Some of the criticism was aimed at the casting of then 27-year-old Platt as a high school student, which some attributed to nepotism, as his father Marc Platt was a producer on the film.
Plot Seventeen-year-old Evan Hansen lives with social anxiety and depression. His therapist Dr. Sherman recommends that he write letters to himself detailing why "today will be a good day." Evan's mother, Heidi, suggests that he ask people to sign his cast, after Evan had fallen out of a tree and broken his arm, to try and make friends. At school, Evan writes his letter to himself, wondering whether anyone would notice if he disappeared.
Evan's classmate, Connor Murphy, offers to sign his cast, taking up a lot of space. He finds Evan's letter and becomes furious at the mention of his sister, Zoe, who he learns Evan is attracted to. Believing that Evan wrote the letter to provoke him, Connor storms out with the letter in hand. Three days later, Evan is called to the principal's office and is told by Connor's parents, Cynthia and Larry, that Connor died by suicide. Despite Evan's attempts to tell the truth, the two misinterpret the letter Connor stole as a suicide note addressed to Evan, with Connor's name on his cast solidifying their belief.
Evan is invited to the Murphys' house for dinner. Under pressure from Cynthia, he invents a friendship between himself and Connor, manufacturing a story about breaking his arm while with Connor at an orchard the Murphys visited. Evan enlists his family friend, Jared, in fabricating backdated emails between him and Connor to confirm his story. Zoe wonders why Connor included her name in his suicide note due to past experiences. Evan, still unable to tell the truth, tells Zoe all the reasons he loves her, pretending the reasons were from Connor's perspective.
Alana Beck, a classmate with social issues similar to Evan's, proposes "The Connor Project," a student group dedicated to keeping Connor's memory alive, with an upcoming assembly as the kickoff. At the assembly, Evan gives a speech about his loneliness and friendship with Connor, retelling the orchard story. A video of the speech goes viral, with Evan's words being used as hope to people dealing with mental illness. Zoe is overcome by the positive reception and thanks Evan for helping her family.
Evan and Alana launch a crowdfunding campaign through The Connor Project to reopen the orchard. Evan begins to neglect his mother, The Connor Project, and his therapy in favor of spending time with the Murphys. When Zoe comes over to Evan's house one night, she confesses her feelings for him and the two begin a romantic relationship. Meanwhile, Heidi shows up at the Murphys' for dinner, during which Cynthia and Larry offer to give Connor's college fund to Evan. Heidi declines, refusing charity from the wealthy Murphys.
When Alana begins to doubt Evan's friendship with Connor, Evan emails her his therapy letter, saying it was Connor's suicide note. Alana posts the letter on her social media in order to get The Connor Project to its funding goal. Online commenters question why Connor wrote a suicide note to Evan but not his family, accusing the Murphy family of mistreating him. Due to backlash, Alana deletes the letter from social media, but she is too late, as the letter had already been shared across the internet. During an argument between Cynthia and Larry, Evan comes clean. Devastated, Connor's family keep the truth hidden out of fear Evan will harm himself also still seeing him as a second son, and Zoe and Evan break up. Evan admits to his mother that his fall from the tree was a suicide attempt. Heidi apologizes for not seeing how deeply Evan was hurting and discussing how his absent father scarred him. Wanting to take responsibility, Evan uploads a video confessing the truth.
Alone again, he reads a list of Connor's favorite books and gets in touch with those who truly knew him. He receives a video of Connor performing music while in rehab, passing it along to the Murphys, Alana, and Jared. Evan meets with Zoe at the reopened orchard dedicated to Connor's memory. They reconcile, with Zoe telling Evan she wanted him to see the orchard, the one place Connor loved. Evan writes himself a letter, vowing not to hide or lie and encouraging himself to move forward in life.
Cast
Production
Development
Universal Pictures purchased the film rights to the musical in November 2018, hiring Stephen Chbosky as director, and the musical's writer, Steven Levenson, to convert the story into a screenplay for the film. Marc Platt and Adam Siegel would serve as producers, while the show's lead producer Stacey Mindich, and composers Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, would serve as executive producers alongside Levenson and Michael Bederman.
Casting In June 2020, Ben Platt, who originated the role of Evan Hansen on stage, was expected to reprise his role for the film, and Kaitlyn Dever entered negotiations to star as Zoe Murphy. On June 18, 2020, Platt said that he intended to reprise the role unless the COVID-19 pandemic had delayed production. Stephen Chbosky explained that the film's main goal was to capture and immortalize Platt's performance, saying that "His understanding of the character is so complete and so profound. I couldn't imagine anybody else playing it. It's his part. I felt very strongly about it. And to me it was never even a consideration." He later explained that this was the reason why the film omitted the musical's opening number, "Anybody Have a Map", saying that "We're really on Evan's journey. It freed us up to meet all the characters through Evan. And it binds the audience to a way in Evan that is so valuable."
In August 2020, Kaitlyn Dever was officially cast as Zoe Murphy and Amandla Stenberg joined the cast as Alana Beck, a role that has been expanded upon for the film. That same month, Nik Dodani was cast as Jared Kleinman (now Kalwani) while Colton Ryan was cast as Connor Murphy, a role Ryan understudied on Broadway. Near the end of that month, Amy Adams and Danny Pino joined the cast as Cynthia and Larry Murphy, the latter of whom was re-conceived for the film as Larry Mora, their children's stepfather. In September 2020, Julianne Moore and DeMarius Copes joined the cast of the film. Moore was cast to play Heidi Hansen and Copes, in his film acting debut, was cast as Oliver, one of Zoe Murphy's friends and a new character created specifically for the film. That same month, Gerald Caesar joined the cast of the film as Josh, one of the high school students. In October 2020, newcomer Liz Kate joined the cast of the film as Gemma. In November 2020, Isaac Cole Powell joined the cast of the film, as Rhys, a high school jock.
Filming On August 25, 2020, Ben Platt confirmed that principal photography had begun. It was shot in Los Angeles and Atlanta, with primary filming with the main cast taking place in September and expected to end around Thanksgiving. About making the film during the COVID-19 pandemic, Kaitlyn Dever said to Variety, "I'm very happy that we're able to make something so special during such a strange and sad and confusing times... I have gotten used to the 'doing nothing' part of my job, which is just sitting and waiting for something to happen. Now, I feel like I'm really geared up for this and ready to go." Additional filming took place in Fayetteville, Georgia, which included scenes involving Ellison State Park. The high school scenes were filmed at Our Lady of Mercy Catholic High School in Fayetteville and Sandy Creek High School in Tyrone and B.J. Reece Orchards was used for the scenes that took place at the Autumn Smile Apple Orchard/Connor Murphy Memorial Orchard. Blackhall Studios in Atlanta served as the COVID-19 testing site for the actors and crew members on set. The vocal performances in the film were recorded almost entirely live on set, specifically to ensure that Ben Platt's vocals sounded as real and authentic as possible when he sings on screen. On December 15, 2020, Universal Filmed Entertainment Group chairwoman Donna Langley confirmed that the film would wrap production that month.
In a February 2021 interview with Drew Barrymore on The Drew Barrymore Show, Ben Platt described his experience of recreating his performance as Evan Hansen as "really special" and "bizarre", while also hoping the film will be "a really moving experience for a lot of different ages of people... I think it's going to be particularly poignant in terms of everybody's inability and ability to reach out, and the ways in which we struggle to do that, and the magic that can happen when you do connect with someone and finally feel seen." On May 13, 2021, Ben Platt admitted he was apprehensive about translating his performance for the screen. "I think I was nervous about having to meet that same level in a medium that I'm not necessarily as instinctually comfortable in, and that doesn't necessarily lend itself to the same kind of fireworks as a live performance." Ultimately, Platt overcame his personal reservations because they felt like "small beer...Having an opportunity to share this story with, like, millions more people is ultimately much more important than my being worried that my performance won't be as good as it was on stage." Platt also confirmed he lost weight and grew his hair out in order to look "authentic" as a gawky and fresh-faced 17-year-old.
Differences from the musical Nine musical numbers were removed for the film, including "Anybody Have a Map", "Disappear", "To Break in a Glove", and "Good for You", along with the reprises of "Waving Through a Window", "Sincerely Me", "For Forever", and "You Will Be Found".
The role of Jared was also reduced and the character of Alana expanded. Material involving Evan seeing visions of Connor telling him to push forward with the lies and keep his memory alive were also cut. Larry's relationship with Connor was changed from father to stepfather. Zoe and Evan also start their relationship during the song "You Will Be Found" in the stage version, but in the film, it is implied that their relationship starts during "Only Us", as flash forwards are seen of the two characters going to prom and an amusement park. The ending was also altered for the film. Jared Kleinman's last name was changed from Kleinman to Kalwani to accommodate Nik Dodani's casting.
Music