After watching his breakout performances in Agatha All Along and three beloved of Heartstopper (not to mention his taking on a dual role as executive producer for the upcoming Heartstopper movie), the world is waiting to see Joe Locke’s next move.
Luckily, in a new interview with Gold Derby, Locke named three of his dream projects — and all of them come from the world of musical theater.
When journalist Jaclyn Ben-Porat asked if Locke would be interested in starring in a movie musical following his run on Broadway in Sweeney Todd, he replied, “I want to do the Spring Awakening movie!”
Locke’s interest in the film shouldn’t come as a surprise to fans: he hasn’t been shy about his love for the 2006 musical, even crossing paths with the show’s writer Steven Sater multiple times.
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Spring Awakening has two male leads, and Locke says he’d jump at the chance to play either part. “Either Melchior or Moritz. I don’t mind,” he said. “I’m publicly putting myself out there for that. I was trying to do it secretly and see who I knew I could talk to. But now I’m like, ‘I’ll just say it out loud.’”
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From there, Locke shared two more musicals he’d love to help bring to the silver screen. “I’d like to do any musical. Like Hadestown, I would love to play Orpheus in the movie,” he said. “On stage, my voice couldn’t handle it, but maybe in a film because you can re-record and re-record. I don’t think I could play him on stage. I think I would be up to only one night a week.”
Locke’s third pick is looking a bit further into his future, as he’s currently too young to take on the part. “My favorite musical of all time is Falsettos, and I’d love to play Whizzer in a movie musical of that film in, like, five, 10 years,” he shared. “So in five, 10 years, you can cast me. Thank you.”
For now, Locke’s only confirmed upcoming project is the Heartstopper movie, but fans expect he’ll reprise his role as Billy Maximoff in the Marvel Cinematic Universe sooner than later. Locke also addressed the possibility of returning to the franchise: “Obviously, I had the best time, and I would love to carry on playing Billy, and, you know, the door was left open at the end of Agatha, and so I hope one day I get to walk through it,” he said.
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