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IT’S ONE OF the most beloved movies in musical cinema and now Steven Spielberg is giving West Side Story a makeover – except this time, he is recruiting Latino talent to play the lead roles.
The original film version of Leonard Bernstein’s musical – Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet reimagined in the world of warring New York gangs – came out in 1961, winning 10 Oscars and captivating a generation on the cusp of huge societal change.
For the remake, Spielberg is teaming up with playwright and screenwriter Tony Kushner, who has previously collaborated with the three-time Oscar-winning billionaire director on Lincoln” (2012) and Munich (2005).
Casting director Cindy Tolan has issued a casting call for actors aged 15-25 to play the lead roles of Tony, Maria, Anita and Bernardo. Candidates “must be able to sing,” with dance experience “a plus,” it said.
The ad also specified that Maria, Anita and Bernardo were Hispanic characters.
In the original movie, the Puerto Rican character Maria was played by actress Natalie Wood, and Bernardo by George Chakiris, the son of Greek immigrants.
Anita was played by Rita Moreno, who is Puerto Rican and won an Oscar for her work.
West Side Story would be the first musical for 71-year-old Spielberg. It comes as the genre undergoes something of a renaissance in American cinema.
Last year’s live-action Beauty and the Beast and The Greatest Showman, and 2016′s La La Land have all entered the annals of the top 10 highest box office takings in the history of North American musical cinema.
West Side Story pits warring gangs, the Sharks and the Jets, against each other in Manhattan’s Lincoln Square on the Upper West Side.
Today, the neighborhood is most famous as the site of the Lincoln Center, America’s premier performing arts venue where the Metropolitan Opera House first opened in 1966 and where apartments today can fetch millions of dollars.
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Have to ask why?
It’s not like he can bring anything new to the story. The original is a classic that would be next to impossible to improve on.
@OU812: Maybe they can have Latinos playing the Puerto Ricans instead of white people with dark foundation?
@OU812: a classic movie that simply doesn’t need to be remade but Spielberg obviously has plans for it ..a chance to cast lots of latino actors to show how non racist he is. Its the perfect opportunity for him to be the luvviest luvvie in Hollywood.. . lots of interviews on Oprah’s couch condemning the vile racists of the 50s who made themselves look latino by using makeup &on &on
No need to make a song and a dance about it.
Looking Forward to this.
Like the Wonka remake
A pointless exercise
It’s vintage element and gifted main actor made it unique and favoured
@Quentin Moriarty: Tim Burton’s version wasn’t a ‘remake’ , it was simply a different adaptation of Roald Dahl’s book.
West Side Story: a reminder of the good old days when street gangs used to have a merry sing and dance before they stabbed each other.
JJ Abrams to direct.
Bring it on!
Will Tony still use the back door when he comes?
He’ll probably have aliens in it
have your say