West Side Story, the 1961 Award Winning musical, is being remade in the hands of none other than Steven Spielberg, with a script from Tony Kushner (Lincoln) and produced by Kevin McCollum and Kristie Macosko Krieger.
Based on Shakespeare’s classic, Romeo and Juliet,West Side Story follows the feud between the Sharks and the Jets, as well as the love story between Tony, co-founder of the Jets, and Maria, the sister of Bernardo, Sharks leader.
The movie was nominated for 11 Academy Awards and end up winning ten, including Best Picture, making it the record holder for the musical film with most wins. The music was written by Leonard Bernstein, with lyrics by Stephen Sondheim.
For several months it was rumoured that Spielberg’s next project would be a musical -as it’s been said since the 80’s that he wants to do one- and yesterday night, with the reveal of a Casting Call, it was confirmed his involvement in such film.
Exciting Harris/Kushner household news: Something's coming. Something good. (h/t @marciliroff) pic.twitter.com/IlCV4VnGt6
— Mark Harris (@MarkHarrisNYC) January 26, 2018
According to the Casting Call, they are looking for Maria (18-20), Tony (18-23), Bernardo (20-24) and Anita (20-24 years), and everyone who auditions must be able to sing but dance experience is a plus. Maria, Anita and Bernardo must be Latinx and able to speak Spanish as well.
Sadly, there’s no more information about the project, not even the limit date to send the audition tape -for anyone who’s interested-. We’ll keep you posted as more information is revealed.
What do you think about this news? Are you excited about a West Side Story remake?
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Source: Entertainment Weekly.