For all those believing the recent rumors that “Indiana Jones 5” was going to magically start filming this month, we have bad news for you — that’s completely wrong. In fact, Steven Spielberg is already hard at work on his other film, the highly-anticipated “West Side Story” remake. And we now have our first look at the primary cast.
For those not familiar with the musical, “West Side Story” tells the, uh, story of young love between folks involved with rival gangs, the Jets and the Sharks, on the streets of 1957 New York. Think “Romeo & Juliet” but with the ‘50s, stylish gang vibe. The musical eventually first hit the big screen in 1961, with an iconic film that would go on to be nominated for 11 Oscars, winning 10, including Best Picture.
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Spielberg’s version of “West Side Story” looks to borrow heavily from the classic stage and screen productions. By the looks of things, you can almost lump in this remake with the string of live-action reimaginings of the classic animated stories that Disney is pumping out. The studio is applying the same idea to this musical, adding a fresh coat of paint to an already classic story.
The music of the film will be recorded, based on Leonard Bernstein’s iconic score. Gustavo Dudamel will oversee the recording of the score, with David Newman handling the arrangement. The cast is led by “Divergent” and “The Fault in Our Stars” actor Ansel Elgort. There are quite a few actors in the first-look image below.
Pictured left to right are: Jets members Anybodys (Ezra Menas), Mouthpiece (Ben Cook), Action (Sean Harrison Jones); Jets leader Riff (Mike Faist); Baby John (Patrick Higgins); Tony (Ansel Elgort) and Maria (Rachel Zegler); Maria’s brother and Sharks leader Bernardo (David Alvarez); and Sharks members Quique (Julius Anthony Rubio), Chago (Ricardo Zayas), Chino (Josh Andrés Rivera), Braulio (Sebastian Serra) and Pipo (Carlos Sánchez Falú).
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Joining the main cast are supporting actors Ariana DeBose, Ana Isabelle, Corey Stoll, Brian d’Arcy James, Curtiss Cook, and, of course, Academy Award-winner Rita Moreno, who has a long history with the musical.
“West Side Story” will hit theaters on December 18, 2020.
