Before he directs Harrison Ford in Indiana Jones 5, Steven Spielberg might be trying to squeeze in a remake of a classic musical: West Side Story.
There has been no official announcement that Spielberg will remake the 1961 epic, which went on to win 10 Academy Awards, including Best Picture. He’s wanted to tackle this material for a while, however, mentioning it several times in interviews. Now, it seems a real, legitimate casting call has gone out via Twitter:
Casting Call: yes it’s real. Yes, do it!! #WestSideStory pic.twitter.com/Sj6klhTD2A
— Marci Liroff (@marciliroff) January 26, 2018
It certainly seems legit. And if you notice, Tony Kushner, who wrote both Munich and Lincoln, is attached as the screenwriter. It all makes sense, really, and Spielberg is known for sneaking a movie in before he takes on a grand scale blockbuster. He just did it with The Post, which started production in the spring of 2017 and was finished in November.
Of course, West Side Story seems like a much larger undertaking with more moving parts than The Post. Perhaps that’s the reason for the mass casting call. It will be interesting to see what Spielberg does with a musical. And let’s all hope he doesn’t employ the same makeup techniques the original used in order to make certain actors appear, ahem, more Spanish…
Stay tuned for any updates!
