Catherine Krueger March 16th, 2020 - 3:36 PM
Steven Spielberg is continuing with post-production for 20th Century Fox’s West Side Story, a remake of the 1961 film starring Natalie Wood. The film stars Ansel Elgort and Rachel Zegler as star crossed lovers Tony and Maria, respectively. The first images have been released today, giving us our first good look at the film and a preview of what’s to come.
West Side Story is an adaptation of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, reimagining the plot of the story as a forbidden romance in the middle of a turf war between rival gangs in 1950s New York City. Tony and Maria, Romeo and Juliet’s analogs, meet at a neighborhood dance and fall in love, but the conflict between Tony’s gang, the Jets, and Maria’s family’s gang, the Sharks, threaten to come between them. The musical contains iconic numbers by Leonard Bernstein and Steven Sondheim including, “I Feel Pretty”, “Tonight”, and “America”.
The film is also set to star Ariana DeBose, David Alvarez, Cory Stoll, and Brian d’Arcy James. Show business veteran Rita Moreno, who played Anita in the 1961 film, is also set to feature in the 2020 adaptation as Valentina. Tony Kushner, who previously worked with Spielberg on Munich (2005) and Lincoln (2012), is credited as screenwriter for the film, and David Newman has been hired to arrange the film’s score.
The newly released photos from set by Vanity Fair indicate that there will be glamorous dance numbers as there were in the original movie, choreographed by Justin Peck of the New York City Ballet. With movies such as La La Land, The Greatest Showman, and A Star Is Born, we may be seeing the beginning of a renaissance of big Hollywood musicals like we saw in the 1950s and ’60s.
West Side Story is set to be released in theaters on December 18, 2020.
Ansel Elgort and Rachel Zegler as star-crossed Tony and Maria #WestSideStoryMovie pic.twitter.com/sFBxXdEri2
— VANITY FAIR (@VanityFair) March 16, 2020
Check out the first look photos for WEST SIDE STORY, directed by Steven Spielberg, in @VanityFair. See #WestSideStoryMovie in theaters this December.
Read more: https://t.co/p9p4qSSrxQ#WestSideStory #StevenSpielberg @20thcentury pic.twitter.com/AhyiCev9Tl
— Amblin (@amblin) March 16, 2020
