According to Deadline.com, Spielberg is circling the project. I say it never ever happens, but curious to see what others think:
Even though the Robert Wise original musical West Side Story is WestSideStory2about as sacred a cow movie as you are going to find, Fox has unlocked that movie title for a remake specifically because Steven Spielberg is interested in making it. No writer has been set yet and Spielberg hasn’t done anything more than register his interest, which traditionally has always been enough to get a studio hot and bothered. Deadline.com
"Some people can thrive and bloom living life in a living room, that's perfect for some people of one hundred and five. But I at least gotta try, when I think of all the sights that I gotta see, all the places I gotta play, all the things that I gotta be at"
At least we won't have to hear Laurents bitching about it. Sondheim, I'm sure, won't be happy but will at least be diplomatic about it.
Butters, go buy World of Warcraft, install it on your computer, and join the online sensation before we all murder you.
--Cartman: South Park
ATTENTION FANS: I will be played by James Barbour in the upcoming musical, "BroadwayWorld: The Musical."
The first computer generated anything I see, I am walking out of the film. Hey, Spielberg, how about going back to your roots and filming the whole thing in live action.
um, No Jordan, you don't know me! I grew up loving the original movie, I really just hope he keeps it real and does not go crazy with the CGI crap that so many directors are opting for these days.
Edited to correct my senor moment and confusion of Spielberg and Lucas.
"At least we won't have to hear Laurents bitching about it. Sondheim, I'm sure, won't be happy but will at least be diplomatic about it."
Why wouldn't he be happy? He loved the Sweeney film (a film I *like* but c'mon--he still fawns over the changes made.) And I think he has said before that the WSS film doesn't work for him as well as it does on stage, but I could be wrong.
You mean the phony slang/swearing? While I agree it would be all the harder to make that work in a modern movie, I'm not sure you can just replace them with actual swear words-they'd have to do a careful job. I mean it always was a stylized take on street youth and violence--and I suspect they'd want tomake it more gritty and real which doesn't really work with the material.
This all sounds suspicious. Fox does not own WEST SIDE STORY. It was produced by Mirisch Pictures, Inc. in association with Seven Arts Productions and released through United Artists.
It's copyright was owned by United Artists and that copyright transferred to MGM when the those two studios merged.
Fox' Home Entertainment division distributes the film on home video through a deal with MGM, but they do not own the copyright.
I guess it is more of a "there is nothing to loose" situation? It might bring new interest among young people. My feeling is I wish they would just stick to original musicals.