West Side Story movie re-make- Page 2

[Kevinoes]

Posted: 11/9/07 at 10:01am

There is no need to remake it -- jumping on the bandwagon here, I guess. The movie is beautifully shot, the soundtrack is top-notch, and even with the dubbed voices for certain actors (or simply certain songs) the performances are perfection. I sometimes even wonder if a Broadway revival would fly well. Sure, there'd be some significant early buzz but this film is so well-known and so admired, a revival at this point will only be asking to be compared. It's frankly down to the tourists thinking, "Why pay $100+ to see a revival of a musical when I can rent the classic movie for $6?"
I would love to be proven wrong here. I am working National Ballet of Canada and they just had their first night of "West Side Story Suite" where they showcased "Prologue", "Something's Coming", "Dance at the Gym", "Cool", "America" (the stage "ladies" version), "The Rumble", and a re-imagined staging of "Somewhere". Several moments, though particularly the Mambo and "Cool", I got the full-body chills and admit to being a little teary. The energy on that stage is amazing. It doesn't matter if this is just some musical from an era that released warhorses like "The Music Man" (wondering when the guns are coming for this?). The music is still one of the best scores ever written for the Broadway stage and the movement/dance still seems to have stayed in its own class. There is still something very contemporary about this piece.
And another thought... WEST SIDE STORY came out of a longing for Jerome Robbins to update ROMEO AND JULIET. WEST SIDE STORY is exactly what it is -- a 1950s interpretation of a classic story. Unless someone can make an uber creative, not-too-drastic update to this piece without making it utterly laughable, go back and adapt and make a new version of ROMEO AND JULIET. Or, here's an idea: be creative and write something new. Don't be like dear Mr. Lurhmann who went, "Look! I kept the text and put the whole thing in the streets on 1996 Italy! Look, it still works! Aren't I brilliant?"

[BronxTruest]

Posted: 8/10/11 at 5:58pm

As an aspiring Writer/Director, I would dare to touch this classic. Make it modern without changing a single word or dance move. In fact, I wrote a screenplay already (for my amusement of course). My screenplay is set against the backdrop of a 1957 New York City, when the original stage version opened.

After seeing the breathtaking revival back in 2009, I was blown away by it's authenticity. It was far more realistic, and the addition of the new Spanish lyrics and dialogue made it even more outstanding. I would love to bring that to the screen. See a much more violent agenda exist between the gangs. See a more romantic/sexual relationship between Tony and Maria (as seen in the revival). Use the new Spanish lyrics, keep the original stage version of "America" as well as switching back "I feel Pretty" (now known as "Me Siento Hermosa") to after the rumble, as well as "Gee, Officer Krupke."

There are many ways to retell the story without changing the time period in which it's set or any of the choreography. I agree when many say Hollywood destroys classics by making remakes or adaptations. My vision of this amazing musical is far from typical Hollywood. Also when it comes to casting for a remake, I don't see myself casting anyone of my generation (I am 19 years old), I'd cast a set of unknowns who are more than qualified.

[AwesomeDanny]

Posted: 8/10/11 at 6:14pm

"Make it modern without changing a single word or dance move."

Isn't that what Arthur Laurents said he would do? Then he translated half the show in to Spanish. The big problem with using the Spanish is that most of the audience does not speak Spanish, yet they are expected to follow what's happening. If it isn't broken, don't fix it. It's as simple as that.

[ggersten]

Posted: 8/10/11 at 6:28pm

I hear after Porgy and Bess, Paulus is turning to fixing WSS. I hear first the title will be changed to "Bernstein's West Side Story". Then she'll add a scene to show how Tony and Riff became friends and why Tony left the Jets. That's just such a plot hole that leaves audiences today questioning and makes Tony's actions suspect. Krupke is very one dimensional so he gets a new song about why he wanted to be a cop and how he's tried so hard but now he's had to harden - that way, his motivation and dislike for the Sharks is more relatable. And Anita gets a new song to explain why she decides to help the man who killed her boyfriend. "A Boy Like That" just doesn't do it - it's too simple. And the ending should probably be happier - all of the gangmembers throw down their guns and knives and have a big group hug. And to make it more relevant, the Jets are now African American and rap their songs. And to please Sondheim, Maria will not sing that it's alarming how charming she feels.

[SeanMartin]

Posted: 8/10/11 at 7:23pm

He always hated that song anyway.

[henrikegerman]

Posted: 8/11/11 at 3:30pm

As with My Fair Lady, the only possible reason to remake the otherwise consummate movie we already have is to showcase a leading lady who actually does her own singing. The fact that Hepburn and Wood didn't sing Eliza and Maria is the only fault I can find with either of those two films. I don't think that demerit, unfortunate as it may be, justifies a remake of either West Side Story or My Fair Lady. And I agree that this is especially true in the case of West Side Story which is as cinematically novel and exciting today as it was when it was first released.

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 8/11/11 at 4:05pm

But but but - Sondheim didn't care for the movie version of West Side Story. Isn't that enough to have all copies burned in perpetuity?

[redmustang]

Posted: 8/13/11 at 3:56pm

As everyone has, I have a list of favorite movies that I've always felt should NEVER be remade. For example, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf and Suddenly, Last Summer. "Don't refilm them, I'll never watch!" Then one day at the library, I saw a copy of SLS with Maggie Smith and Natasha Richardson. Two of my favorite actresses. I was tempted. Rented it. Watched it. Loved it. It didn't diminish my love of the Taylor/Hepburn film at all. And I enjoyed seeing a different take from two different actresses. Also, I remember when I first read somewhere that Diana Rigg and David Suchet had performed Virginia Woolf in London some years back. Boy, I thought, I'd love to see that on film. So I guess my idea of never re-filming good movies has been dented. Granted, WSS is a classic film, every aspect of that movie clicked, and a remake would never duplicate it. But another version of it with a qualified cast and crew could proof enjoyable.

[bk]

Posted: 8/13/11 at 5:11pm

"As an aspiring Writer/Director"

Didn't you leave out one little word - teenager? :)

I'm glad you felt the revival of West Side Story was "breathtaking." I'm assuming, however, that you have no frame of reference for the show other than perhaps the movie.

This thread was idiotic to begin with - it's no better now. The film IS a classic and I don't care what politically correct horse manure people spout in hindsight - audiences of the original release were thrilled and enthralled by it. No one laughed unless they were supposed to. I saw it at the Grauman's Chinese in 70mm fourteen weeks in a row and not once did it get ONE inappropriate laugh. But today? Oh, we're all better, we all know so much more, we all can no longer see anything in the context of the time it was made - and teens can write "screenplays" that improve upon one of the best stage to screen adaptations in the history of film - Ernest Lehman, who'd do it a second time with The Sound Of Music. Maybe you could remake that one after West Side - write a new screenplay and make it more relevant to today.

[goldenboy]

Posted: 8/21/11 at 8:40pm

Remember the remake of The Music Man with Matthew Broderick
and Kristen Chenowith? Shouldn't that abortion of a remake in itself be enough to deter anyone from remaking perfection?

[Charley Kringas Inc]

Posted: 8/21/11 at 10:51pm

There's no real reason to remake West Side Story, really. The original film is kind of dated, sure, but that doesn't reduce its quality. There are lots of better musicals that got mediocre film versions, such as Cabaret (very good in parts but mostly damaged by its 70s sensibilities, which intrude on the story and turn it into a soppy melodrama, not to mention the many cuts), A Chorus Line (so many wrong decisions), or Nine, and even more great musicals that have never been adapted for screen.

[CarlosAlberto]

Posted: 8/22/11 at 1:44am

A West Side Story re-make thread? Really? How ludicrous! This movie will NEVER be remade. No one dares touch a MASTERPIECE.

[DefyGravity4]

Posted: 8/22/11 at 2:48am

This has to be one of the worst ideas I've ever heard. West Side Story is one of the best movie-musical's of all time and remaking it will only have a lackluster cast picked, not on their talents, but on how much they'll appeal to the general public. Personally I see no reason why it needs a remake as it is a classic. It makes much more sense to remake an awful movie to improve it or to make a movie of one of the many musicals which have never been translated to screen. I wouldn't mind if they remastered the original and re-released it in cinemas though.

On another note, I am a teenager and I do not want to see a remake with Zac Efron in it. Don't make up opinions for people and generalize all teenage Broadway fans as being obsessed with High School Musical and Disney. Just saying...

[best12bars]

Posted: 8/22/11 at 6:56am

Movies just crying out for remakes:

The Sound of Music -- this time, let's cast a real nun. I mean everybody laughs that Julie Andrews hadn't taken her vows before filming this. And maybe they can use real Nazis this time.

Gone With the Wind --- cast a real Southerner in the lead, for crap's sake! Nobody buys that pretty British girl as Scarlett. And they changed so much from the book. It's just terrible. Let's make sure Scarlett has all four kids in this new version. And Rhett needs a southern accent. Who's that guy who plays him in the old one? He doesn't know what he's doing.

Mary Poppins --- I hear she didn't do her own flying in this. Cast an actress who's right for the part, this time! Oh, and make sure you use all those fantastic new songs from the Broadway musical version, because they make it SO much better!

Wizard of Oz -- that girl was too old who played Dorothy! And no more ruby slippers! They weren't in the book. And maybe they can have the field mice now, instead of making it snow on the poppy field. That was lame. And be sure to add all those fantastic new songs from the Andrew Lloyd Weber version! It makes it so much better. And use a real lion this time! Or just use Aslan from the Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. He hasn't worked a lot lately, and he's really convincing in the part. No fake lions! I mean, who would buy that today?

Singin' in the Rain --- let's cast it with good dancers this time! And that young gal who played Kathy Seldon. She couldn't sing a high C. Maybe we can get Kristin Chenoweth to play her now. She has a bigger range. Okay, even if none of the songs have a high C in them. And who watches silent movies anymore? Let's make it about rap vs. old school! And Lina Lamont can be played by Linda Ronstadt, and she can try to be a rapper, but they have to dub her with Jay-Z. And at the end we all know it's Jay-Z and not Linda. That would be SO much better.

It's a Wonderful Life---that movie just sucks because it's not in color. This time cast new actors who are in color, and make it good for a change.

[Craig]

Posted: 8/22/11 at 9:58am

Citizen Kane, I always thought, should be remade into a musical. Who doesn't love the song, "Charlie Kane" ?

[best12bars]

Posted: 8/22/11 at 10:17am

"Charlie Kane" ... and hat!

[Craig]

Posted: 8/22/11 at 10:21am

Citizen Kane - if EVER there was a character who needed an I WANT Song!

I also think a big production number of dancing sleighs would be in order.

[best12bars]

Posted: 8/22/11 at 10:27am

They can have a whole Rosebud sequence, just like Follies' Loveland! They could even reuse the same backdrop if they want to save money. That's where Young Charlie can show us how hopeful he was before he got bitter. And it can be on ice! Because it's winter and all, with the sleigh and everything.

As far as it ruining the ending, who cares? Nobody gets that ending anyway.

I can see a whole opening number inside a snow globe ...

Then a big sleazy bar number, like "Summertime" but in the wrong key, for the second wife when she's drunk and being interviewed. Hey, who should we cast as the interviewer? I vote for Oprah! Or maybe Barbara Walters, but she's old.

Updated On: 8/22/11 at 10:27 AM

[Craig]

Posted: 8/22/11 at 10:39am

Clearly Lindsay Lohan would play the interviewer in a comeback role of a lifetime.

Besty - you forgot something tho. This would be James Cameron's musical film debut - and it would shot in native 3D.

3D Snow, Sleds, chorus girls and newspapers flying all around.

Maybe they could work in XANADU by ELO?

[best12bars]

Posted: 8/22/11 at 10:44am

3D is cool. Maybe they could have the inside of Xanadu look just like the roller rink in that other (better) movie.

Then he could go around from room to room and yell at his wife and throw things.

But he would skate there ... and glow!

[Craig]

Posted: 8/22/11 at 10:52am

Reality show to cast Susan

Hugh Jackman to play Leland

John Mahoney as Thatcher

Harvey Fierstein as Bernstein

And as Charles Foster Kane - Tom Cruise ** note - to make this creepier - if no reality show - cast Dakota Fanning as Susan

Can you say WINNING?!

[best12bars]

Posted: 8/22/11 at 10:55am

Dakota Fanning = Dakota WINNING!

And how about casting Sarah Michele Geller as his first wife, because she was on "All My Children" and so was Ruth Warrick, who played it in the really old movie!

That would be a fantastic connection that nobody would remotely get!

[whitesnow]

Posted: 8/22/11 at 7:28pm

Isnt the point of redoing something the opportunity for change? If you were to keep the original choreography what would be the point. if you're going to do something, do it fully.

[JohnBoy2]

Posted: 8/22/11 at 11:44pm

As you watch practically every frame of MY FAIR LADY, there is a reason to see it remade. WEST SIDE STORY is perfect, exactly the way it is. That revival was horrible, imo.
Updated On: 8/23/11 at 11:44 PM

[hmpeterson]

Posted: 8/23/11 at 4:26pm

best12bars....fabulous post!!!!

This is the most ridiculous thing I ever heard. I am still laughing over the thought of having Rosie Perez as Anita. Yeah, she's certainly be better than Rita Moreno. Oh God, that's fantastic!!!

As mostly everyone has said, don't mess with perfection. No one should EVER touch this film....EVER!

And can people please stop saying that the insertion of Spanish into the 2009 revival made the show more realistic? It didn't. It was poorly executed and wasn't even close to the authenticity of the time.