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Baby Driver's Ansel Elgort Cast as Male Lead in Steven Spielberg's West Side Story


While Indiana Jones 5 has been delayed, Steven Spielberg has found another project to focus on: his remake of West Side Story. The movie is currently set for a production start next year, and news has it that Spielberg has finally found his lead.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Ansel Elgort (Baby Driver) is set to star as Tony in Speilberg's adaptation of the classic play by Steven Sondheim. The movie has apparently spent a lot of time looking for the main cast, and based on what we've seen in Baby Driver, we know that Elgort can act and dance; so far he still has to prove his ability to sing.

We don't have any updates on who will be playing opposite Elgort, but she will have to be a young Latina actress.

If you're unfamiliar with West Side Story, it's basically a retelling of William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet set in the 1950s. Tony (Elgort) is the best friend of Jets gang leader Riff, and he falls in love with Maria, the sister of the rival gang's leader, Bernardo. It's a classic tale of forbidden romance, and if you know how Romeo ends up in Shakespeare's play, the same thing pretty much happens to Tony.

West Side Story is said to have been a longtime passion project of Spielberg, but only now has the film started to take off into production. I'm just hoping that the movie embraces the retro style of dance and music as compared to ‘updating' it for the modern palate.

No release date has been set for West Side Story, but with the 2019 production, we could be looking at a release in 2020.

See Also: Steven Spielberg's West Side Story will Shoot Next Summer

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