Ansel Elgort To Play Tony In Steven Spielberg’s West Side Story

Baby Driver movie

Baby Driver has all grown up: Variety reports that Ansel Elgort will play the role of Tony in Steven Spielberg’s remake of West Side Story.

A modern update of the Romeo and Juliet story, Tony is a former gang member who falls in love with his rival’s sister, resulting in lots of knife fights choreographed to an iconic Bernstein score. No date has been set on production yet, but the remarkably prolific Spielberg is looking to sandwich it in before starting on Indiana Jones 5.

The American director is a dab hand at adaptation, taking works like Jaws and War of The Worlds and thrillingly realising them on the big screen. Yet, this upcoming project has been met with its fair share of scepticism. After all, the 1961 version, with Natalie Wood and Richard Beymer playing the star-crossed lovers, is already a masterpiece, with a total of ten Oscars to its name: what’s the point of redoing it?

Perhaps the latest reincarnation of A Star Is Born shows the durability of reimagining such stories, yet Elgort’s casting is unlikely to get anyone really excited. Will he end up as dull as Tye Sheridan in Ready Player One, or can Spielberg unlock his personality like Edgar Wright did with Baby Driver? And who will play Maria?

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