Spielberg's 'West Side Story' Remake Cast Might Add 'Baby Driver' Actress Eiza González
Steven Spielberg is taking his time casting his West Side Story remake. Baby Driver star Ansel Elgort was recently cast as Tony, one of the leads of the film. Now, rumor has it that Elgort's Baby Driver co-star Eiza González is in the running to play Anita, a role made famous by Rita Moreno in the 1961 film. More on the West Side Story remake cast below.
If this report is true, Steven Spielberg is planning a mini-Baby Driver reunion for his West Side Story remake. Showbiz411 says Eiza González, who played Darling in Baby Driver, is likely to play Anita in the Spielberg musical. González previously appeared in Jem and the Holograms, and has a busy future ahead: she'll be seen in Welcome to Marwen before the year ends, Alita: Battle Angel in 2019 and Godzilla vs Kong in 2020. Here's a video of González singing, to show she's got the pipes for the role.
West Side Story is a musical inspired by Romeo and Juliet, involving street gangs. Things grow complicated when Tony (Elgort), one of the members of the gang The Jets, falls in love with Maria, the sister of the leader of rival gang The Sharks. Spielberg still has a lot of casting to do, including finding his Maria.THR revealed that Spielberg "has spent the better part of the year looking for stars for his movie, with actors needing to be able to sing, dance and, of course, act their heart," and that "the search was taking so long that Hollywood observers worried the project would be shelved, just as casting challenges caused Spielberg to shelve The Kidnapping of Edgardo Mortara. The production looked at thousands of actors and dancers in New York, Los Angeles, Miami and Puerto Rico, with many thinking Spielberg would cast an unknown in the lead."
The blockbuster filmmaker has been talking about making a musical for almost his entire career, so this is something of a dream project for him, and he's determined to get it right. Tony Kushner, who wrote scripts for Spielberg's Lincoln, Munich and the still-unmade The Kidnapping of Edgardo Mortara, wrote the script for the new film, based on the 1961 film adaptation written by Ernest Lehman, and the original Broadway musical by by Arthur Laurents, Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim.
"It's not a straightforward remake [of the movie], but it's definitely the Jets and the Sharks. It's New York City. I think people will find a new way to love the story and to love the songs through our interpretation," Kushner said, adding: "The way I approached it and the way Steven is approaching it is using the great text-the Leonard Bernstein score, which is arguably the most beautiful score ever written for musical theater, and Arthur Laurents's original book is a masterpiece. And we started building from that."
The West Side Story remake is expected to arrive in 2019. After that, Spielberg will move on to the next Indiana Jones film.