Steven Spielberg has made all sorts of movies, but he’s never made a full-on musical. He’s flirted with a few and included musical numbers in several of his films, but he’s never actually gone all the way with it. That may change though as Deadline reports that he’s interested in remaking West Side Story.
It’s very early days though, as all that’s happened so far is that Spielberg has expressed his interest and Fox, which owns the rights, has given him the okay to explore the idea.
If you’re going to make a musical, West Side Story is one of the best, but the 1961 movie version is an outright classic that won 10 Oscars and is remembered as one of the most impressive fusions of film, music and dance ever created. Even if you’re Steven Spielberg, that’s quite something to live up to.
The bearded one may have a particular idea of what he can bring to this retelling of Romeo & Juliet, which is set in New York and follows the romance between Maria and Tony, who are trapped between warring gangs. Leonard Bernstein wrote the music, Stephen Sondheim handled the lyrics and Arthur Laurents came up with the book.
It will probably never happen, but I’m kind of intrigued as to what Steven Spielberg’s West Side Story would look like.