West Side Story Casting Pt 2: "When you're a Jet, you're a Jet all the way"

If you missed part 1, The Sharks, that's here. 

With the casting of Steven Spielberg's remake of West Side Story complete, and planning to shoot this very summer, let's meet the Jets. We've done the research to familiarize you with the new cast which is thankfully extremely heavy with very talented dancers and singers so we hope Steven Spielberg has a heretofore unknown gift for filming big dance heavy musical numbers! Links go to their instagram pages if we could find them...

PRINCIPALS

• Ansel Elgort (Tony)
The 25 year old movie star has been threatening to do a movie musical for awhile now (he was once attached to a Hans Christian Anderson biopic that seems to have been trapped in development hell) and is finally getting around to it with West Side Story. Major credits include leading roles in The Fault in Our Stars, Billionaire Boys Club, Baby Driver, and the forthcoming drama The Goldfinch.

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"West Side Story" Casting Pt 1: Meet the Sharks

by Nathaniel R

David Alvarez will be taking on George Chakiris's Oscar winning role of "Bernardo" in the remake of WEST SIDE STORY

We'll have to take the West Side Story casting, which is now complete with filming to begin this summer, in two parts. It's a LOT to process. Though we are skeptical of the project given that West Side Story (1961) is so perfect despite its imperfections (you know how art works), but the material itself is so brilliant that perhaps we'll get two classics for the price of one? 

With the casting complete, meet the Sharks... 
There's a lot of Broadway talent (especially from Hamilton, On Your Feet, Carousel), some people from the Miami ballet world, and even some who've done West Side Story before in other forms. Links go to their instagram pages if we could find them...

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Film Bitch Awards: Casting, Ensemble, Breakthrough, Young Actors

by Nathaniel R

We're still hoping to have the Film Bitch Awards wrapped up before Oscar night. Tonight, the remaining "extra" acting categories. We've already shared the Best Cameo performances so here's four more prizes to discuss and consider. Please do share your own favourites in these categories, too.

BEST CASTING / BEST ENSEMBLE
Some might argue that these categories go hand in hand (the way others object to the notion of Picture/Director splits) but we think of them as two different though highly complimentary accomplishments...

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Sir Ian prepares for "Cats"

Sir Ian McKellen was just on Graham Norton discussing his preparation for his role in Cats. As usual just when you think you couldn't love this man any more than you already do, he proves you wrong yet again.

P.S. Tom Hooper is still casting his adaptation of the phenomenally successful 80s stage musical. The household name stars have been announced for some times but they've been adding new-to-the-big-screen talents including two principal dancers from the Royal Ballet.

Ansel Elgort...is a Jet 'til his last dying day.

by Nathaniel R

The first casting announcement has hit for Steven Spielberg's remake of West Side Story: Ansel Elgort will play doomed romantic Tony, a sensitive white boy who falls for Puerto Rican Maria in the mean streets of NYC. Tony can't quite extricate himself from his friendships with local gang The Jets in order to live happily ever after. 

Elgort has definitely proved that he can move onscreen (Baby Driver was basically a musical without songs) and he sings, too. In fact he has already tried to start up a dual career as a singer and this might not be his only upcoming musical role as there was also talk of him headlining a Hans Christian Anderson bio earlier this year. But the West Side Story news will probably rankle a lot of people, if not me, because any remake of my favorite is suspect to begin with -- more after the jump...

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