Spielberg interested in helming a West Side Story remake

Over the past year or so since Lincoln hit theaters, Steven Spielberg has considered helming both a big-budget sci-fi epic and a smaller scale true story drama, but now a remake of a classic musical has apparently caught his eye, as a Spielberg-led West Side Story remake could be on the horizon.

Deadline reports that Spielberg is interested in possibly directing a remake of West Side Story at Fox.  Director Robert Wise helmed the first feature film adaptation of the Broadway musical in 1961 to great success, earning a total of 10 Academy Awards including Best Picture and Best Director.  The story is a riff on William Shakespeare’s classic Romeo & Juliet and tells the story of two individuals from two very different rival gangs in 1950s New York City: the Jets and the Sharks.
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