Ansel Elgort will reportedly play Tony in a new movie version of "West Side Story." (REUTERS)
A new movie version of "West Side Story" has finally found its Tony: Ansel Elgort.
Filmmaker Steven Spielberg spent a long time searching for a well-rounded romantic lead — with production looking at thousands of actors — before he landed on the 24-year-old actor, according to the Hollywood Reporter.
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The musical is a 20th-century take on “Romeo on Juliet.”
The story centers around star-crossed lovers, Tony and Maria, who fall in love after meeting at a dance in New York in the 1950s. The problem: they have ties to two different gangs.
Tony once belonged to a white gang called the Jets and is best friends with Riff, its leader. And Maria’s brother, Bernardo, heads a rival Puerto Rican group called the Sharks.
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“West Side Story” has been adapted for the big screen before: Richard Beymer played Tony in the 1961 movie, opposite Natalie Wood as Maria.
Production on the Spielberg-helmed flick will reportedly start in the summer of 2019.
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