Following years of remakes, Broadway musical adaptations, and Romeo And Juliet reimaginings, Fox may well aim for the trifecta with an update of West Side Story, which Deadline says is currently being eyed for Steven Spielberg. Nothing formal is yet in the works, and the site cautions that Robert Wise’s Oscar-winning version is still “about as sacred a cow movie as you are going to find”—though, as seen in those recent talks about remaking The Grapes Of Wrath, sacred cows are just so much fodder for the giant Steven Spielberg dome.
The director has yet to try his hand at a musical (unless you count the drunken sing-along scene in Jaws), so West Side Story would certainly be an unusual next project for him, provided it doesn’t just become one of the many “next Spielberg projects” that are mentioned and never heard from again. Still, consider this an early warning about a possible updated version of the war between street gangs the Sharks and the Jets, which will last all of 30 seconds when they just shoot each other.