Tony Kushner is writing a play about Trump and a WEST SIDE STORY remake for Spielberg

so stoked for this. never saw the original movie, huge fan of the stage musical though

I groaned when I saw the 156 minute running time, but then I realized that's only 4 minutes longer than the original (which I like), which is downright restrained by contemporary remake/reboot/franchise standards.

Speaking into a void on this topic in this location in this moment but I'm genuinely bummed at the box-office shrug on this one.

Somewhat in the context of my main writing outlet's year-end best movies list preface more or less putting a happy face about the whole "hey, we know you haven't heard of these titles, but hey, isn't it exciting that movies don't even have to pretend to be a popular art anymore?" posturing.

Is it a shrug yet?

Just getting ahead of it

My guess is it’ll do good streaming business.

this seems to have sneaked out with not much publicity which my daughter tells me might be because Mr Baby Driver has been outed as a scumbag?

definitely want to see it tho

saw it last night with the opening night crowd, theatre was maybe a third full at most, kinda bummed

wanted the movie to last forever when Elgort was offscreen, was counting down the minutes until the end when he was on

West Side Story and Yojimbo are both stories of rival gangs whose generational stability is based on hand to hand combat in the streets of an insular, unchanging village. The tides of history undo all that, and in both stories, a firearm heralds the arrival of a grim new era.

— Matt Zoller Seitz (@mattzollerseitz) December 11, 2021

(Both came out in 1961!)

I groaned when I saw the 156 minute running time, but then I realized that's only 4 minutes longer than the original (which I like), which is downright restrained by contemporary remake/reboot/franchise standards.

― Les hommes de bonbons (cryptosicko), Thursday, December 2, 2021 2:19 PM bookmarkflaglink

in fairness, also the standard running for any stage musical

dying to see this

Misread that as "DJing to see this."

Owen G in Variety pivots from why West Side Story underperformed to positing that the absolutely terrible House of Gucci was the only adult drama to not sue at the box office this year.

https://variety.com/2021/film/columns/west-side-story-steven-spielberg-underperforamance-1235131407/amp/

lol “not to die” not “not to sue”

It’s a depressing fact of our moviegoing moment that when it comes to prestige dramas pitched to adults, one title after another (“Belfast,” “Spencer,” “King Richard”)

And I fell asleep about here.

Yeah, that essay was epic.

Was this expected to be a surefire hit? Seems less of a surefire hit on paper in 2021 then In the Heights, and that was no hit.

I honestly can't believe that movie studios are in any way expecting theatrical hits at this point in time. In an alternate universe where the pandemic fizzled out a few months ago, this is exactly the sort of thing I would have embraced as a 'back into the world!' aperitif, but it ain't happening in this world.

Sure, but there have been hits, just not to the level of Hi, Mom in China big.

https://www.boxofficemojo.com/year/2021/?ref_=bo_yl_table_1

i am dying to see this, just the look of it from the trailer made me v excited

I honestly can't believe that movie studios are in any way expecting theatrical hits at this point in time.

There are still hits, but they're exactly the kind of films you'd expect (Franchise stuff--Marvel/Fast & Furious--or would-be franchise stuff--Free Guy), and hit like hits did back in the '90s when a #1 film would sit at the top week after week.

^^I only really know this because I'm Facebook friends with the manager of a local Edwards Cinema, and he posts A LOT about box office returns.

I wonder if Christmas weekend will draw people out. (I know that’s the next time I’ll get to theaters, for a few things.)

SELF-XP Point being that the audience for prestige fare is contributing less than ever to keeping the lights on at theatres.

It kinda makes me sad how many people talk about WSS as this kitschy thing. It's one of my favorite musicals. And doesn't flinch with its politics.

I am gonna try to take my folks

WSS rules

I have to eat my words a bit ... was not blown away by WSS '21 last night. But I will never walk away from a Spielberg movie without giving it the benefit of the doubt, so I'll try again soon.

I don't like the 1961 movie version much. It went way too far in its artificiality -- you need some unreality to make song & dance work, but it went so far that it didn't resemble the real world. It was a good choice for a musical to remake.

I think the stage musical works better in that regard. Easier to be conceptual and doesn't seem so jarring as it does in a movie

He has found his true audience: critics who want Old Hollywood to live again, zombie-like, and he's doing his best to make it do so.

— Richard Brody (@tnyfrontrow) December 15, 2021

https://www.newyorker.com/culture/the-front-row/review-steven-spielbergs-west-side-story-remake-is-worse-than-the-original

oh is THAT what it is

is this even true?

The original Tony, for instance, wants to avoid a fight because he has a job and wants a better future than the one that seems to await his layabout friends in the Jets. There’s no single awakening that led him to want out of gang life. His decisions seem to follow the complex yet inchoate impulses of his character. By contrast, the Tony of Spielberg’s film is a convict who has spent a year in Sing Sing because of a fight in which he nearly killed another young man. He avoids the Jets because he doesn’t want to jeopardize his parole. When Riff tries to persuade him to take part in the “rumble” with the Sharks anyway, Tony explains that he’d spent his time in prison examining himself ruefully and resolving to live differently. Whatever Spielberg and Kushner may have had in mind, what they deliver with this simplistic backstory is an endorsement of incarceration: the movie makes clear that Tony came out of prison a better person than he went in.

I mean, basically it is. The last part is sheerly interpretive tho.

that's what I meant. It's a...novel interpretation.

It's a reach, yes.

woah hold up you mean spielberg isn't a prison abolitionist?

surprising no one i thought this was magnificent for the most part

the richard brody review is profoundly stupid

I'm not reading it all and it could be accidental but the first few paragraphs read like he thinks the first movie is the "original" West Side Story

I listened to In The Thick a LatinX podcast talk about the new version over the last couple of days. I think they concluded that it is still heavily white gaze and maybe Spielberg should have stepped aside and produced a LatinX directed version of the film if he needed to revive it.

I thought the original West Side Story was whatever Shakespeare borrowed heavily from for Romeo & Juliet.
Presumably the musical itself was on Broadway before a film version happened.

I did also hear that the 60s film had all the Puerto Ricans with the same skintone failing to reflect the diversity of ancestry which is a big factor in PR culture.

the most effective change is the robert moses/lincoln center setup imo (though this may be one of the things eric thinks is too smart for the material)

being anti-gentrification (and those gentrifying forces reinforcing racism) is def the most radical and clear theme in the spielberg version

but let's be real this movie is mainly about sound and image, and it delivers on all those fronts, especially the "america" and "i feel pretty" sequences

my gf was telling me about a modernized wss revival where they cut "i feel pretty" to maintain a dour and dismal mood (i keep calling this version "i feel gritty"), and i think of this anytime i read someone wishing spielberg had brought the text into the present

I'll probably walk back the "smart" comments when I see it again, but yes, I kind of did find the real-world elements to be an intrusion on the basic primal power of the central romance and Bernstein's music. I get that they sort of ought to be there if you're going to remake the movie as a (now) period piece, and thank gawd they didn't make a present day version with gangs made up of, I guess, the only people who can afford to live in Manhattan?

Anyway, I'll see it again.

Elgort the least interesting thing. And his voice is heavily treated.

Otherwise.... magnificent

some of the changes effective - Rita Moreno as Doc's widow was a clever take, gave her a connection to the Sharks.

unfortunately, means my favorite bit of dialogue in the original musical was cut:

"You guys make this world lousy!"
"It's how we found it, Doc"

and adding backstory that Tony went to prison and specifying he almost killed a dude was a bit unnecessary.

but ultimately this was one of the most well-cast modern movie musicals I've seen. Faist's Riff was heartbreaking, and Rachel Zegler and Ariana DeBose were utter fire. I don't honestly think there were any castings I didn't like other than Elgort.

watching it again, I remember I don’t really like the original West Side Story

haven't seen Spielberg's version yet

I didn't love this remake at all but wow this sucks: https://www.billboard.com/culture/tv-film/rachel-zegler-oscars-invite-west-side-story-1235046314/