As you well know, Steven Spielberg is currently in production on his long-gestating West Side Story remake, based on the 1961 classic of the same name. Featuring a cast that includes Baby Driver's Ansel Elgort, Corey Stoll, Rita Moreno and relative unknown Rachel Zegler, Spielberg's West Side Story is likely to be an eyepopping extravaganza filled with dynamic choreography, rousing musical numbers (written, of course, by the legendary Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim), and an Awards-caliber performance or two.
This just-released first image doesn't really convey all that - it's just a shot of the Jets/Sharks (plus Zegler's Maria) walking past an old-ass factory of some sort - but trust us: Spielberg's been waiting to make this movie for a long time, and we're sure the final product will be a helluva lot more compelling than what you're seeing here.
Don't worry if you can't make out everyone here: Deadline's got a bro-by-bro for us:
"Pictured left to right in the image are Jets members Anybodys (Ezra Menas), Mouthpiece (Ben Cook), Action (Sean Harrison Jones); Jets leader Riff (Mike Faist); Baby John (Patrick Higgins); Tony (Ansel Elgort) and Maria (Rachel Zegler); Maria’s brother and Sharks leader Bernardo (David Alvarez); and Sharks members Quique (Julius Anthony Rubio), Chago (Ricardo Zayas), Chino (Josh Andrés Rivera), Braulio (Sebastian Serra) and Pipo (Carlos Sánchez Falú)."
For those unfamiliar with the property, West Side Story tells the, uh, story of a gang leader (Elgort) who falls in the love with the sister (Zegler) of the leader of a rival gang. Their romance escalates already-substantial tensions between the two gangs and, well, things go downhill from there. Retelling this story has been on Spielberg's to-do list for years, and we're genuinely curious to see what he does with the property. Your mileage - based on your interest in musicals and your love, or lack thereof, for Spielberg - may vary.
West Side Story hits theaters on December 18th, 2020. Stay tuned for further updates as they roll in.