Wednesday, October 03, 2018

Baby Gotta Dance

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I'm not going to come anywhere near making a dent in all of the news-stories that I'm missing posting about this month due to fest obligations but I just had to pop in here on a relatively quiet (in that respect) day and suss out y'all's feelings on this week's news that Ansel Elgort has landed the leading man role of Tony in Steven Spielberg's remake or re-do or whatever he's calling it of West Side Story. That's the role that Richard Beymer played in the original and honestly this picture I once posted of Richard looks an awful lot like Ansel so this casting's not crazy. 

That said I didn't like Baby Driver and part of the reason I didn't like Baby Driver was I didn't like what Ansel was doing in Baby Driver, so I'm on the fence. But that that said I am not much of a fan of West Side Story in general anyway, blasphemy of blasphemies - it's a lot of Musical and you know how I feel about those, at least when they're this straightforward. (Meaning I only tend to like musicals when they've got some kind of post-modern spin to them, or they were a part of my childhood a la The Wizard of Oz that got to me before I became a cynical monster.) So who cares what I think about this news anyway? Nobody! So y'all tell me what you think, People Who Really Care, in the comments...
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6 comments:

Juliet said...

I can't stand him, even though I also suspect that there may be more to his friendship with Timothée Chalamet than we know...

Pierce said...

A remake of West Side Story is completely unnecessary. The 1961 film is one of the greatest movie musicals of all time. Why does Spielberg think it needs to be made again? Instead give us a remake of Mame, Man of La Mancha or Guys and Dolls. Those were Broadway musicals that were made into dreadful movies.

Anonymous said...

Couldn't agree more with Pierce. Those three were Hollywooded Broadway at it's worst.

Anonymous said...

I actually liked his performance in Baby Driver, which surprised me, and he is a pretty good dancer.Though I don't know if he was the voice for the role.

Anonymous said...

As long as he can sing, I'm good with it. (I don't know if he can or can't, never heard him) But please no more movie musicals cast with "box office draws" rather than people who can actually, y'know, sing. (Hi there Pierce, Russell, Johnny, Helena, etc.) Or at least return to the golden days of dubbing.

I'm actually ok with a remake and don't get the big hoopla about remaking it-should the show never be produced on stage anymore either? Of course not, so what exactly is the difference?

Robert H said...

Please, Ansel is the perfect choice for a West Side Story revival, the dude has pipes AND moves. And since everybody and his sister is up for the umpteenth iteration of A Star Is Born, I don't see why the 1961 version of WSS should be so sacred. Do it Elgort!