(LOS ANGELES) — When you’re a Jet, you’re a Jet all the way. Ansel Elgort has been tapped to star as Tony in Steven Spielberg’s adaptation of the musical West Side Story, Entertainment Weekly reports.
The story is loosely based on Romeo and Juliet but set in 1950s New York, and featuresg a rivalry between white and Puerto Rican gangs. Tensions boil when Tony, a member of the white Jets, falls for Maria, the sister of the leader of the Puerto Rican Sharks.
Tony was first portrayed in the 1957 Broadway musical by Larry Kent, and by Richard Beymer in the 1961 film, opposite Natalie Wood as Maria.
The Spielberg version will begin production in summer 2019.
Elgort, who previously starred in films like Baby Driver and The Fault in Our Stars, will next be seen in The Goldfinch.
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