Steven Spielberg isn’t saying much about Indy 5, but he will confirm if the popular archeologist finally lives or dies.
In a lengthy feature story about the Big Famous Director – in conjunction with the release of his latest movie The BFG – The Hollywood Reporter looks at Spielberg the filmmaker and mogul, exploring where he’s been, where he is, and where he’s going.
Possibly the biggest tidbit comes in reference to the next Indiana Jones adventure:
- Spielberg says he’s “super excited” about that movie, dated for July 2019: “I think this one is straight down the pike for the fans.” He won’t reveal plot details, except this: “The one thing I will tell you is I’m not killing off Harrison [Ford] at the end of it.”
Then, too, is this tease about a likely West Side Story remake, which involves a third collaboration with Spielberg’s most celebrated screenwriting partner from Munich and Lincoln:
- And then, there’s a potential remake of West Side Story — which would be a Fox/MGM co-production — for which (Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award winner) Tony Kushner is working on a script. Spielberg has dreamt of adapting it “for decades,” securing rights after trying to get them 15 years ago.
To read the full feature at THR by Kim Masters, click here.
Or click here to see my ranking of Spielberg’s entire filmography, with each title linked to my full review.
A remake? Of such an established classic? Granted, Spielberg has done remakes before — Always was a straightforward remake of an old Hollywood film, Munich and Tintin and The BFG had previously been adapted for television, and Hook basically revisited a famous story — but West Side Story is such a capital-C Classic that it’s almost like hearing Spielberg wants to remake Casablanca or Lawrence of Arabia.
I definitely see this differently than a Casablanca, et al. Given that it’s a musical and has been adapted in countless stage incarnations (including more than one Broadway revival), that makes it different than a classic movie for which only one signature production exists.
Then two, for as heralded as West Side Story was in its day (and is even generally respected to this day, maybe more so for its Oscar winning performances and choreography than anything else), it hasn’t aged as well or is as beloved as, say, another movie musical classic The Sound Of Music. People won’t be up in arms about a WSS movie remake like they would a TSOM movie remake (NBC performing that live is about as close to a screen redo as fans are likely to accept, and even then there were plenty of gripers).
All that to say, I just don’t see there being any particularly controversy around Spielberg (especially someone like him) giving this material a go, especially when a new film version could give the gang tension and fighting much more necessary grit and violence than the 1961 version was able to do.