WEST SIDE STORY Getting a Violent Remake

It looks like West Side Story is getting a hardcore remake by a Danish filmmaker named Ole Bornedal. Bornedal directed a most recently directed a movie called Deliver Us From Evil. I don't know much about the director or his work, but he is planning on making a new English language, violent version of West Side Story.

Here is what he tells Twitch.com in a recent interview:

I'm working on a musical right now that I will hopefully develop with a New York company, a film musical which is a new interpretation of WESTSIDE STORY with of course ROMEO AND JULIET, but set in 2010. I want to make it extremely natural and extremely violent. WESTSIDE STORY is - to put it politely - very poetic; guys in red and green and yellow shirts dancing with their loose wrists. In this version, I'll make it really, really strong and brutal. That combined with the beauty of the music will elevate it to a new level. That makes my sort of filmmaking very enjoyable: to try and find that new ground all the time.

So he plans on keeping the music, and hopes to develop it with a New York company. He wants to have it take place in modern day and have it be natural and extremely violent. To be honest with you, I would love to see what this guy has in mind for the film. He obviously has a very solid vision of what he wants to accomplish. He wants to take it to a whole new level. I love the original film, but I knew that one day someone would come around to want to make a modern day version of it. So will the rumbles be more about drive by shootings and shootouts? Because gangs these days aren't really fighting with their fists, knives, chains, and bats these days. So what do you think?