Corey Stoll & Brian d’Arcy James Join Steven Spielberg’s ‘West Side Story’
On the eve of the Disney-Fox merger, Fox’s Steven Spielberg West Side Story has tapped Corey Stoll to play Lieutenant Schrank, the New York City detective charged with quelling civic unrest in his racially-torn precinct, and Brian dʼArcy James to play the iconic role of Sergeant Krupke, the cop whose beat includes the territories of warring street gangs, the Sharks and the Jets, and who is the target of a classic Stephen Sondheim musical put-down.
Stoll and d’Arcy James join already announced cast members Rita Moreno (Valentina, she’s also an EP on the pic), Ansel Elgort (Tony), Rachel Zegler (Maria), Ariana DeBose (Anita), David Alvarez (Bernardo) and Josh Andrés Rivera (Chino).
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Stoll recently portrayed Buzz Aldrin in Universal’s First Man. His screen credits include Midnight in Paris (Independent Spirit Nomination), Ant-Man, The Seagull, This Is Where I Leave You and the upcoming Sopranos prequel movie The Many Saints of Newark and The Report. On TV, he was nominated for a Golden Globe for his turn on Netflix’s House of Cards. Other roles include The Romanoffs, The Strain, Homeland, Girls and upcoming roles on The Deuce, Ryan Murphy’s new limited series Ratched and Channel 4’s Baghdad Central. On stage, Stoll recently played lead roles in Othello, Julius Caesar and Plenty for the New York Shakespeare Festival/Public Theater.
Three-time Tony nominee and Obie and Drama Desk Award winner James counts stage roles as King George in the original run of Hamilton at The Public Theater. He also originated the Grammy-nominated roles in Broadway’s Something Rotten!, Shrek The Musical, Sweet Smell of Success, Macbeth, Time Stands Still, The Lieutenant of Inishmore and more. He is currently leading the ensemble of The Ferryman on Broadway. His big screen credits include Oscar Best Picture winner Spotlight – for which he received a 2016 SAG Award, Critics Choice Award, Gotham Award and the Independent Spirit’s Robert Altman Award for Best Ensemble, as well as the upcoming Fox summer pic X-Men: Dark Phoenix and The Kitchen. Other credits include: Molly’s Game, Rebel in the Rye, Sisters, Admission and Game Change, among others. On television, he has appeared in 13 Reasons Why, Smash, The Big C, Manhunt: Unibomberand more.
Spielberg and is producing and directing the recent rendition of West Side Story off a script by Oscar nominated and Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Tony Kushner. He’s adapting from the original 1957 Broadway musical, which was written by Arthur Laurents with music by Leonard Bernstein, lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and concept, direction and choreography by Jerome Robbins. Producers are Tony nominee Kevin McCollum and Oscar nominee Kristie Macosko Krieger.
And that put-down? It comes at the end of musical’s “Gee, Officer Krupke” number and is delivered by defiant gang members to the cop. Sondheim skirted censors of the era with what would become an unforgettable dash of lyrical genius: “Gee, Officer Krupke – Krup You!”
West Side Story will roll cameras this summer.
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