West Side Story Taps Corey Stoll as Lieutenant Schrank and Brian d'Arcy James as Sergeant Krupke
Los Angeles, Calif. (March 19, 2019) — Steven Spielberg has added two stage and screen actors to the cast of his new adaptation of West Side Story. Corey Stoll will take on the role of Lieutenant Schrank, the New York City detective charged with quelling civic unrest in his racially-torn precinct. Brian dʼArcy James will play Sergeant Krupke, a veteran cop whose beat includes the territories of two warring street gangs, the Sharks and the Jets.
Corey Stoll was recently seen playing Buzz Aldrin in DreamWorks Pictures' First Man. Other films include Midnight in Paris (Independent Spirit Nomination), Ant-Man, The Seagull, This Is Where I Leave You and the upcoming The Many Saints of Newark and The Report. On television, Stoll is a Golden Globe nominee for his performance on 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. In the theater, Stoll recently played lead roles in Othello, Julius Caesar and Plenty for the New York Shakespeare Festival/Public Theater.
Brian dʼArcy James is a three-time Tony nominee and an Obie and Drama Desk Award winner for his extensive theater work, including starring as King George in the original run of Hamilton at The Public Theater, originating 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. d’Arcy James’ film credits include Spotlight – for which he was awarded a 2016 SAG Award, Critics Choice Award, Gotham Award and the Independent Spirit’s Robert Altman Award for Best Ensemble – 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, Amblin Television's Smash, The Big C, Manhunt: Unibomber and more.
Stoll and d’Arcy James will join cast members Rita Moreno (Valentina), Ansel Elgort (Tony), Rachel Zegler (Maria), Ariana DeBose (Anita), David Alvarez (Bernardo) and Josh Andrés Rivera (Chino).
West Side Story will be produced and directed by Steven Spielberg from a script by Oscar-nominated screenwriter and Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Tony Kushner (Lincoln, Munich). The film will be adapted for the screen 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. Also leading the production are Tony Award-winning producer Kevin McCollum and Academy Award- nominated producer Kristie Macosko Krieger. In addition to her work in front of the camera, RIta Moreno will serve as one of the film’s Executive Producers.
West Side Story will be released by Twentieth Century Fox. Filming is slated to start in the summer of 2019.
Additional casting announcements will be made in the coming weeks.
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