Steven Spielberg announces OPEN casting call for West Side Story movie

The brief is looking to cast the roles of Tony (caucasian), Maria and Anita (latina) and Bernardo (latino) and all actors should have a playing age of 15-25 years old.

Dance experience is listed as a plus.

The casting calls read: "To submit, please email a photo and video of yourself singing to westsidestorycastingsearch@gmail.com."

West Side Story will be directed by Spielberg from an adapted screenplay by Lincoln and Munich screenwriter Tony Kushner.

The New York-set musical is a loose adaptation of William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet and follows the romance of Tony and Maria amid a turf war between street gangs the Jets and Sharks.

Stay tuned to Mandy News and Mandy.com for details of further open castings and paid jobs as and when they come through.

This isn't the first open casting to take place in Hollywood in recent months.

DC announced a casting call for the lead in Nightwing, with director Chris McKay (The Lego Batman Movie) writing: "Don't leave your career up to chance. Believe in yourself.

"Be on yourself. Get an agent or a manager."

And Guy Ritchie put out a call for actors to star in his live action adaptation of Disney musical Aladdin which co-stars Fresh Prince actor Will Smith as Genie.