diff --git a/lib/static_replace.py b/lib/static_replace.py
index d820990740..c6c6dd0bc2 100644
--- a/lib/static_replace.py
+++ b/lib/static_replace.py
@@ -5,14 +5,14 @@ PREFIX = '/static/'
 STATIC_PATTERN = re.compile(r"""
 (?P<quote>['"])  # the opening quotes
 {prefix}         # the prefix
-.*?              # everything else in the url
+(?P<rest>.*?)    # everything else in the url
 (?P=quote)       # the first matching closing quote
 """.format(prefix=PREFIX), re.VERBOSE)
 PREFIX_LEN = len(PREFIX)
 
 def replace(static_url):
-    quote = static_url[0]
-    url = staticfiles_storage.url(static_url[1+PREFIX_LEN:-1])
+    quote = static_url.group('quote')
+    url = staticfiles_storage.url(static_url.group('rest'))
     return "".join([quote, url, quote])
 
 def replace_urls(text):