“To be honest, making West Side Story was intimidating,” Steven Spielberg said at the movie’s lavish premiere in New York on Monday evening. His new film is Spielberg’s first musical; it’s also, of course, a reimagining of a beloved Broadway production that was already adapted into an Oscar-winning film.
“There’s a lot of risk when you take a masterpiece and make it distinctly different,” he said. “But I was willing to take a risk, because great stories should be told over and over again to reflect different perspectives and contemporary values. And it’s been a childhood dream to make West Side Story. I wanted to tell this story for many years. I first listened to the West Side Story album when I was 10, and it’s been part of me ever since.”
His new West Side Story is based not on the 1961 film, but the original 1957 Broadway musical created by director-choreographer Jerome Robbins, composer Leonard Bernstein, book writer Arthur Laurents, and lyricist Stephen Sondheim, who died last Friday at the age of 91—two weeks before the new movie’s December 10 release.
Spielberg collaborated with writer Tony Kushner and Sondheim on the updated story, which tells a classic tale of forbidden love and bitter rivalry between two street gangs in 1950s New York. The new movie still has plenty of grand song and dance sequences, including fan favorites “America” and “Tonight.” It also places more focus on prejudice, racism, xenophobia, and poverty.
“The movie is relevant and very timely for what’s happening along our borders and the systems set up in this country that reject anyone who isn’t white,” said Spielberg. “That’s a big part of our story. The characters say and do things in our movie that they didn’t say or do onstage, or in the 1961 film. And we cast all Latinx actors for the Shark boys and the Shark girls.”
In previous Broadway revivals, many non-Latinx actors have played the Sharks, who are Puerto Rican; in the 1961 movie, some Caucasian actors wore brown face makeup while playing those characters.
“I am so proud every single Latino character is portrayed by a Latino actor, and that is very important because we are authentically showing what it means to be Latin,” said Rita Moreno, who won an Oscar for playing Anita in the original 1961 film and appears as Doc’s widow, Valentina, in the new film. “The representation of Latino and Hispanic performers in Hollywood has a long way to go, but we are starting to change that. There are so many talented people among Latinos, and Jennifer Lopez isn’t the only one. We are everywhere!”
Rachel Zegler, a Latina of Colombian descent from New Jersey, makes her big-screen debut as romantic heroine Maria. Zegler was in high school when she auditioned for the movie; her only professional singing job prior to West Side Story was performing at weddings. “Steven told me to use the fear that I was having over being a first-timer in the movie industry to propel my character forward and to use it in my scenes,” recalled Zegler, who beat 35,000 actresses from around the world for the role. “It was the best advice anyone could have possibly given me. I had a lot of pressure on myself, and I think it helped me. He’s really given me so much advice. I can call for advice whenever I need it. He’s listed in my phone as ‘Creative Sponsor!’”
Her great love, Tony, is played by Ansel Elgort, who says one of his most memorable moments under Spielberg’s direction came during an emotional and violent scene when his best friend, Riff, gets stabbed. “It was time for my reaction, and not much was happening. I couldn’t show real emotion,” recalled Elgort. “I think after take three or four, Steven came over and grabbed me and looked me in the eye and said, ‘You’re not bringing it.’ He knows how to push your buttons. He’s a master manipulator in the best way possible. He pushes you, and you will never settle. He always wants the best out of everybody. He really helps you grow as an actor and as a performer. Being a part of this movie has been a dream come true. To sing and to dance in a musical, it’s crazy!”
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Rita Moreno Is Thrilled That There’s Finally an Authentic West Side Story - Vanity Fair
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