Steven Spielberg puts his spin on the classic musical in the first-look images from his West Side Story movie. After years of talking about his desire to re-imagine Leonard Bernstein, Arthur Laurents, and Stephen Sondheim’s Broadway hit for the big screen, the iconic filmmaker is finally taking the plunge. Previously adapted into a Best Picture-winning film in 1961, the musical revolves around the rivalry between a pair of teenaged gangs (the white Jets and Puerto Rican Sharks) in the Upper West Side area of NCY circa the 1950s. The movie was green-lit by Disney after it finalized its purchase of Fox and is currently set to reach theaters in December.
For Spielberg’s film, Ansel Elgort (Baby Driver) and newcomer Rachel Zegler are playing Tony and Maria, the former member of the Jets and the younger sister of the Sharks’ leader, Bernardo (David Alvarz), who end up falling in love despite the tensions between their friends and families. The three are joined in the movie by Broadway veteran Ariana DeBose as Anita, Bernardo’s girlfriend and Maria’s friend and co-worker, who holds to a more optimistic view of America than Bernardo. Rita Moreno, who won an Oscar for playing Anita in the 1961 West Side Story, costars in Spielberg’s adaptation as Valentina, the owner of the corner store where Tony works and a re-imagined version of Doc from the ’61 film.
As part of an exclusive piece on West Side Story for Vanity Fair, Moreno explained Spielberg and his writer Tony Kushner (who also wrote the director’s Munich and Lincoln) “really wanted to right some… should I say wrongs? I don’t know if that’s… yes, that’s fair, because the [1961] film had a lot of things that were wrong with it, aside from the fact that it had a lot of things that were very right.” That includes casting more Puerto Rican actors, many of whom are featured in the first-look photos from Vanity Fair‘s article. You can check them out in the gallery below.
According to Spielberg, 20 of the 33 Puerto Rican characters in his West Side Story are played by actors who’re specifically Puerto Rican or of Puerto Rican descent, with the remaining thirteen played by members of the larger Latinx community. This is a significant improvement from the ’61 films, which featured several Puerto Rican characters played by actors in brown face (with Moreno being one of the few exceptions). Speaking to Vanity Fair, Moreno explained “That’s what they were trying to fix and ameliorate, and I think they have done an incredible job.” Spielberg similarly praised the movie’s Latinx cast for the authenticity they brought to the table.
“They brought themselves, and everything they believe and everything about them – they brought that to the work. And there was so much interaction between the cast wanting to be able to commit to the Puerto Rican experience. They all represent, I think, a diversity, both within the Puerto Rican, Nuyorican community as well as the broader Latinx community. And they took that seriously.”
By the look of things, Spielberg’s West Side Story will also have boldly colored costumes designed by Paul Tazewall (Harriet) to match those featured in the ’61 film. The new movie has already made some cosmetic changes to the aesthetic of the ’61 version (most notably, DeBose’s Anita has a golden dress, as opposed to the purple dress Moreno famously wore in the role), but otherwise looks as visually impressive as one would expect it to. Spielberg has never directed a musical before, so it will be exciting to see what he brings to the genre at this point in his career. The ’61 movie set the bar high, but the new West Side Story is shaping up to be a worthwhile re-imagining of the classic in its own right.
Source: Vanity Fair
- West Side Story (2020)Release date: Dec 18, 2020
