With the delays of so many major films to the back half of the year, it’s going to be a very crowded Fall and holiday season for movies.
Sandwiched amongst them all is Steven Spielberg’s remake of the classic musical “West Side Story” and now Vanity Fair has done a major feature piece on the film which includes a bunch of first look photos which you can see below.
Spielberg says he’s been dreaming of doing the project as a kid as the 1957 Broadway musical cast album was the “first piece of popular music our family ever allowed into the home” and this has been “that one haunting temptation that I have finally given in to”.
The new film remains set in 1950s New York and follows a Puerto Rican immigrant named Maria (Rachel Zegler) as she falls in love with a white guy named Tony (Ansel Elgort), once a leader of a gang called The Jets, but now distancing himself from them as they have engaged in a battle with the Puerto Rican gang The Sharks. One complication? Maria’s brother Bernardo (David Alvarez) is the leader of The Sharks.
Spielberg endeavoured to make sure Hispanic performers played the ensemble of Hispanic characters, including many performers who actually hail from Puerto Rico as “they brought an authenticity. They brought themselves, and everything they believe and everything about them – they brought that to the work.”
Rita Moreno, who played Maria’s best friend Anita in the original film, not only co-stars but executive produces the new take and says: “[Director Steven Spielberg and writer Tony Kushner] 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.”
Moreno is also playing a new character, Valentina who is a widowed corner store owner who provides a neutral ground for The Jets and The Sharks. Essentially she’s the ‘Doc’ role, but her character is ‘a little tougher’ on the gangs.
“West Side Story” opens in December.
