Ariana DeBose, Steven Spielberg and Rachel Zegler.Photo: Jamie McCarthy/Getty
Steven Spielberg’sWest Side Storymade diverse casting for the movie-musical a top priority.
“We just wanted for this movie to get it right in the way that we wanted every single person who plays a Puerto Rican to be from the Latinx community, and that was a mandate from the get-go,” Spielberg said.
The director also revealed why he chose the iconic musical as his latest project, telling the BBC, “I think I wanted to direct a musical film because I knew I couldn’t sing and dance.”
“It’s a tremendous way of sort of throwing myself into a genre that physically I would never be part of, except to be able to tell a story in that idiom,” he added.
Niko Tavernise/20th Century Studios
The new adaptation starsHamilton’sAriana DeBoseas Anita, newcomerRachel Zegleras Maria,Ansel Elgortas Tony andDavid Alvarezas Bernardo.
Moreno also makes a return to the musical in the new role of Valentina, a store owner who offers Tony work after he attempts to rebuild his life following a prison stint.
In August, Zegler toldTown & Countrythe Spielberg film wasn’t “trying to recreate, frame for frame, the 1961 movie.”
RELATED VIDEO: Steven Spielberg Knew ‘Intuitively’ Rachel Zegler Would Get Role of Maria in West Side Story
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“I think the way Steven and [screenwriter] Tony [Kushner] framed it to all of us when we were auditioning, when we were rehearsing, when we were shooting, was, ‘We are making a movie of the original Broadway musical. This is our take on a story that every-one has heard, and knows so well, and really loves,'” she recalled.
The film also stars Mike Faist, Maddie Ziegler, Myles Erlikc, Kyle Allen, Ezra Menas and Brian d’Arcy James.
West Side Storyis in theaters on Dec. 10.
source: people.com
