Teaser Trailer For Steven Spielberg's WEST SIDE STORY
20th Century Studio has released the first teaser trailer for Steven Spielberg’s adaptation of the classic Broadway musical West Side Story. This is a brief trailer and while it doesn’t show a lot, it does give us a solid look at the tone and style of the film. It’s really not that far off from the style and tone of the original movie, but at the same time, it’s got a fresh Spielberg vibe.
I love the original film and I’ve been looking forward to this new adaptation. So far, I like what I see, and I’m looking forward to seeing more.
The story for the film follows Tony and Maria, despite having affiliations with rival street gangs, the Jets and Sharks, fall in love in 1950s New York City. An adaptation of the 1957 musical, West Side Story explores forbidden love and the rivalry between the Jets and the Sharks.
Ansel Elgort takes on the lead male role of Tony, and newcomer Rachel Zegler plays the lead female role of Maria. The members of the Jets include Anybodys (Ezra Menas), Mouthpiece (Ben Cook), Action (Sean Harrison Jones); Jets leader Riff (Mike Faist); and Baby John (Patrick Higgins). Then there are the Sharks, including Maria’s brother and leader Bernardo (David Alvarez), Quique (Julius Anthony Rubio), Chago (Ricardo Zayas), Chino (Josh Andrés Rivera), Braulio (Sebastian Serra), and Pipo (Carlos Sánchez Falú). The film also stars Ariana DeBose (Anita), Ana Isabelle (Rosalia), Corey Stoll (Lieutenant Schrank), Brian d’Arcy James (Officer Krupke), and Curtiss Cook (Abe).
West Side Story hits theaters on December 10th, 2021.
When talking about adapting the story for modern times, Spielberg explained: “This story is not only a product of its time, but that time has returned, and it’s returned with a kind of social fury. I really wanted to tell that Puerto Rican, Nuyorican experience of basically the migration to this country and the struggle to make a living, and to have children, and to battle against the obstacles of xenophobia and racial prejudice.”
The script for the movie comes from Angels in America playwright Tony Kushner, who previously worked with Spielberg on Munich and Lincoln, and it’s explained that he had “to craft an updated story that retains the familiar songs but embeds them in a more realistic cityscape.”