Vibrant New Photos From Steven Spielberg's WEST SIDE STORY
We’ve got a few new photos to share with you today from Steven Spielberg’s West Side Story. I know this kind of movie isn’t everyone’s thing, but I’m personally looking forward to it! I like what I’ve seen from the film so far in the vibrant photos that have been released, but I can’t wait to see some actual footage.
The film is based on the classic Broadway musical, and the story “explores young love and tensions between rival gangs the Jets and the Sharks on the streets of 1957 New York.”
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).
You can check out the new photos below, which originated from People En Español. As you’ll see, they feature joyful individuals dancing in the streets. That’s what street gangs used to do back in the day!
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.”
Rita Moreno (pictured above), starred in the original West Side Story movie and also won a best-supporting actress Oscar for playing Anita, also has a new and different role in the updated film. She plays a character named Valentine, who is a new character added to the story. She is the widow of Doc, the old-timer who ran the corner store that served as neutral ground for the gangs in the original story. Like him, Valentine is a peacemaker.
West Side Story will be released on December 18th, 2020.