Something’s coming! Something good!
It feels like we have been hearing about Steven Spielberg’s West Side Story, a remake of the classic 1961 film based off the 1957 Broadway musical of the same name, forever now. And though it was originally supposed to be released this past December, it was delayed a year due to the COVID pandemic.
Now we finally have a sneak peek ahead of its December 10 release, which will coincide with the original film’s 60th anniversary.
The trailer opens with some gorgeous shots of New York City with the iconic whistle in the background. The shadows of the Jets and Sharks take over Spielberg’s name and without even seeing the characters, you can tell this will be an amazing adaptation.
We then see Tony (Ansel Elgort) and Maria (Rachel Zegler) spot each other at the dance in the school’s gym before cutting to other characters, including Ariana Debose as the new Anita followed immediately with Rita Moreno (1961’s Anita) as a new character named Valentina.
The action builds up leading to an intense faceoff between Bernardo (David Alvarez) and Riff (Mike Faist).
Except for the single word “somewhere” at the end of the trailer, there’s no singing but we have high hopes for the vocals with DeBose, Alvarez and Faist all having Broadway backgrounds.
The original stage musical, which is actually based off Romeo and Juliet, became a defining piece of musical theater and has been revived multiple times, including a 21-performance run in 2020 before Broadway shut down. With music by Leonard Bernstein, lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and a book by Arthur Laurents, it was nominated for six Tony Awards winning Best Choreography and Best Scenic Design. It lost Best Musical to The Music Man.
However, the original film starring Natalie Wood and Richard Beymer in the lead roles fared a bit better during awards season. It was nominated for 11 Oscars and won 10 of them, including Best Picture. Moreno became the first Hispanic woman to win Oscar and her costar George Chakiris (as Bernardo) won Best Supporting Actor.
Keep a lookout because next year’s Oscars could be filled with West Side Story wins. Are you excited for this movie? Let us know with a comment below or tweet us @celebsecrets.
