The Robert Wise and Jerome Robbins-directed West Side Story from 1961 based on the Broadway musical starring the iconic Oscar winners Rita Moreno and George Chakiris is iconic. It has some problems when it comes to representation, but that’s a whole other conversation… and it was also made in 1961 so authentic representation wasn’t even on Hollywood’s radar. Fast forward to 2021 and Steven Spielberg has decided to remake the movie with Tony Kushner writing the script that will pit the Jets vs. Sharks.
On Oscar Sunday, we were treated to a teaser trailer of the the pic about a Romeo & Juliet romance set in 1957 NYC between Maria (Rachel Zegler) and Tony (Ansel Elgort) — and it looks pretty good. Does it have the magic of the original? Only time will tell but one thing is for certain: Hollywood will eventually try to pit this movie against In The Heights because, that’s just the way Hollywood is. They can’t wrap their head around the fact that two movie musicals with Latinx casts can’t co-exist. So brace yourself for that.
Nonetheless, icon Rita Moreno is on board to play corner store owner Valentina, who steps in for Doc from the original movie. She also serves as an executive producer of the film — which we live for.
Watch the trailer above and check out the teaser poster below.
