20th Century Studios has revealed stunning new photos from director Steven Spielberg’s West Side Story remake.
“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,” Spielberg said. “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.”
Ansel Elgort and Rachel Zegler star in the film alongside Ariana DeBose, Ana Isabelle, Corey Stoll, Brian d’Arcy James, Curtiss Cook and Academy Award-winner Rita Moreno, who plays Valentina and also serves as one of the film’s Executive Producers.
West Side Story is produced and directed by Steven Spielberg from a script by Academy Award-nominated screenwriter and Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Tony Kushner. The film has been adapted for the screen from the original 1957 Broadway musical, which was written by Arthur Laurents with music by Leonard Bernstein, lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and concept, direction and choreography by Jerome Robbins. Tony Award-winner Justin Peck will choreograph the musical numbers in the film. Also leading the production are Tony Award-winning producer Kevin McCollum and Academy Award-nominated producer Kristie Macosko Krieger.
The film’s music team includes renowned conductor Gustavo Dudamel, who will helm the recording of Bernstein’s iconic score; Academy Award-nominated composer and conductor David Newman (Anastasia) who will be arranging the score for the new adaptation; Tony Award-winning composer Jeanine Tesori (Broadway’s Fun Home and Thoroughly Modern Millie), who will be working with the cast on vocals; and Grammy-nominated music supervisor Matt Sullivan (Beauty and the Beast, Chicago), who will serve as executive music producer for the film.
West Side Story will be released by The Walt Disney Studios in the US on December 18.
Can hardly wait to see this! Tony & Maria fit perfectly. Ansel Elgort looks like he could have started a gang. Finally Tony & Maria singing for themselves! Hey!