![]() That was my idea for the rest of my life. That Zegler was plucked from obscurity (well, New Jersey) for the lead this time around only adds to the magic. ![]() That production starred Natalie Wood, who is said to have won the part of Maria thanks to early footage of her turn in Splendor in the Grass. While the musical has been revisited on Broadway three times since its 1957 premiere, this will be the first film version since the 1961 hit (co-directed and so memorably choreographed by Jerome Robbins, with music byLeonard Bernstein and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim), which won 10Academy Awards. It’s the group project of icons-Spielberg, Kushner, executive producer Rita Moreno-and an update of one of theater’s most sacred and sentimental Romeo and Juliet retellings. Of the pack of big-screen musicals opening this year ( Dear Evan Hansen, the summer’s In the Heights), none is as keenly anticipated as West Side Story. Right: Michael Kors Collection dress ($3,490) David Yurman earrings ($1,850) Pamela Hanson Studio Center: Giambattista Valli dress ($3,100) Jimmy Choo boots ($1,295) David Yurman bracelets (from $1,950). Left: Chanel blouse ($3,900) and skirt ($3,950) Nude Barre Bralette ($25) Tiffany & Co. Zegler herself hasn’t seen the movie that’s set to turn her into a star.) (How good West Side Story is I can’t say, because the film-set to open December 10-is still under lock and key. The casting process started with an open call for a Latina actress between the ages of 15 and 25 (“My friend Makena sent it to me and literally said, ‘Thank me when you’re famous,’” Zegler, whose mother’s family is Colombian, says of her pal’s supportive shove into the spotlight) and ended with Zegler poised to be the breakout star of the year’s most anticipated movie musical. After a year-and a half-dozen reads, self-tapes, and workshop intensives-Zegler had won the lead in the new film. The day after Shrek closed, Zegler was caught in traffic, racing to the first West Side Story rehearsal in Brooklyn. Her reply was short, because, well, what do you say when Spielberg is maybe asking you to maybe make time for his movie? Surely the director of Jaws can bump a high school production of Shrek the Musical off the calendar.Ĭollege was going to have to wait. “I think I said, ‘I’m doing my spring musical in March, and then I’d like to goto college,’” Zegler says today. It was the summer of 2018, and a casting director for West Side Story- directed by Spielberg! Written by Tony Kushner!-was asking Rachel Zegler, then just 17, for her availability. Steven Spielberg’s West Side Story is what happened while Rachel Zegler was busy making other plans.
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