How Spielberg and Kushner Reimagined ‘West Side Story’
It is the movie that everyone is talking about this weekend! As moviegoers head to the theaters to check out Steven Spielberg’s version of West Side Story we wanted to take some time to highlight some of the things that make this film worth lining up at the box office for! The screenplay for the film was written by none other than Tony Award winner Tony Kushner and for those familiar with the original musical, it tells the classic tale of fierce rivalries and young love in 1957 New York City.
Since the musical made its Broadway debut over 60 years ago, its been revived on both stage and screen but trust us when we say that this latest version offers a fresh, original and unique perspective on the material thanks to Spielberg and Kushner.
Spielberg had this to say about taking on a story that people already know and love, “It’s very intimidating to take a masterpiece and make it through different eyes and different sensibilities without compromising the integrity of what is generally considered the greatest music ever written for the theater.” He continued, “But I believe that great stories should be told over and over again, in part to reflect different perspectives and moments in time into the work.”
The original Broadway version of West Side Story came to life thanks to a virtual who’s who of musical theater juggernauts including choreographer Jerome Robbins, composer Leonard Bernstein, lyricist Stephen Sondheim and playwright Arthur Laurents. Those are some big shoes to fill as Spielberg says, “It redefined Broadway musicals, it was the first of its kind, utterly original, and no one can capture that kind of lightning-in-a-bottle twice. We understood that, but while we worked to honor this masterwork, to live up to its demands, we also hoped to try to find our way into the energy it took to make something that new, that fresh.”
Spielberg knew that in retelling the story, it was important for the esteemed director to put his own stamp on the material. l. “We needed to discover our voice so that [the new film] would be the same but distinctly different. ” Spielberg continues, “We didn’t want to fix what wasn’t broken, but we did want to justify why we were telling the story again.”
One area that Spielberg really wanted to get right was the accuracy of the characters portrayed in the film. For instance on stage and screen the actors have largely not been Hispanic. Also, in the original film, many of the actors were in their thirties. In this version, it was cast authentically to insure that the Shark boys and girls were 100% Latinx and young.
Casting Lead Cindy Tolan advised that casting for the film started back in January of 2018 which was a full year before filming began. In terms of what she was looking for Tolan said, “I felt my mandate was pretty clear, that all of the Sharks, María, Anita, Bernardo and Chino—everyone needed to be Latinx.” She continued, “And they also had to be triple threats, meaning they needed to be able to sing, dance and act. A quadruple threat, really, because there was a fourth dimension: the camera had to love them.”
The cast includes Ansel Elgort as Tony, Ariana DeBose as Anita, David Alvarez as Bernardo, Mike Faist as Riff, Brian d’Arcy James as Officer Krupke, Corey Stoll as Lieutenant Schrank and Josh Andrés Rivera as Chino, with Rita Moreno as Valentina and introducing Rachel Zegler as María.
It should be noted that the legendary Rita Moreno also serves as executive producer on the film.
Spielberg wanted the characters to become more nuanced and to explore them more deeply. A great example of this is the role of Tony. He has just gotten out of prison. Spielberg advised that audiences should see that it has changed him right for the beginning of the film.
In terms of Kushner’s involvement in the project, one key area where his influence was found was in reconceiving the character of Doc. He was transformed into a nurturing woman who befriends Tony. For the onset the role was intended to be Moreno (who actually won an Academy Award for her role as Anita in the 1961 film. ”
Kushner says of re-imagining the character, “Valentina’s backstory is 25 pages long.” He continues, “It’s like a little novel, starting with her early life in Puerto Rico, and it includes how Tony came to live in the basement of her drugstore. It spans the first half of the twentieth century. While I was writing it, I fantasized that I was watching an epic miniseries starring Rita Moreno.”
We’re also told that Kushner really dove into the project to understand the story, especially the entire section of the Upper West Side depicted in the story. He dug deep into the history of the destruction of Lincoln Square and San Juan Hill and how this would ultimately impact the characters. As Kushner said, “All of these kids—Jets and Sharks—were subjected to that upheaval. These kids are fighting for territory that’s disappearing before their eyes.”
In this retelling, each character of the story is multidimensional with individual backstories that motivate their actions. Kushner said, “The story is both big and political, yet at its heart it’s as private and personal as can be, two young people who fall fiercely in love; but the love that blossoms between them is murdered by the big political world surrounding them.” But that’s not all. Kushner adds, “The story is a warning: racism and nativism and poverty are democracy’s antitheses, and if not resisted and rejected they will atomize the bonds that hold us together as a society. Love, as they say, is the answer—love can transform the world, it can transform malevolent reality, but love doesn’t conquer all, or at least not all threats in the immediate moment. In a context of hatred, love is in danger. And that is tragic. That’s the tragedy of West Side Story.”
You can check out the the official trailer for the film below:
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