West Side Story released its second trailer. It is a romantic musical that tackles the issue of immigration and racism. This Steven Spielberg movie is the second film adaptation of the musical. In the original Film, Natalie Wood and Richard Beymer played Maria and Tony. It is a modern and interracial take on Romeo and Juliet. A Gang of Caucasians is feuding with a Gang of Puerto Ricans. In the middle of the conflict, Maria, A Puerto Rican girl, and Tony, a Caucasian boy will fall in love despite being from opposite sides. The original film cast Caucasian actors for the Puerto Rican roles. Hollywood made a lot of racism and politically incorrect decisions back then.
Rita Moreno who played Anita was the only Hispanic actress in the cast but she won best-supporting actress in the Oscars. She will not return on this remake as a New character named Valentina. Rita will now pass the role of Anita to Ariana DeBose.
Colombian American Actress Rachel Zegler will be playing Maria on screen now. Latino Actors only get 4.5% of roles in Hollywood. so Imagine the frustration of the Hispanic community to be represented by White actors with the spray tan. Ansel Elgort will be playing Tony but changes could happen because some people are petitioning against him because of his past controversies.
This is not Zegler’s First time playing Maria from West Side Story. She already played the role during a high school production of the musical.
It goes full circle that she now plays the coveted role on screen. Zegler has an impressive singing voice along with her expressive eyes. That shows her potential as a singer and actress. This is not Steven Spielberg’s first attempt to make a musical movie. Back in the 90s, he tried to make an animated Adaptation of Cats but things didn’t go through. I believe his version would have been better than the box office disaster from 2018.
