20th Century Studios has just released a new sneak peek at Academy Award winner Steven Spielberg's much anticipated West Side Story adaptation, giving us a glimpse into Spielberg's own perspective on the scope and gravity of working on such an iconic musical.
"I'm just so proud and so honored that I got this shot late in my career," Spielberg says in the new sneak peek, as clips from the large-scale production play, showing the intense, collaborative nature of the project. The clip, balances between a trailer and a glimpse into the production, giving us an appreciation for the complexities of such a project. Though Spielberg is perhaps the most accomplished filmmaker of our time, this project is perhaps one of the few adaptations so culturally impactful as to intimidate the Jurassic Park director. This film is certainly new ground for him.
The production itself has been complicated. With the original 2020 release date being pushed to this year due to COVID, 20th Century is hoping to score big during the Holiday season. The film stars Ansel Elgort of Baby Driver as Tony and Rachel Zegler as Maria, two star-crossed lovers separated by ongoing turf wars in 1950s New York. Rita Moreno, who played Anita in the original 1961 film version, will property in a new role, playing Valentina, the owner of the corner store where Tony works.
New 'West Side Story' Trailer Reveals Steven Spielberg's Musical Romance Epic
With the inclusion of Moreno taking on a new role which was invented for the 2021 film, Spielberg's version certainly aims to walk a very fine line in both honoring its previous iterations and bringing a new and unique take on the classic story. The sneak peek video, which shows the sweeping action and scale that we've come to expect from Spielberg, along with beautiful midcentury aesthetics that are central to both the Broadway musical and 1961 film, inspires both nostalgia and anticipation. This is certainly a hard balance to strike for a movie that is based on a movie, which was based on a musical, which was based on a Shakespeare play.
Spielberg's West Side Story will open in theaters on December 10. You can check out the sneak peek below: