Opinion: Why “West Side Story” failed to perform
Credit: Genevieve Morrison
WPSN’s Hallie Luo discusses the casting issues around the new movie “West Side Story,” and how this caused a disappointment at the box office.
January 7, 2022
“West Side Story,” released on Dec. 10, 2021, is a well-made and gorgeous movie that has a lot of problems underneath. The casting was the main problem; what were the directors thinking?
The streets of Manhattan hustle. Someone jumps a fence. A second later, a coin flips. One by one, white teenage boys join together to form the Jets— a gang whose purpose is to make trouble. Their bodies can’t help but dance, so they glide through the streets they want to make their own, singing and stealing from stores. Directed by Steven Spielberg, “West Side Story” tells the story of these streets, bounded by racial inequalities and life in slums.
Inspired by the play Romeo and Juliet, main characters Maria and Tony, played by Rachel Zegler and Ansel Elgort, live in opposite worlds. One as a Puerto Rican immigrant, and the other as a white ex-con. Their ties to the Jets and Sharks, the two rival gangs that dominate the Upper West Side, make it seemingly impossible for them to be together. With Maria’s brother Bernardo as the leader of the Sharks, and Tony’s best friend Riff as the leader of the Jets, it’s clear that their romance will stir up drama.
The movie itself is visually stunning. Each frame is full of colors, and the 1950s feel is definitely there. The camerawork is insanely smooth, especially as we follow the dancers around the city. Zegler shines as Maria. As someone who has been following her YouTube career for years, it’s exciting to see her breakout role receive recognition. Ariana Debose, Mike Faist and David Alvarez were all extraordinary, each having previous backgrounds in Broadway shows.
On paper, this movie should be selling out theaters nationwide. A fun, family-friendly musical with catchy songs and flashy dancing. Surely everyone would want to watch, right? However, after its release on Dec. 10, the movie inadequately performed by only reaching $10.5 million in the box office over the first weekend. In my opinion, there’s two reasons why.
Ansel Elgort is one of them. The name might sound familiar after his roles in “Baby Driver” and “The Fault in Our Stars.” Back in Oct. 2018, he was casted as the lead role of Tony in “West Side Story.” After the filming of the movie in June 2020, a fan spoke up about her relationship with Elgort, and how he sexually assaulted her. Right away, he shut this down and turned defensive. Soon after this, multiple other reports surfaced from young girls who had similar experiences of sexual misconduct with the actor.
Since the film release date was delayed due to COVID-19, it would be released after these allegations. The internet blames Elgort for the failure of the movie, since many fans refused to see it in theaters and put more money in his pockets. As for me, I unfortunately found out about Elgort’s past after watching the movie and completely understand why said movie fans would be reluctant to watch it.
This isn’t the only reason movie-watchers are avoiding the movie, though. In the original “West Side Story” film released in 1961, the majority of the cast was white. For a movie that highlights the issues with racism against Puerto Ricans, wouldn’t it be important to cast people who can actually represent them? Instead, heavy spray tans and excessive brownface were the filmmaker’s solution to avoid casting people of color.
You would expect that in the new, redone, adaptation of “West Side Story” directors would prioritize the casting of Puerto Ricans to show that representation that was absent in the original cast. However, many of the main cast members are not Puerto Rican at all. Although the people casted for the Sharks were Latinx, which differs from the original, that doesn’t make it okay.
This can only be blamed on the makers of the movie. Only 20 actors in the entire movie were of Puerto Rican descent, and most of them were extras. This belief that the Latinx community is “interchangeable” is completely wrong since each nationality has its own distinct culture. Just because someone speaks Spanish doesn’t immediately mean they are Puerto Rican.
Many Puerto Ricans have decided to boycott the movie because of this, as it doesn’t have the representation that they were promised. Although it is important to value high talent and acting ability when casting for a movie, in this case, the goal should’ve been to value the representation of Puerto Rican talent more.
This boycotting and downfall of the movie could’ve been prevented if they had re-filmed and found a new actor for Tony, and if they prioritized the role of Puerto Ricans as well. I understand it’s timely and expensive, but with a budget as big as Spielberg’s and thousands of Puerto Ricans to represent, the importance of “West Side Story” to be done well is expected. We’ve already waited two years for the movie to come out, so we can wait a little longer if it means it’s done correctly.
Seo-ah • Mar 31, 2022 at 12:58 PM
It failed to get the “numbers” that people predicted and blame everything besides itself. Instead of wasting time figuring out why let’s just accept it like in any other business. For me it wasn’t my type of movie and seeing ads and commercials everywhere made it worse. Some movies didn’t get the ad space as this movie and still bought in the cash. Simple demand and this type of movie wasn’t in demand and had a niche audience. The demand won’t increase because of the heavy advertising quite the opposite it’ll go down because they’ll think oh it’s probably going to do well since they have the budget for so much ads or the this is getting annoying. I won’t claim to be a analyst or something but I do sell playing cards in my hobby store and know when I can’t keep it in stock and when it’s slowing down. Think about it like a business and learn from it. Demand is low so let’s not restock/sell this lesson learned.
John • Mar 30, 2022 at 4:23 AM
Fair opinion I think people should realize this woke/diversity thing is sadly a thread that was given way too much steam. This type of entertainment has only damaged or destroyed any series or franchise it touches. Japanese products and entertainment has skyrocketed to the point that a single movie will dominate the box office and most Western News won’t mention it. Strange how everyone talks about diversity but don’t dare to mention a Japanese anime movie being 2 place or earning more than this movie could ever make. Can’t believe they got a Oscar with this movie being a loss. Meanwhile in Japan they keep hits and even get people to read Mangas…yeah try getting people to read woke stuff and sell it that ain’t happening.
mplo • Mar 13, 2022 at 12:35 PM
Unfortunately, however, the dreadful stuff about Ansel Elgort’s actions and behavior towards underaged girls came out well after the filming of the new film version of West Side Story was finished. Most of the people who played the Sharks in Spielberg’s West Side Story were not Puerto Rican. Afew good examples are the following facts: A) David Alvarez was born in Montreal, Canada. (B) Ariana Dubose was from North Carolina, and (C) Rachel Zegler was from Clifton, NJ. Not only that, but all three of these stars of Spielberg’s film version of West Side Story used phony Spanish accents in this movie, as well.
AS for the old, original 1961 film version of West Side Story, which I’m a devout fan of, if one really stops to look at the credits that roll in after the movie ends, there are a number of actors with Latin-sounding names who play the Sharks. Sadly, most people don’t even bother to look at the credits. Perhaps they’d learn something if they did.