Put a pep in your step with these first-look images from West Side Story

Last Updated on August 2, 2021

Steven Spielberg must know that we need a little levity. Amid all the coronavirus panic, Spielberg has offered us some first-look images from his take on WEST SIDE STORY and it's a project he has been making in his mind since he was a young child.

Re-imagining WEST SIDE STORY is a very tall order but who else better to take it on than Steven Spielberg. The 1957 Broadway musical is a bonafide classic and one would argue that the 1961 film adaptation is a film you simply shouldn't touch but Spielberg appears to be bringing all the right elements to make his version of it work. The story is a product of its time but Spielberg believes that time is very much alive today:

"This story is not only a product of its time, but that time has returned, and it’s returned with a kind of social fury. I really wanted to tell that Puerto Rican, Nuyorican experience of basically the migration to this country and the struggle to make a living and to have children, and to battle against the obstacles of xenophobia and racial prejudice"

The film stars newcomer Rachel Zegler in the role originated on screen by Natalie Wood. Playing her streetwise Casanova Tony is BABY DRIVER actor Ansel Elgort, taking on a role the part played by Richard Beymer in the original film. While we haven't seen how well this duo can sing or dance, these images of the duo do suggest that there is already chemistry brewing to make their version very memorable.

Despite the new blood on set, Spielberg wanted to play proper homage to the film version by casting Rita Moreno, who won a best-supporting actress Oscar for playing Anita in the original film. At 88, the actress will be taking on a different role in this film as Valentina and what she appreciated about Spielberg's approach is that he wanted to be 100% authentic as possible:

"He really wanted to right some…should I say wrongs? I don’t know if that’s…yes, that’s fair, because the [1961] film had a lot of things that were wrong with it, aside from the fact that it had a lot of things that were very right. One of the wrongs was that she was one of the few Puerto Ricans in the cast. That’s what they were trying to fix and ameliorate, and I think they have done an incredible job."

We'll have to wait and see if Spielberg gets it completely right when WEST SIDE STORY hits screens on December 18, 2020. Check out the first-look images below.