Movie: New 'West Side Story' Is Cast 'Authentically'

A new film version of the beloved American musical West Side Story opened in theaters around the world Friday. Director Steven Spielberg employed Latin actors to perform the parts of the Puerto Rican characters on which the story is based.

That was not the case in casting for the 1957 Broadway musical or 1961 movie of the same name. Only one actor in the film was Latin: Rita Moreno, who played Anita. She won an Academy Award for her performance. The movie received nine other Oscars.

Like those productions, however, this new movie is also based on William Shakespeare's tragic¹ love story, Romeo and Juliet. West Side Story presents two opposing groups of teenagers in New York City: The Jets are Puerto Rican, the Sharks are white. Jet Maria and Shark Tony fall in love, increasing hostility² and distrust between and within their groups.

Spielberg spent more than a year looking for his cast. His search went outside the United States to Latin America and Australia. Twenty of the film's actors are Puerto Ricans or of Puerto Rican ancestry³.

"I wanted to cast it authentically⁴, to ensure that the actors playing the Shark boys and girls were 100 percent Latinx, and young," Spielberg said.

Rita Moreno is among the cast also. And she helped produce the movie.

This time Moreno plays Valentina, a new part that replaces the original character of store owner Doc.

'A huge step forward'

Latinos are the largest minority in the United States, accounting⁵ for 19 percent of the population. Numerous studies show that the group is greatly under-represented in film and television.

Actor-dancer Ariana DeBose who play's Anita in the new movie, praised Spielberg's work for its "integrity."

"He is using his privilege to say, well, if I can do it, everybody can, and pay respect to the culture...," Debose said.

Rich backstories are created for each character in the new West Side Story. Both English and Spanish language is used in the film. The writer of the new movie, Tony Kushner, said Spanish, "had to exist in equal proportions alongside English."

Spielberg spoke⁶ of people seeing the movie together in public theaters. He said he hoped "English-speaking audiences will suddenly hear laughter coming from pockets of the theater from the Spanish-speaking audience."

David Alvarez plays Bernardo, the leader of the Sharks. He calls the casting effort "a huge step forward."

Alvarez said 2021's West Side Story and In the Heights, another recent musical with a large Latino cast, are signs that the United States, in Alvarez's words, "is beginning to realize that the Latino community here is much larger and they are recognizing us."

"It is a beautiful thing to see that we are finally taking a step forward ... We are here, we want to be part of America, we want to integrate ourselves with this society," Alvarez said.

Words in This Story

character - n. a person who appears in a story, book, play, movie, or television show

casting - n. the act or event of choosing actors for theatrical⁷ productions

authentically - adv. done in a true and accurate way

integrity - n. the quality of being honest and fair

privilege - n. a right or benefit that is given to some people and not to others

proportion - n. the relationship that exists between the size, number, or amount of two things

audience - n. a group of people who gather together to listen to something (such as a concert) or watch something (such as a movie or play) : the people who attend a performance

pocket - n. a small area or group that is different from the larger area or group it is in or near — usually + of

1 tragic   

adj.悲剧的，悲剧性的，悲惨的

参考例句：

• The effect of the pollution on the beaches is absolutely tragic.污染海滩后果可悲。
• Charles was a man doomed to tragic issues.查理是个注定不得善终的人。

2 hostility   

n.敌对，敌意；抵制［pl.］交战，战争

参考例句：

• There is open hostility between the two leaders.两位领导人表现出公开的敌意。
• His hostility to your plan is well known.他对你的计划所持的敌意是众所周知的。

3 ancestry   

n.祖先，家世

参考例句：

• Their ancestry settled the land in 1856.他们的祖辈1856年在这块土地上定居下来。
• He is an American of French ancestry.他是法国血统的美国人。

4 authentically   

ad.sincerely真诚地

参考例句：

• Gina: And we should give him something 2 authentically Taiwanese. 吉娜：而且我们应该送他有纯正台湾味的东西。
• A loser is one who fails to correspond authentically. 失败者则指那些未能做到诚实可靠的人。

5 accounting   

n.会计，会计学，借贷对照表

参考例句：

• A job fell vacant in the accounting department.财会部出现了一个空缺。
• There's an accounting error in this entry.这笔账目里有差错。

6 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

7 theatrical   

adj.剧场的，演戏的；做戏似的，做作的

参考例句：

• The final scene was dismayingly lacking in theatrical effect.最后一场缺乏戏剧效果，叫人失望。
• She always makes some theatrical gesture.她老在做些夸张的手势。