Tonight (tonight), while a lot of fancy Hollywood people received Oscars, the rest of us received our own highly-anticipated prize: the new trailer for Steven Spielberg's West Side Story.
In the remake of the 1961 classic movie-musical, Ansel Elgort and Rachel Zegler star as Tony and Maria, two Romeo and Juliet-like teenagers whose affiliations with rival New York street gangs keep them from being together.
We've known about the film and the casting for a while now, but besides a few photos here and there, we haven't been able to see the dynamic cast dancing and doing their thing until now. The movie was filmed in the summer of 2019 and supposed to be released in theaters in December 2020, but it was delayed because of the pandemic and now has December 10, 2021 is the official release date.
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The trailer starts off with the iconic West Side Story whistle from the Jets gang, as we see images of a 1950s-era Manhattan. Then, we see cuts of iconic scenes like the high school dance at the gym, as well as a few of the main characters, including Tony, Maria, Bernardo (David Alvarez), Anita (Ariana DeBose), Riff (Mike Faist), and the legendary Rita Moreno (who portrayed Anita in the 1961 movie).
We also finally got to see 19-year-old newcomer Zegler in action for the first time. Many fans of the musical have been anticipating her debut the most — herself included. The road got a little rocky early on during filming, when Elgort fans piled on to Zegler on social media, alleging that she was having an affair with her taken co-star. As a result of the harassment, she took a break from social media. She eventually returned, and on April 24, however, the night before the trailer dropped, the actress tweeted: “currently sobbing in bed because life is about to get Real tomorrow. thank you for sharing these past few years of in-between with me.”
In another tweet, she wrote: "sincerest thank you to all of you from the fifteen year old girl who sang showtunes in her bedroom on youtube.
west side story was such a labor of love that i continue to hold close to my heart in every endeavor i take on in this industry. i learned so much, i loved so much, i cried so much. i cannot wait to share it with you. and i cannot wait for it to be my introduction to you all. ❤️
— rachel zegler (she/her/hers) (@rachelzegler) April 22, 2021
Watch the trailer for West Side Story below, out December 10, 2021.