Six decades after the original 'West Side Story' won ten trophies, the 1961 musical returned with seven nominations for this year’s Oscars.
Courtesy: Niko Tavernise for Disney/Twentieth Century Fox "West Side Story"
Ariana DeBose already scored a Golden Globe Best Supporting Actress win for her performance as Anita in the Steven Spielberg-remake. She's once again up for the same category at the 94th Academy Awards in March.
DeBose shares the exact moment she fell in love with performing. "I was five and I was performing in our recital from my dance studio, and I was a daisy. And the people were clapping. I don't remember what the song was, but I was a daisy and I was good at it. And I was really excited that I worked really hard and I got the steps right and everything. And the people were clapping and smiling, and I was like, 'This is awesome,'" she says.
Courtesy: Niko Tavernise for Disney/Twentieth Century Fox "West Side Story"
The leading actress of 'West Side Story' is Rachel Zegler who also won a Golden Globe for her role as Maria. This was her first movie. With Ansel Elgort who portrays Tony, they play the ill-fated young lovers in the popular story.
Zegler admits she had 'zero confidence' in herself on their first day on set. "I was terrified. I really felt like I was going to be sick all day because my first day was not scheduled. It was a rain schedule, so it ended up raining. They couldn't do their location shoot for the day. I did the bleacher scene underneath the bleachers. They built the bleachers in like five hours and then we had to do the scene, and there was a kiss in it. There were two kisses in it. I was terrified. There was a moment that day that I was just in tears, and I looked at Ansel, and I said, ‘This is really cool'," Zegler says.
The actress shares that she too was 'terrified' on her last day of filming.
"On my last day, I looked over at Ansel, we were doing the balcony scene, and we were on the stage, and we were on this fire escape. And he looked at me with tears in his eyes, and he said, ‘This is really cool.’ And I sobbed. I was just as terrified on my first day as it was on my last day but I do remember walking with Ansel through the soundstage after we had fully picture-wrapped and I told him to look at the fire escape. We just stood there and looked at it. I said, ’It doesn't look so scary anymore.’ And it isn’t so scary anymore."
'West Side Story' will hit Philippine theaters on February 16.