Steven Spielberg's WEST SIDE STORY - News & Discussion Thread- Page 47

[degrassifan]

Posted: 11/8/21 at 4:55pm

rattleNwoolypenguin said: "I think what's going to be interesting is how they meld the gritty realism with the fantastical poetic element of dance and music.

The original movie being such a Jerome Robbins on film type of thing, it all tonally worked.

So I see that as the challenge with this. Cause the trailer is giving me real and gritty but it's not giving me

"West Side Story land"

And just overall I hate how long they hold out on showing ANY sort of true musical sequences in the trailer. It's West Side Story for god's sake people know it's a musical."

I totally understand you, but I think it's probably safe to approach this new film as an overhaul/new version that has nothing to do with the original's look or style. It's basically using the songs, characters and plot to write a whole new movie/new approach. 

[Musical Master]

Posted: 11/8/21 at 6:02pm

degrassifan said: "I totally understand you, but I think it's probably safe to approach this new film as an overhaul/new version that has nothing to do with the original's look or style. It's basically using the songs, characters and plot to write a whole new movie/new approach."

What you said could easily apply to Luca Guadagnino's version of Suspiria back in 2018, an overhauled/new version of a classic film that uses it's characters and plot to do something new with it to the point where it feels like a unique experience never seen before.  And it turned out to be one of my favorite films 2018 because of it.

Hopefully that is what Spielberg and Kushner will do for West Side Story.

[NameGreg]

Posted: 11/8/21 at 6:21pm

I like what I’m seeing from the advertising, but I hope they unveil a decent amount of one of the numbers before release.

[Musical Master]

Posted: 11/9/21 at 3:25pm

I'm sure as November comes to a close, we'll get a lot more TV Spots that should unveil more of the musical numbers.

[degrassifan]

Posted: 11/9/21 at 3:42pm

There is another 30 second spot that came as a sponsored ad on Instagram today. It showed new dialogue and shots we hadn't seen in the previous trailers. Not sure how to post here because there's no link. 

[G2000]

Posted: 11/9/21 at 7:06pm

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3581652/
IMDB now lists a runtime of 2 hours and 36 minutes.

[degrassifan]

Posted: 11/9/21 at 9:59pm

Find West Side Story's production notes. Lots of great info -- WSS Production Notes

[MichelleCraig]

Posted: 11/9/21 at 11:00pm

Released yesterday:

https://youtu.be/OxsI_WJzTjc

[Musical Master]

Posted: 11/10/21 at 12:09am

^I think degrassifan was talking about a different TV Spot that I actually saw when I was on YouTube, it was different than the one released yesterday. Reading the production notes does confirm that the "Somewhere Ballet" is indeed cut like what the 61' film did, but the song is now given to Valentina (played by Rita Moreno). I hope that all these changes that Steven Spielberg, Tony Kushner, Justin Peck etc., pays off in a beautifully inspired way.

But unlike something like say Phantom or Cats, I actually have faith in this movie and the talented cast and crew who made it possible.

[degrassifan]

Posted: 11/10/21 at 3:00am

Just as I had suspected using context clues, Cool is sung by Tony to Riff, I Feel Pretty takes place at Gimbels between Maria and the rest of the cleaning crew staff, and Somewhere ballet has been cut. I just feel like if the ballet had been shot, we would’ve seen a glimpse or heard something about it. Plus this movie from the start has emphasized realism and I never thought a ballet would be part of this world even though it’s a musical. Still, I think it would’ve been cool to capture that ballet on film. 
 

Interesting that Tony is now a reformed prisoner and Something’s Coming is now set up as a hopeful future after a rough past. I also love that Tony and Maria now get to go on a real date in One Hand, One Heart. Finally, I think it’s cool that the first song we’re going to hear after The Prologue will be La Borinqueña, sung by Bernardo and the Shark boys. This gives them more to sing, and it’s funny they are singing a Puerto Rican anthem versus them whistling My Country, ‘Tis of Thee in the 1961 version.  

[bismarcky]

Posted: 11/10/21 at 11:37am

I know this has been posted here before, but Brooklyn College is doing a very interesting lecture series about West Side Story and the Puerto Rico connection. So far, the series has invited several people involved with the 2021 film, like Tony Kushner and just today, Victor Cruz, who helped some of the cast with the Puerto Rican dialects. 

For those interested, you can view past recordings from the lecture series here: http://www.brooklyn.cuny.edu/web/academics/schools/socialsciences/departments/prlstudies/west-side-story.php

They have Jeanine Tesori guesting on Monday, December 6th, and Spielberg is TBD. 

Worth checking out! 

[bismarcky]

Posted: 11/10/21 at 11:42am

There are new sponsored spots running on TikTok featuring Rachel Zegler, Ansel Elgort, and Ariana DeBose:

https://www.instagram.com/p/CWCrelILaWd/

https://www.instagram.com/p/CWCib-BDHpD/

[bismarcky]

Posted: 11/10/21 at 12:06pm

Whew, we're in the home stretch! 1 month to go. 

Here's a new María and Anita spot with some new dialogue: https://www.instagram.com/p/CWGlp0mNH74/

[TaffyDavenport]

Posted: 11/10/21 at 12:13pm

 

[degrassifan]

Posted: 11/10/21 at 12:19pm

The new spot is what I saw as a sponsored ad on Instagram yesterday! 

[Musical Master]

Posted: 11/10/21 at 12:32pm

Yep that's the new spot, and I like Anita's new line: "Gangsters! Now you sound like a real American".

[Globefan]

Posted: 11/10/21 at 6:30pm

There's a new poster 

[TaffyDavenport]

Posted: 11/10/21 at 6:49pm

[SpiritualGangster]

Posted: 11/11/21 at 1:16pm

degrassifan said: "First scene heading from Tony Kushner’s script. Found it on Twitter. It’s from the making-of book.




Kushner is beyond brilliant in tying in the connections of San Juan Hill falling victim to racism under the guise of urban renewal to make way for The Lincoln Center of the Performing Arts and "West Side Story". 

I found this interesting article online that contains excerpts from a book that details all of this:

I Think I'll Go Back To San Juan

This book narrates the creation of the iconic musical West Side Story and the backlash to urban developer Robert Moses’ plan to build the Lincoln Center for Performing Arts in the 1950s. These events are connected: the neighborhood that inspired the setting of West Side Story – San Juan Hill – was on the performing arts site. As crowds gathered to watch the Jets and the Sharks engage in a murderous turf war on the ‘West Side,’ over 7,000 families fought for their homes less than a mile away. Many people have written about the origins of West Side Story. Many others have written about urban renewal in 1950s New York. But the link between these two stories has been largely lost to time. 

Less than a mile away, the Winter Garden Theatre on Broadway was filled with a a different kind of anticipation.  As previews in Washington D.C. drew to a close, actors prepared to take their place onstage in New York. For many, like Carol Lawrence, starring as Maria, this could make or break their careers. On September 8, Times critic Seymour Peck did a feature on the preparations for West Side Story, calling it an “ingenious paraphrase of Shakespeare”. He praised the writers for recasting the doomed lovers as a “Puerto Rican girl new to the city”  and a “city boy” whose gang is “ruled by hatred of newcomers,”[10] notably avoiding the racial difference behind the prejudice. The accompanying pictures from previews in Washington D.C. gloss over the set’s resemblance to San Juan Hill. The likeness, though, would become all the more apparent with real-life proximity when the play opened in New York later that month. 

On June 10, 1958, a little over six months later, the first residents of Lincoln Square were relocated. Present asserted, “The battle of Lincoln Square is not over.” As West Side Story completed its Broadway run and its following national tour, residents were gradually moved out of the neighbourhood. In mid-1960, as the last moving trucks were leaving the neighbourhood, film crews moved in. Shortly before demolition, the vacant tenements, shops, and streets were used as locations in Jerome Robbins’ 1961 Hollywood version of West Side Story. For better or worse, this film is one of the last visual records of the neighbourhood.

[SpiritualGangster]

Posted: 11/11/21 at 5:34pm

Location filming for "West Side Story" took place in and around the NY Tri-State area during the Summer of 2019.

I found some interesting photos taken during that time. The film's code name was "San Juan Hill". 

No Parking Notice posted at 113th Street & Adam Clayton Powell to clear way for filming:



This building on St. Nicholas Avenue and 143rd Street was used as the facade of the gym Bernardo trains and boxes in:



 

 

[Musical Master]

Posted: 11/11/21 at 9:39pm

Nice pictures and also I really like the posters that have appeared recently, the one with Tony and Maria on the fire-escape is probably my favorite one so far.

[ErmengardeStopSniveling]

Posted: 11/11/21 at 11:57pm

That opening description -- showing us what the neighborhood will become -- is classic Spielberg.

[SpiritualGangster]

Posted: 11/12/21 at 6:38am

Musical Master said: "Nice pictures and also I really like the posters that have appeared recently, the one with Tony and Maria on the fire-escape is probably my favorite one so far."

That is my favorite one so far as well. I think it's a really sexy poster. It may have something to do with the way Ansel is straddling the fire-escape! 

 

[fashionguru_23]

Posted: 11/12/21 at 8:45am

I'm hoping naming the boxing gym "Rivera's", is a wink to Chita.

[degrassifan]

Posted: 11/13/21 at 4:12am

Official credits for the movie, which includes final cast list and song list. 
 

West Side Story full official end credits
 

 

Click Here To Toggle Spoiler Content

I wonder who are Young Girl Maria and Old Lady Maria? Dream sequence? Flashback/flash forward?