In 2021, the great Steven Spielberg signs his very first musical. And he decides to tackle an immense classic by offering his version of ” West Side Story “. Did you know that, for the needs of the film, the actors sang their musical passages themselves?
West Side Story : remake of a masterpiece of the seventh art
Steven Spielberg’s movie West Side Story is an exception in the filmography of the master. West Side Story is indeed the giant’s very first musical of the seventh art, now 75 years old, and the remake of the immense classic by Robert Wise and Jerome Robbins, released in 1961. For the occasion, actress Rita Moreno, who played Anita in the original film, is back in this new film. This time in the skin of Valentina. She is here surrounded by Ansel Elgort, Rachel Zegler, Ariana DeBose or even Corey Stoll.
Whether West Side Story has been nominated 7 times for the Oscars and left with the Best Supporting Actress statuette for Ariana DeBose, the feature film was a financial failure for Steven Spielberg. It is even his third biggest box office failure behind The Empire of the Sun (1987) and Sugarland Express (1974). Indeed, for a budget of 100 million dollars, West Side Story only received $76 million in box office receipts.
Despite this box office failure, West Side Story is a finished work, expertly mastered by the incomparable Steven Spielberg. The latter has regularly declared that with his West Side Storyit was eager to distance itself from Robert Wise and Jerome Robbins’ version. For this, unlike the original film, Steven Spielberg notably relied on actors/singers.
Do the actors actually sing in the film?
Indeed, in the 1961 film, the actors do not actually sing during the musical passages. Robert Wise and Jerome Robbins used ghost singing. A very popular method at the time, which consisted of use a voice double. Natalie Wood was then dubbed by Marni Nixon, Richard Beymer by Jimmy Brant, Russ Tamblyn by Tucker Smith, etc… Even Rita Moreno, who could sing, was replaced by Betty Ward on the title A Boy Like That.
For the little anecdote, these voice doubles were not even credited in the credits of West Side Story. A decision that therefore prompted singer Marni Nixon to sue Metro Goldwyn Mayer, who produced the film, to obtain royalties.
Steven Spielberg, for his part, decided to employ actors who can sing for the purposes of his film. Most of the cast has therefore already had experience in the field of singing. For instance, Mike Faist is from Broadwayand has already distinguished himself on the boards in musicals like Dear Evan Hanson. Ariana DeBose is also used to exercise since she has already sung for televisionespecially in The Prom (on netflix) and in the series Schmigadoon!.
The surprise comes from Rachel Zegler, which had no specific reference in the exercise. The actress therefore sent the casting director a video of her performing a Spanish version of I Feel Pretty. Her performance caught the eye of the Spielberg team, who hired her. She was only 16 at the time, and West Side Story is his very first film experience.
Finally, as for Ansel Elgort, only known face of the cast at the time of the film, he has no singing experience. The actor therefore trained for months with a vocal coach to interpret his songs himself in the feature film.
