Steven Spielberg hired 20 Puerto Rican actors and made Rita Moreno a producer for West Side Story

When Steven Spielberg decided to remake West Side Story, he enlisted original star Rita Moreno not only to play store owner Valentina but to executive produce and help enlighten his young cast.

‘[Spielberg and screenwriter Tony Kushner] really wanted to right some… should I say wrongs?’ the 88-year-old EGOT champ told Vanity Fair on Monday.

‘Because [Robert Wise’s 10-time Oscar-winning 1961] film had a lot of things that were wrong with it, aside from the fact that it had a lot of things that were very right.’  

One such wrong was putting brown make-up on Caucasian actors playing the Puerto Rican Sharks gang, and the 73-year-old filmmaker fixed it by hiring 20 Puerto Rican actors.

‘They brought an authenticity. They brought themselves, and everything they believe and everything about them – they brought that to the work,’ the three-time Oscar winner said.

‘And there was so much interaction between the cast wanting to be able to commit to the Puerto Rican experience. They all represent, I think, a diversity, both within the Puerto Rican, Nuyorican community as well as the broader Latinx community. And they took that seriously.’

Steven added: ‘I really wanted to tell that Puerto Rican, Nuyorican experience of basically the migration to this country and the struggle to make a living, and to have children, and to battle against the obstacles of xenophobia and racial prejudice.’    

Tony nominee Ariana DeBose (Summer: The Donna Summer Musical) – who’s Afro-Latina – was hired to take over Rita’s role of the fiery Anita: ‘She is a ferocious dancer – way, way better than I was.’

Golden Globe nominee Ansel Elgort (The Goldfinch) and newcomer Rachel Zegler play the Romeo and Juliet at the center of the ill-fated romance – Tony and Maria.

The elaborate dance sequences for the big-screen adaptation of the 1957 Broadway musical will be crafted by New York City Ballet’s resident choreographer Justin Peck.

Spielberg’s West Side Story – which wrapped production on September 2 – is scheduled to hit US/UK theaters on December 18.