{"id":265501,"date":"2019-01-15T15:29:23","date_gmt":"2019-01-15T22:29:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/b1005505"},"modified":"2019-01-15T15:29:23","modified_gmt":"2019-01-15T22:29:23","slug":"west-side-story-remake-casts-its-maria-and-she-hasnt-even-graduated-high-school-yet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kidn\/music-news\/west-side-story-remake-casts-its-maria-and-she-hasnt-even-graduated-high-school-yet\/","title":{"rendered":"West Side Story Remake Casts Its Maria and She Hasn’t Even Graduated High School Yet"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Steven Spielberg<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0has just cast Maria for the\u00a0West Side Story<\/em>\u00a0remake<\/a>: 17-year-old Rachel Zegler<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

The fresh-faced\u00a0actress will make her film debut in the much-anticipated remake, and while the New Jersey high school student might not be a household name just yet, her\u00a0West Side Story<\/em>\u00a0role will most definitely change all of that.<\/p>\n

Deadline<\/em><\/a> reports the prolific director saw more than 30,000 people\u00a0from all over\u00a0the world before casting Zegler. In true millennial fashion, the teen saw the casting call on Twitter for Latinx actors, and submitted her audition back in Jan. 2018, according to the publication.\u00a0She reportedly sent in a video of her singing “Tonight” and “Me Siento Hermosa,” the Spanish version of the musical’s classic “I Feel Pretty.”\u00a0<\/p>\n

“I am so thrilled to be playing the iconic role of Maria alongside this amazing cast,” the actress told Deadline<\/em>. “West Side Story<\/em> was the first musical I encountered with a Latina lead character.”\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/section>\n<\/div>\n

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Zegler’s casting is not only groundbreaking since\u00a0she’s a Hollywood newcomer, but because of the fact that her role is so important for\u00a0Latinxs everywhere. She said it best: “As a Colombian-American, I am humbled by the opportunity to play a role that means so much to the Hispanic community.”<\/p>\n

While\u00a0Natalie Wood<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0played Maria in the 1961 film adaptation of the Broadway musical, the fact the Spielberg cast a Latinx actress is especially historic because Wood wasn’t of Latin descent and the character is Puerto Rican.<\/p>\n<\/section>\n<\/div>\n

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someone: you use autotune????
me: pic.twitter.com\/9sPBkDj2kf<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 rachel zegler (@rachelzegler) December 14, 2018<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n

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However, don’t let the teen’s newcomer status fool you because she has major pipes.\u00a0Taking to Twitter and YouTube<\/a>, Zegler has shared numerous videos showing off her skills, including a clip of her belting out\u00a0Lady Gaga<\/a><\/strong>‘s Golden Globe-winning track “Shallow.”<\/p>\n

From Lily Collins<\/a><\/strong> to Darren Criss<\/a><\/strong>, the 17-year-old is getting praise from many celebrities on her Maria casting. “Couldn’t have found a better Maria for West Side Story!! Your voice is unreal,”\u00a0Collins tweeted<\/a>. Adding, “Congrats and can’t wait to see it. Get ready girl!”\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/section>\n<\/div>\n

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Zegler will star alongside\u00a0Ansel Elgort<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0(Tony),\u00a0Ariana DeBose<\/strong>\u00a0(Anita),\u00a0David Alvarez<\/strong>\u00a0(Bernardo) and\u00a0Josh Andr\u00e9s Rivera<\/strong>\u00a0(Chino). Of course, the\u00a0West Side Story<\/em>\u00a0musical wouldn’t be a complete remake without the presence of\u00a0Rita Moreno<\/strong>, who will star and executive produce. Production is set to begin later this year.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In the meantime, we’ll be watching the 1961 film adaptation.<\/p>\n<\/section>\n<\/div>\n

via:: E! Online<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Steven Spielberg\u00a0has just cast Maria for the\u00a0West Side Story\u00a0remake: 17-year-old Rachel Zegler. The fresh-faced\u00a0actress will make her film debut in the much-anticipated remake, and while the New Jersey high school student might not be a household name just yet, her\u00a0West Side Story\u00a0role will most definitely change all of that. Deadline reports the prolific director saw […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[55],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-265501","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-music-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-14 21:03:41","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KIDN - The Lift FM","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kidn","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kidn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/265501","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kidn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kidn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kidn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kidn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=265501"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kidn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/265501\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kidn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=265501"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kidn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=265501"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kidn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=265501"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}