The 20-year-old actress will be making her film debut as Maria in the highly-anticipated remake of the classic movie, and she dished on what makes this new version different and how she relates to her character.
While the new film, starring Ansel Elgort and Rachel Zegler, is a reimagining of the original, the trailer was very similar to the OG movie’s trailer from 60 years ago.
Even Rachel‘s white dress is just like the one that Natalie Wood wears in the original film.
The original West Side Story film was released on October 1961, and the new one will premiere in theaters just over 60 years later, on December 10, 2021.
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West Side Story was directed by Steven Spielberg, and tells the classic tale of fierce rivalries and young love in 1957 New York City.
If you didn’t know, Rita was actually in the original 1961 film as Anita, and she won an Oscar for her performance. She also serves as an executive producer on the new reimagining.
Let’s just start off by saying that everyone needs to be kind to one another and sending people negative messages on social media is unacceptable. We’re so sad to see that Rachel Zegler is going through this right now.
The 18-year-old actress, who will play Maria in the West Side Story movie, has announced that she’s taking a break from Twitter because of the message she has been receiving.
Rachel previously tweeted about “falling in love” with co-star Angel Elgort on-screen on the day the film wrapped last week.
“There really aren’t enough words to describe the pride I have in Ansel‘s growth and beauty and literal magic he possesses on screen and off. Falling in love with him was easy. Happy wrap mi amor; catch ya on a fire escape sometime soon,” Racheltweeted on September 27. The tweet has since been deleted.
Since that tweet, Ansel publicly commented on how he wants to find love with people other than his girlfriend, though he’s not looking for anything sexual with anyone else. Fans have been calling Rachel a “homewrecker” and sending her inappropriate DMs, which caused her to speak out.
“the fact that i have to say something is absolutely absurd. but the DMs and the name-calling and throwing around the word homewrecker over me expressing genuine love i have for my coworker is heartbreaking and i don’t want any part of it. so peace for now, i guess. be nice,” Rachel tweeted on Thursday night (October 3). The message was deleted soon after.
One message of Rachel‘s that is still up reads, “the internet has made me upset so goodbye for a bit be nice to each other.”
Bullying of any form is unacceptable and we want to remind our readers that celebrities are people too. Be kind to everyone!
the internet has made me upset so goodbye for a bit be nice to each other
You can just tell how happy Rachel Zegler is to be playing Maria from these photos!
The 18-year-old actress was spotted for the first time on the set of her upcoming movie musical West Side Story on Sunday night (August 4) in New York City.
Rachel was joined by co-star Mike Faist and the rest of the Jets, as well as their director Steven Spielberg, while shooting outside of a fake subway station.
This is the first professional project for Rachel, who was discovered during an open casting call for the film. She just graduated high school a couple months ago.
