Thank you for sharing this account, Martin. I wasn't aware of this and think it was genius!
Did she (Fausta) make a deal with Mephistopheles?Broadway alum Andréa Burns is joining the cast in the new role of Fausta:
http://www.playbill.com/article/andrea-burns-joins-west-side-story-movie
The sprawling cast is pictured in the new image from left to right: Jets members Anybodys (Ezra Menas), Mouthpiece (Ben Cook), Action (Sean Harrison Jones); Jets leader Riff (Mike Faist); Baby John (Patrick Higgins); Tony (Ansel Elgort) and Maria (Rachel Zegler); Maria’s brother and Sharks leader Bernardo (David Alvarez); and Sharks members Quique (Julius Anthony Rubio), Chago (Ricardo Zayas), Chino (Josh Andrés Rivera), Braulio (Sebastian Serra) and Pipo (Carlos Sánchez Falú).
Spielberg tends to shoot fast, so I wouldn't be surprised if all of her scenes were already in the can. Based on the bits we've seen, it seems like they've shot a lot of the big ensemble scenes early in the schedule -- which makes sense, since they're also probably the scenes that require the most location shooting. Apparently the NYC and New Jersey filming wraps in August. Not sure if that includes sound stage work, or if the scenes on interior sets are being filmed elsewhere after August.Jonalyn Saxer, who is listed in the ensemble as a Jet, was announced yesterday as playing Karen Smith in the national tour of Mean Girls, which begins performances on September 21 in Buffalo, NY.
I wonder how long West Side Story is shooting for. Obviously, if Saxer is just playing a Jet ensemble member who hasn't yet been named, it's probably a small role, and it's possible that they could finish shooting her portion of the movie before the movie itself is finished shooting. So I wouldn't foresee any conflicts.
Thanks Mike! Ron posted the second photo earlier in the thread, but the first photo is new to me.Forgive me if this has been posted before in this thread (but I haven't seen them)...but still images of some of the shooting locales in Harlem have been making it into the NYC papers:
HBO will be airing an original documentary about Natalie Wood in 2020 as well. It is being produced by Amblin.Sidebar, because on a slightly off-topic but very much related note, PBS will be airing a Rita Moreno documentary next year: https://deadline.com/2019/07/norman-lear-lin-manuel-miranda-rita-moreno-pbs-1202656247/.
I have no problem with remakes, as long as the originals are still available (which is usually the case). If a good director has an interesting take on a story that's already been filmed, it might be worth watching.
Also, I don't really consider the 1961 movie "close to perfect." It has a hell of a lot going for it. The dancing is among the best in cinema. And it has three great supporting performances: Russ Tamblyn, George Chakiris, and Rita Moreno.
But Natalie Wood is miscast, and Richard Beymer is absolutely horrible. If you're going to do Romeo and Juliet, you need a good Romeo and a good Juliet.
You can read my article on the film.
I totally agree with you that Natalie Wood was miscast. Same for Richard Beymer. He is said to have crawled under the seat when he first saw the film. He hated his performance. It was truly horrible .Let's face it, he never had much of a career. Whatever could has possessed Robert Wise to cast these two actors? The story may have been based on Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, but even he based his story on other similar stories that were common in his day. I am truly amazed at how many gullible people to-day still think that Romeo and Juliet was a true story. He just based his story on someone else's and made his characters older and set it in a different city. I saw this film when originally released several times on a huge 62 ft wide screen in 70mm. Luckily it was shown without an intermission as the Director insisted for it's Roadshow release.
I would agree that Wood and Beymer were miscast. But the fact remains that as written, both Tony and Maria are the least interesting characters in the show. Even when I saw the recent stage revival with better casting in the roles this was apparent.
Wood received some of the best reviews of her career for her portrayal in ‘WSS’. In the NY press, only Pauline Kael attacked her ( as well as the film itself). The other critics were extremely complimentary.The British Film Institute published a critical analysis of Wood’s career a few years ago, and it addressed the revisionist ( and frequently bitchy) attacks on her casting.You know...I hear a lot of people say that about Beymer, and I never hear any examples on why it was a bad performance. All I see are people just bashing him every chance they get, and it's gotten out of hand. I thought he was a great Tony and he inspired me to want to play the role myself. I was invested in this character, and I found Beymer's emotions and motivations convincing. To me, he is Tony.
Crawling under his seat? Really? What I heard was that he walked out of the premiere, but honestly, I think he's too hard on himself and other people are too hard on him. Even though I think Tony and Maria had great chemistry in the film, I'm sure Natalie Wood treating him with contempt on a regular basis was tough for Beymer to deal with and it may have affected his performance in some ways. I couldn't tell, though. Not to mention that Robert Wise wasn't too fond of Beymer and wanted someone else for the role (which for me begs the question, why didn't he just cast someone else?), and directed Beymer to play the role of Tony in a way he didn't agree with. Even Russ Tamblyn is quoted as saying that under the right circumstances, Beymer would have knocked the role out of the park (can't find said quote).
Also, I don't know why anyone would say Natalie Wood was horrible in the role. I think she gave one of the strongest performances in the movie, and the first time I saw it I had no idea she wasn't Puerto Rican or at least Hispanic.
I don't agree with that - I was very interested in their characters. And besides, this is their story.
I don't have much against remakes in general - I think for the most part, they are unnecessary and cheapen the experience of the movie that got it right the first time around.
First of all, since this was your first post: welcome to the forum, Daniel!
Second, I fail to see how a remake "cheapens the experience of the movie that got it right the first time around." It's well-known around this board that my favorite movie of all time is Aladdin, and I did not remotely enjoy the remake that Disney put out earlier this summer at all. However, I put on my Blu-ray of the original last night and it was there the same as it always was. I enjoyed it just as much as I did before the remake came out. So how does the existence of the remake change the experience of the original film at all?
When I say that remakes tend to cheapen the experience of watching the original movie, I just mean that the original doesn't feel as special anymore because now it's not as much its own thing
I feel like when it came to story, Arthur Laurents, Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim completely screwed up and the screenwriter for the movie script succeeded and improved where they failed.
Perhaps to you that happens but thankfully not to the vast majority of classic movie fans.When I say that remakes tend to cheapen the experience of watching the original movie, I just mean that the original doesn't feel as special anymore because now it's not as much its own thing, and if the remake wasn't good then it means that the people who made it didn't understand what made the original so great in the first place.
Perhaps to you that happens but thankfully not to the vast majority of classic movie fans.
First you never said it was your opinion, you stated it as though it was a fact.
And of course I’m not trying to change your opinion. You can believe whatever you want. I just don’t agree.
And welcome to the forum.