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Puerto Rican-born American actress Rita Moreno, 86, will co-produce and play in the remake directed by Steven Spielberg of the musical "West Side Story", whose original version earned him an Oscar in 1962, announced Tuesday its press secretary.
The actress was not initially part of the project, which will be Steven Spielberg's first musical film.
"I am very curious to see what he does," she told AFP last May about the successful director. "I'm very nervous too, there are a lot of clichés in the film, but I'm sure he will avoid them."
Steven Spielberg had already sent a first signal during the casting and looked for candidates of Hispanic origin for the major roles of Maria, Anita and Bernardo.
In the original film, Anita was the only one of these three characters played by a person of Hispanic origin, in this case Rita Moreno.
"From our first discussions, we wanted to include Rita Moreno in our production," said Steven Spielberg, quoted in a statement by the actress' press officer, currently on the Netflix days ".
"Her Anita is one of the greatest musical performances ever filmed and one of my favorites," continued the famed 71-year-old director.
"We have created a role for her and we feel more than fortunate that Rita brings her extraordinary acting skills as well as her extensive knowledge of + West Side Story + to this production as an executive producer," said Steven Spielberg.
In the remake, Rita Moreno will play the role of Valentina, a modernized version of Doc, the big-hearted grocer played in the original movie by Ned Glass.
"Even in my wildest dreams I could not have imagined revisiting this flagship work," said Rita Moreno, quoted in the statement. "And being solicited by Steven Spielberg, it's just exciting."
"West Side Story" is an adaptation of William Shakespeare's play "Romeo and Juliet" located in the Lincoln Square neighborhood of Manhattan, part of the Upper West Side, where two gangs, the Sharks and the Jets face each other.
The musical will also be the subject of a new production on Broadway, created by the Belgian director Ivo van Hove with, for the first time, a choreography different from that imagined by Jerome Robbins.
© 2018 AFP
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