An acting career from scratch at Spielberg is rare, even in curious Hollywood. But the actress and musician Rachel Zegler, 20, became Hollywood’s up-and-coming star of the year 2021. Spielberg selected her from hundreds of candidates for the female lead in his remake of the musical “West Side Story” – her first film.
“The great thing about Spielberg,” says Zegler in a video call from Los Angeles, “is that only his name is really intimidating. Before we met for the first time, I was extremely nervous. Spielberg! But he is the nicest person you can imagine. “
Zegler was 18 and was still in school when a friend sent her a casting call on Twitter. “She also wrote: Thank me if you are famous.” Spielberg was looking for actors with Latin American roots for his film. In “West Side Story”, a modern musical version of “Romeo and Juliet”, a white boy and a Puerto Rican girl fall in love while their friends and relatives fight a brutal gang war on the streets of New York. In many stage productions of the musical as well as in the first film adaptation from 1961, the Puerto Ricans were mostly played by whites. Spielberg wanted to change that. Rachel Zegler is the daughter of an American and a Colombian and fit into the role profile.
The most important advice from Steven Spielberg? “Never read the comments on the internet.”
The young woman has liked musicals since she was a child, and since she grew up in New Jersey on the east coast, she had “the best musical stages in the world” just around the corner in New York. Her favorite film is also a music film: “Inside Llewyn Davis” by the Coen brothers.
There were no connections to show business in either family or friends. But even as a teenager, Zegler wanted to be on stage. At 16, she played the lead role in “West Side Story” in a provincial performance. At the same time, she has been running a successful YouTube channel since she was a teenager, in which she presents her own pieces of music and cover versions. Her cover of Lady Gaga’s song “Shallow” (from the musical film “A Star Is Born”), which she recorded in the bathroom at home in front of the shower in 2018, was a small internet hit with more than three million clicks.
Rachel Zegler together with her film partner Ansel Elgort in “West Side Story”.
(Photo: Niko Tavernise / Disney)
So when actresses were being sought for the new theatrical version of the “West Side Story”, she recorded a video that she sent in as a digital audition. In it she sang the “West Side Story” hit classic “I Feel Pretty”. She found the video rather embarrassing. But not Steven Spielberg. It only took a while until everyone involved was really convinced to give this big role to a complete cinema greenhorn. “It took over a year and several more auditions before I actually got the role.”
The story takes place in the original as well as in the new film in 1957. As a woman who was born in 2001, do you have any connection to that time? Zegler says that she actually thinks “West Side Story” is even more topical than the musical must have been back then. Because she didn’t grow up in the fifties – but spent her teenage years under Donald Trump. “In recent years we’ve seen what happens when a country is split into two camps, and that’s exactly what this musical is about.”
Hollywood’s casting decisions are closely watched by the Twitter court
The shooting took place in summer 2019. The film could have been shown in theaters last year, but was postponed several times due to the pandemic. It has finally been running since December 9th, but Zegler has already used the waiting time. She shot the superhero comedy “Shazam! Fury of the Gods,” and the next thing awaits her a project of quite large pop culture drop height.
The Walt Disney Company has been producing feature film remakes of its great cartoon classics for years; “The Lion King”, “Beauty and the Beast”, “The Jungle Book” have already been ticked off – the next step is the big crown jewels. The director Marc Webb was commissioned for 2023 with a new version of the Disney super-classic “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” from 1937. That was the first feature film by old Walt Disney, a central cornerstone of his cinema empire. And in the remake, Rachel Zegler is supposed to play Snow White. That is, to put it mildly, quite intimidating, she says.
Big casting decisions in Hollywood are being scrutinized by the Twitter court today, before even a minute of film has been shot. And icons of pop culture like Disney Snow White are usually dangerously sacred to their fans, which some of them like to announce in social networks when a new appointment does not suit them. Any Marvel actor can tell you a thing or two about it. Doesn’t such a role cause a lot of stress even before the first day of shooting?
“Indeed,” says Zegler. But in this regard Steven Spielberg has already given her the best advice ever, privately and professionally, for all situations: “No matter what you do, never read the comments on the Internet!”