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West Side Story (2021)
West Side Story is a 2021 American musical romantic drama film directed and produced by Steven Spielberg from a screenplay by Tony Kushner. The second feature-length adaptation of the 1957 stage musical, which was itself inspired by William Shakespeare's play Romeo and Juliet, it stars Ansel Elgort and Rachel Zegler, the latter making her film debut, with Ariana DeBose, David Alvarez, Mike Faist, and Rita Moreno in…
Directed by Steven Spielberg · Shot by Janusz Kamiński · Cut by Michael Kahn · Music by Leonard Bernstein, David Newman · 156 min
How it was made
- The opening of 'The Dance at the Gym' sequence combines three separate shots into what looks like one continuous take: a Steadicam move down a hallway transitions into a cable-cam shot rising over the gym.
- Cinematographer Janusz Kamiński had the lighting team rig every fixture to a dimmer board so sections could fade in or out as the camera turned during the continuous gym shot, preserving the lighting without a cut.
- Sound effects recordist Andy Aaron captured the dancers' footsteps live on set during the gym sequence so the recordings could go straight into the final mix without the music intruding.
- The 'puddle shot' of Tony stepping into rippling water was a last-minute suggestion from Kamiński and was the final shot filmed on the last day of principal photography.
- Costume designer Paul Tazewell colour-coded the two gangs, dressing the Jets in cool tones evoking city concrete and steel and the Sharks in warm tones with floral patterns evoking Puerto Rico.
- All of the film's sets were built inside a warehouse at Steiner Studios, apart from an outdoor set constructed in Paterson, New Jersey, for ten days of location shooting.
Behind the scenes
Elsewhere
More by Steven Spielberg
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