West Side Story’s Ariana Debose and David Alvarez on the Way Steven Spielberg Shattered Expectations

With director Steven Spielberg’s West Side Story now playing in theaters, I recently got to speak with Ariana Debose (Anita) and David Alvarez (Bernardo) about making the fantastic remake. During the interview, they talked about what it really takes to make a movie on this scale, what surprised them about working with Spielberg, what they wish more people knew about making a musical on this scale, and which of their friends and family were the most excited hearing they’d been cast in a Spielberg movie. Based on the critically acclaimed 1957 Broadway musical with music by the legendary Leonard Bernstein and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, West Side Story first made its way to the big screen in 1961. Directed by Robert Wise and Jerome Robbins, with a screenplay by Ernest Lehman, the film went on to win 10 out of the 11 Oscars it was nominated for, including Best Picture and Best Director, and is considered to be one of the best movie musicals of all time. As Matt wrote in his review, and everyone else