LOS ANGELES, Dec 12 — It is every aspiring actor’s dream: hand-picked by Steven Spielberg from 30,000 contenders for a starring role that launches her into Hollywood’s A-list and Oscars contention.West Side Story“It didn’t feel like a fairy tale when it was happening. I was actually very stressed out!” Zegler, who was 16 when she submitted a video of herself singingZegler, a New Jersey native, went through “eight or nine” rounds of auditions over nearly a year.
“It’s the most jarring, overwhelming experience,” said Zegler, adding that “she doesn’t know how to feel” about becoming a celebrity.Spielberg’s decision to remake a beloved 1961 film which won 10 Oscars — the most ever for a musical — drew criticism from many fans who felt it could not be improved upon.
But while the original film version was criticized for casting a white actress as Maria, and painting Rita Moreno’s skin darker to play Anita, Spielberg cast his movie more authentically. “But by virtue of me being Afro-Latina, we are inherently different women, with different lived experiences and my lived experience informs this character fully,” said DeBose.