Landing your first major acting role in a Steven Spielberg movie is quite an experience.
In the new December/January issue of Elle, “West Side Story” star Rachel Zegler opens up about being cast as Maria in the musical remake while she was still in high school.
READ MORE: Rachel Zegler Says Steven Spielberg’s ‘West Side Story’ Is A ‘Reimagining’ Not A Remake
She describes whispers in the school hallways about “the girl who got the movie,” adding, “I was one of those people who had decided that I was going to survive high school and not love it.”
Zegler, now 20 years old, says the attention made her want to “stuff my head in my locker and not come out.”
She recalls, “My principal was like, ‘You can come into my office whenever you need to just take a deep breath,’ because it was really overwhelming.”
Talking about meeting famed musical composer Stephen Sondheim, who passed away last month at age 91, the actress says, “I lost my mind. I just sank to my knees next to him instinctually. He said, ‘I’ve heard you sing on YouTube. You’re like a nightingale.’ And I was like, ‘Shut up. Fully, no, absolutely not.’”
Among the key differences between Spielberg’s new “West Side Story” and the original 1961 film adaptation was the decision to cast only Latinx actors to play the film’s Latinx characters.
“There’s a sense of pride having so many incredible Latine performers in this movie—people who are from all over—because it’s a real testament to the fact that we all come from so many different places,” Zegler says. “That’s the point of the story, that we are all coming from our own backgrounds, our own conversations, our own upbringings. And what do we bring to the table if we can’t talk to each other about it?”
READ MORE: Get A Behind-The-Scenes Look At Steven Spielberg’s ‘West Side Story’ In New Sneak Peek
Zegler will next be seen in the sequel “Shazam! Fury of the Gods”, which will also star Zachary Levi, Adam Brody, Lucy Liu, and Helen Mirren.
“[It] is the greatest cast of all time,” she says. “I’ve never had such a loving group of people, ever. I feel I’ve become dependent on them for my happiness, which is going to be really tough when we wrap it up.”
After taking on the superhero movie, Zegler has also been announced as Snow White in Disney’s planned live-action version of the classic fairy tale, which led to some racist backlash online.
“These are a bunch of faceless people that you’ll never encounter in your real life,” she says. “They will never have the gall to come up to you at a Starbucks and say, ‘You’re not white enough to play Snow White.’ I’ve got a responsibility for young people in the future, who [can] say, ‘This Latina was able to play Snow White—I can do anything.’”
