Steven Speilberg's remake of West Side Story comes to theaters on December 10. The film stays true to past versions of the story while adding more depth and providing a new role for Rita Moreno, who won an Academy Award for her role in the 1961 film. This version stars Ansel Elgort and Rachel Zegler as star-crossed lovers Maria and Tony.

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Elgort and Mike Faist who plays Riff, spoke with Screen Rant about the casting process and whether movies or theater are more nerve-wracking.

Screen Rant: The word iconic is a little overused, but not when we're talking about West Side Story. Do you remember the first time West Side Story made an impact in your life or the first time you watched it?

Ansel Elgort: Yeah, I remember the room I watched it in; I remember watching the prologue. I loved the dance, loved the fact that it was in New York City, which is where I was at the time and where I still live. And then the music, from the Overture on - just Leonard Bernstein's incredible music, and then Stephen Sondheim's unforgettable lyrics. 

You're right. It is an iconic piece of work, and we're so lucky that we got to honor it.

If someone showed up the first time you watched it and was like, "Hey, you're gonna be Tony in a Steven Spielberg West Side Story adaptation someday," what would you say?

Ansel Elgort: "Who's Steven Spielberg?" I was like four years old. The first time I saw The Goonies was when I was a kid, I didn't know who Steven Spielberg was. But I remember being like, "Wow, what a great movie. It's funny, it's scary, it has great characters." The idea of now getting to work with Steven Spielberg, who's just such a master of cinema and such an amazing leader and such a loving person - it really was the honor of a lifetime working with him.

Mike Faist: I spent a lot of time in my childhood in the basement with the television, watching old MGM films, and West Side Story was certainly one of those. And it was definitely one of the stories that made me want to move to New York and become an actor and pursue theater.

Mike, you are such a standout as Riff. I thought you were so fantastic. But I read that you had initially auditioned for Tony. Is that true? How did that process go?

Mike Faist: I was initially asked to come in and put a tape together for Tony, and I had done that. But whenever you're auditioning or submitting tapes, and things like that, you're always kind of like, "Okay, here's that." Not really expecting anything. 

Especially, for me, being a theater actor in New York - this is no snub, but I'm not famous. I'm not a movie star. I'm not a Hollywood performer. When you throw Steven Spielberg, West Side Story, and this big Hollywood production of it all, you never really think as an actor that [it's happening]. "That's not coming my way. That's not actually a thing." 

When they were like, "No, we actually want you to come back in and audition in front of Steven for Riff," I was doing an Off-Broadway play at the time. I remember telling my cast, "Guess what I get to do tomorrow? I get to audition in front of Steven Spielberg." And I was just so excited to do that. I had met him before - he'd come backstage during Dear Evan Hansen. But, again, it was one of those things I never thought was coming my way. 

But the ability to be like, "I get to I get to do my thing in front of him?" I was very much looking forward to that.

West Side Story 2021
credit: 20th Century Studios

Is it more nerve-wracking to be on the stage doing things live versus filming a scene and knowing you can do this again if you mess up?

Mike Faist: No. In fact, I don't know. I keep saying the biggest difference between theater and film is that, in theater, there's eight shows a week. I go home, I contemplate what I did, and I say, "Well, there's always tomorrow. I'll try that again tomorrow." That kind of a thing. 

And then with film, there's such a finite sense of, "It's over. That's it. We're moving on, we've run out of time, we have to make our schedule and make the day," or whatever. And you're kind of like, "Well, that's that, I guess." There's such a letting go of that process. 

I don't know. I enjoy both. Maybe it's more stressful to be on stage because you constantly have to keep revisiting it as opposed to being like, "Well, that's it." I'm not sure.

One of my favorite scenes was the choreography for "Cool" over the gun. What was that rehearsal process like? What was the biggest hurdle for you guys in that one? Because it seemed like it was quite a challenge.

Ansel Elgort: Yeah, it was a really long process. We went dancing in 42nd Street - not the musical, the place - in a studio with Justin Peck and his team, and it really evolved over time. I recently watched videos of some of the first versions of it, and we kind of grew with the choreography. I would say that the other Jets in the ensemble are just out-of-this-world, great, amazing dancers. 

Mike obviously is an amazing dancer. He danced on Broadway before in Newsies. I used to dance when I was younger, and I still dance at parties and stuff. But I was definitely not a very strong dancer, and to be able to be with this incredible group of dancers, all who were so supportive and loving and wanted to help me become the best dancer I could be [was great]. That way we could be a strong group and ensemble together, and it made sense that at one point I was the leader of the Jets. I was so fortunate to have that.

It was over months and months and months with Justin Peck, and then Steven Spielberg would come and look at it, and then Janusz Kamiński would come and look at it, and the Jerome Robbins estate would come and look at the choreography. We developed, over months, this great dance that was about a story and about a relationship between these two guys. We also love that number, we loved filming that number, and I love watching that number. 

Mike Faist: And what was great about doing that and having that time is that number in this version really encapsulates the relationship and the friction and the story for these two, and what that is throughout the entire film. Working on that for so long, by the time we actually got to shooting, all of that stuff was there. We didn't have to do anything; we didn't have to try and figure that out. We had been doing that this entire time, and finally when we got to set, we were just there doing it.

Next: How West Side Story's Remake Could Set A New Oscars Record

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