West Side Story has really been whetting our appetite: a teaser six months ago, then an official trailer, a taut 30-second promo, and now a new, more tender one. After distribution delays due to COVID, Stephen Spielberg is enticing audiences with bountiful teasers of new film adaptation of Leonard Bernstein, Stephen Sondheim, and Arthur Laurents' musical masterpiece, aiming to get audiences into theares this holiday season. West Side Story will only play in cinemas, premiering December 10 in the United States.
Unlike the last 30-second promo, which highlighted the hatred and violence of this groundbreaking musical, this new promo takes a sweeter approach, showing Tony's love for Maria, lovestruck gazes, and a kiss between Anita and Bernardo. Also making an appearance in this trailer is Academy Award winner Rita Moreno, who originated the role of Anita in the 1961 film and plays Valentina, a new role written specifically for this film. (Theater giant and Tony Award winner Tony Kushner supplies the screenplay.)
The promo's trailer title, "Falling," gets its name from a moving line from the snippet: "All my life, it's like I'm always just about to fall off the edge of the world's tallest building," Tony says to Maria. "I stopped falling the second I saw you."