The Crazy Way Ariana DeBose and David Alvarez Got Cast in ‘West Side Story’
variety.comK.J. Yossman Rachel Ziegler’s rise from high school student to “West Side Story” star is well known. But the film’s casting director Cindy Tolan revealed the search that went into finding Ariana Du Bose and David Alvarez as Anita and Bernardo, with DeBose initially declining a chance to audition and Alvarez, who had retired from acting, uncontactable.Speaking to the press backstage after picking up a BAFTA award for casting for “West Side Story,” Tolan revealed that she was hired a year and a half early to pin down the five leads. “Because essentially, Steven [Spielberg] said, if we can’t find them, then we’re not going to make this movie.
And so in the first three weeks of working and searching, we got Rachel Ziegler’s tape […] that went that went viral [on social media].” “You always think it’s going to be Maria, you always think Maria is going to take the longest.
And as soon as you watch [Ziegler’s tape] it’s excitement but also immediately, as a casting director, it’s utter relief, because then you’re like, ‘Okay, great.
We got that. There’s the anchor. Now we just have to look for all the other ones.'”First, she had to pin down DeBose, who also won a BAFTA for best supporting actress for her role in the musical at the ceremony in London on Sunday evening. “I tried to get Ariana DeBose to audition four times,” Tolan revealed. “She would not come in.
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