'West Side Story' first look offers glimpse of young love and rival gangs

The first look of Steven Spielberg's highly-anticipated film 'West Side Story' is finally out and it features Ansel Elgort and Rachel Zegler as star-crossed lovers and members of the rival Sharks and Jet gangs arrayed across a street.

Spielberg's production company Amblin Entertainment shared the first look of the cast of the film on its Twitter handle and it is as dramatic as it can get!

"Meet the cast of director Steven Spielberg's WestSideStory: Maria (newcomer Rachel Zegler), Tony (Ansel Elgort), The Jets (left) and The Sharks (right)," the caption read.

The first look shows the rival gangs, the Jets and the Sharks standing across a street. In the middle of the groups, Elgort and Zegler's characters can be seen standing holding each other's hands.

The upcoming musical, about young love and the tension between rival gangs, is in production. Elgort stars as Tony and Zegler as Maria, the star-crossed lovers, alongside a host of other cast members in the first picture.

Apart from Elgort and Zegler, the first look photo also reveals the other official cast members of the film including the Jets members: Anybodys (Ezra Menas), Mouthpiece (Ben Cook), Action (Sean Harrison Jones), Jets leader Riff (Mike Faist), Baby John (Patrick Higgins), Maria's brother and Sharks leader Bernardo (David Alvarez) and Sharks members Quique (Julius Anthony Rubio), Chago (Ricardo Zayas), Chino (Josh Andres Rivera), Braulio (Sebastian Serra) and Pipo (Carlos Sanchez Falu).

The cast also includes Ariana DeBose (Anita), Ana Isabelle (Rosalia), Corey Stoll (Lieutenant Schrank), Brian d'Arcy James (Officer Krupke), Curtiss Cook (Abe) and Oscar winner Rita Moreno, who plays Valentina and also serves as one of the film's executive producers.

Interestingly, the female lead Zegler is a high school theatre kid whose viral performance of Lady Gaga's 'Shallow' caught Spielberg's attention after which she scored the role in the film.

The upcoming film is a remake of the Oscar-winning 1961 musical about rival gangs in the streets of 1950s New York, reported The Hollywood Reporter.

The much-awaited movie tells the story of Tony, a one-time member of the Jets, who falls in love with Maria, the sister of the Sharks leader, Bernardo. Their love has deadly consequences.

Spielberg is adapting the original Broadway musical, which was inspired by Shakespeare's 'Romeo and Juliet'.

Spielberg is directing as well as producing the film with a script by Academy Award-nominated screenwriter Tony Kushner.

Tony-winner Justin Peck will choreograph the musical numbers in the film. The film's music team includes Gustavo Dudamel, who will conduct the recording of Bernstein's iconic score, reported Variety.

The original 1957 Broadway musical, from which the upcoming film is adapted, was written by Arthur Laurents with music by Leonard Bernstein, lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and concept, direction and choreography by Jerome Robbins.

'West Side Story' hits the big screens on December 18, 2020.