Steven Spielberg explains what made West Side Story tougher to make than Saving Private Ryan. The legendary Hollywood director has a number of bonafide classics in his filmography, and his latest project is to remake another, which took home 10 Oscars after releasing in 1961 and is widely considered one of the greatest movie musicals ever made. Spielberg's West Side Story is scheduled to hit theaters on December 10.
Though the prolific filmmaker has worked in a number of genres, ranging from science-fiction and adventure films to war- and historical epics, his latest film marks his first attempt at a musical. Spielberg has said that this isn't from a lack of desire on his part, and that the West Side Story fulfilled a childhood desire seeded when he first listened to the album. Fans have been unsure of what to expect from the film based on its marketing, which many have noted has so far oddly downplayed the fact that it is a musical, but the director was clearly motivated by that aspect of the project.
In an interview with Jake's Takes, Spielberg shares an element of movie musicals that he found particularly challenging, which might have contributed to his staying away from the genre for so long. When asked if his experience directing action helped in crafting the musical numbers, he says he wishes there were more similarities between something like the Omaha Beach landing scene in Saving Private Ryan and the dances in West Side Story. One factor, however, distinguishes them - their relationship to real-time. Check out Spielberg's quote below:
I wish there was some similarity between like the storming of the beaches on Saving Private Ryan and Omaha Beach, and like, for instance, the dance in the gym, but there's a remarkable distinction between the two. I'm not constrained in an action sequence by time, by tempi, by the mathematics of music. On a musical sequence, we're all locked in to the measure, to the beat, to the tempi - is it 2/4 time, is it 4/4 time - it's gotta end exactly where it ends, it's gotta begin only where it can begin. So, in a way, scientifically, I'm- instead of having this much latitude, I've got about this much latitude to get everything I want to get in such a small amount of time, because then the music changes, compelling me to change the angle.
Spielberg goes on to joke that he had never been particularly good at math, which put him at a disadvantage, but credits his talented cast and crew for making West Side Story a team-effort. The Saving Private Ryan comparison is an interesting one, as the beach landing is among the most acclaimed scenes in any of his films and in any war film overall, earning praise for both its realism and the way it captures the sensory experience of shell-shock. That he wished the filming of the dance scenes in his new movie was more like that is a good indicator of the difficulty of West Side Story, as well as the ingenuity that would've gone into solving its creative challenges.
While Spielberg's work in the 2010s is generally perceived to not have equaled the heights he reached in prior decades, his invocation of Saving Private Ryan is seeming like an apt one. Following its New York premiere earlier this week, West Side Story have been overwhelmingly positive, with many arguing it rivals the original and ranks among the director's greatest movies. A late-breaking awards push is to be expected, and it won't be long now before audiences can judge for themselves whether the musical measures up to its storied legacy.
Source: Jake's Takes
