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West Side Story: Rita Moreno & Ariana DeBose Talk About Attempted Sexual Assault Scene From The Musical
West Side Story actresses Rita Moreno and Ariana DeBose have opened up about the sexual assault scene from the film.
West Side Story actresses Rita Moreno and Ariana DeBose have opened up about the sexual assault scene from the film. Notably, Rita and Ariana both have played the role of Anita in the 1961 and 2021 releases respectively. Talking about the scenes both shared their relations with Entertainment Weekly.
Moreno said the scene felt "unnatural" to her as she had to go from playing Anita to being Valentina in the 2021 film. "In that scene, I suddenly become Doc. I never could really get inside of the scene. I was never able to really nail it because every time I looked it wasn't me [on the ground]. It was a difficult experience for me, doing it again in a very different role," Moreno told the portal.
Meanwhile, DeBose whose portrayal as Anita in the new movie is being lauded on social media, said that the experience was "very meta." Talking about how she felt having old (Rita Moreno) trying to save her, DeBose said, "It's like, 'Oh my God, that's me; that's not me.'"
She added that Rita's portrayal of Anita in the 1961 release made her conscious. "Because it's a hard job when you are stepping into something that has been portrayed so brilliantly, and they're right there. I just played the truth. That's all you really can do in those moments and react to what is there in the space," DeBose added.
West Side Story directed by Steven Spielberg, marked his first musical. The film released on December 10, 2021, starred Ansel Elgort as Tony, Rachel Zegler as Maria, Ariana DeBose as Anita, Rita Moreno as Valentina and Mike Faist as Riff.
For women in distress help available at, Central Social Welfare Board -Police Helpline: 1091/ 1291, (011) 23317004; Shakti Shalini- women's shelter: (011) 24373736/ 24373737; All India Women's Conference: 10921/ (011) 23389680; Joint Women's Programme: (011) 24619821; Sakshi- violence intervention center: (0124) 2562336/ 5018873; Nirmal Niketan: (011) 27859158; JAGORI: (011) 26692700; Nari Raksha Samiti: (011) 23973949; RAHI Recovering and Healing from Incest. A support centre for women survivors of child sexual abuse: (011) 26238466/ 26224042, 26227647.
