The 'West Side Story' Remake Already Seems More Authentic Than The Original

The Jets and the Sharks will snap and rumble in the streets of New York City once again this time, it seems, without brownface. 

Steven Spielberg is gearing up to remake “West Side Story,” and Broadway World reports he’s looking to cast Spanish-speaking Latino actors as the film’s Puerto Rican leads. 

The original film released in 1961 cast white actors as Shark leader Bernardo (played by Greek-American actor George Chakiris ) and his younger sister Maria (played by Natalie Wood , who was of Ukrainian descent). Puerto Rican actress Rita Moreno played Bernardo’s girlfriend, Anita. She and Chakiris both won Oscars for the film.

Marci Liroff, a casting director, tweeted out a casting call  on Thursday that specified that Maria, Anita and Bernardo are Latino characters. 

Moreno, 86, gave a candid interview  last year about the brownface used in the original “West Side Story.” 

Anita’s accent “didn’t make any sense at all,” she said on the “In The Thick ” podcast, adding that the makeup for the Puerto Rican characters was “extremely dark.” 

Even Moreno’s skin was darkened for the movie, she said.