The actress, now 85, fondly remembered the showstopper – but was frank and honest about the less enjoyable elements of the production.
“The dialogue is dated, but it was dated when we shot it,” she told Entertainment Weekly when asked of her thoughts on the 1961 movie today.
“I’d think, ‘God, old farts are writing this.’ But the musical numbers are just so delicious.”
But speaking of ‘America’ in particular, she beamed: “It’s a killer show-stopper. And you have to credit [choreographer and co-director] Jerome Robbins, though he absolutely drove the dancers. Wow, how cruel he could be.
“A lot of the dancers hated him — but loved him. He would think nothing of making us do one step over and over until we broke down in tears or pulled something. Shin splints for days.
“He was a tough and demanding daddy, but if you got a smile out of him, you floated on air for days.”
America, she said, took five days to film; and the sweaty conditions on set combined with costume – which in this case included a wig – was tough going.
“They nailed that damn thing to my head,” she said. “My head was so sore at the end of every day.
“They make anchors with bobby pins and then when they put the wig on, they take a hair pin and hook it to the other side of the wig to the spit curls. My scalp was sometimes absolutely red.”
West Side Story was released in 1961 and was nominated for a hefty 11 Oscars – of which it won ten.
Moreno is now starring in One Day At A Time.
Daily Express :: Entertainment Feed
