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Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles Times
Entertainment
Michael Ordoña

Ariana DeBose wants you to feel Anita's presence before you even hear her

Ariana DeBose Anita Maria Steven Spielberg Tony Kushner Bernardo Marvel

Ariana DeBose is not Anita. She doesn't even speak Spanish. Hearing her, seeing her in her civilian guise (really, how long before she becomes a Marvel heroine?), it becomes almost humorously clear just how much of a performance her star-making turn in Steven Spielberg's remake of "West Side Story" is.

Then again, talking with DeBose, you learn just how much Anita is her.

"One of the first conversations we had when I was auditioning — Tony [Kushner] was there (I'm such a big Tony Kushner fan; 'Angels in America' changed my life), Steven was there," DeBose says via Zoom, lounging behind large eyeglasses under a modern, asymmetrical haircut. "So, yikes, wow. They asked me if there was anything I wanted to know. I said, 'I'm Afro-Latina, and that would inform everything about this character, by virtue of how she would walk through her community. If you're not interested in exploring that, you shouldn't hire me.' And Tony was like, 'OK, let's go.'"

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