It was the middle of the Oscars in 2021 when it happened. Everything was quiet. Then, those first few notes of "Somewhere" started drifting through the speakers. Honestly, it didn't even matter if you weren't a "musical person." Seeing Steven Spielberg’s name attached to a remake of a 1961 classic felt risky, maybe even a little unnecessary to some. But that first West Side Story trailer changed the conversation instantly. It wasn't just a commercial. It was a statement that this wasn't going to be a shot-for-shot carbon copy of the original film.
The footage looked gritty. It looked alive.
Most trailers for big-budget musicals make the mistake of showing too much of the "jazz hands" energy right away. They want you to know it’s a show. Spielberg and his marketing team did the opposite. They leaned into the shadows of 1950s Upper West Side New York. You saw the dust. You saw the crumbling brickwork of San Juan Hill. By the time the Jets and Sharks were staring each other down across a playground, you kind of forgot you were watching a story that's been told a thousand times before.
The visual language of the West Side Story trailer
If you go back and watch that first teaser, there's basically zero dialogue. That is a bold move for a 100-million-dollar movie. Instead of explaining the plot—which, let's be real, everyone knows it's Romeo and Juliet with switchblades—the trailer relies entirely on the cinematography of Janusz Kamiński.
He uses these long, sweeping shadows that make the characters look like they're trapped in a cage of their own making. It's beautiful. It's also incredibly tense. People often talk about "visual storytelling," but this trailer actually does it. You see the yellow dress of Maria (Rachel Zegler) standing out against the drab, grey rubble of the city. That contrast tells you everything you need to know about hope versus reality in this world without a single word of script being uttered.
A lot of the hype came from the casting of Rachel Zegler, who was literally a high school student when she got the part. The trailer knew it had a star on its hands. It keeps her face partially hidden or in soft focus for the first half, building this sense of discovery. When we finally see her and Ansel Elgort at the dance, the lighting shifts to this ethereal, hazy blue. It feels like a dream. Then the whistling starts. That iconic, haunting whistle.
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Why this specific trailer worked when others failed
Think about the Cats trailer. Or even Dear Evan Hansen. Those marketing campaigns felt like they were trying too hard to convince you the movies were "important" or "magical." The West Side Story trailer didn't try to convince you of anything. It just showed you the scale.
Tony Kushner, who wrote the screenplay, has talked extensively about how they wanted to fix the problems of the original 1961 film—specifically the lack of authentic Puerto Rican representation. The trailer subtly hinted at this by focusing on the neighborhood itself as a character. We saw the Puerto Rican flag. We saw the community. We saw the "Sharks" as a family, not just a gang.
- It respected the source material without being enslaved by it.
- It highlighted the choreography of Justin Peck, which felt more athletic and dangerous than the original Jerome Robbins stuff.
- It used the music of Leonard Bernstein as a pulse, not just a soundtrack.
The gamble of the "Silent" teaser
Choosing not to show the big dance numbers in full was a genius play. Usually, a musical trailer is a Greatest Hits album. You get thirty seconds of the lead singing the big 11 o’clock number. You get the high notes. You get the confetti.
Spielberg's team went for atmosphere. They gave us the "Prologue" and "Somewhere." That's it. It left people wondering: Can Ansel Elgort actually sing? How does "America" look on a real street instead of a soundstage? By holding back, they created a "must-see" factor. Even the harshest critics of remakes had to admit that the footage looked spectacular. It wasn't just a movie; it looked like cinema. There’s a difference. Most modern trailers have this frantic, three-act structure that tells you the whole ending. This one felt like a fever dream that ended just as you were waking up.
Acknowledging the controversy and the box office
We have to be honest here: despite a glowing reception for the West Side Story trailer, the movie struggled at the box office initially. It’s a bit of a tragedy. It came out during a weird time for theaters, and the target audience—older adults—were still hesitant to go back to the cinema in 2021.
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But if you look at the "long tail" of the film, the trailer is what kept it in the conversation for the Oscars. It gave it a prestige sheen that eventually led to Ariana DeBose winning an Academy Award. The trailer didn't just sell tickets; it sold a legacy. It convinced the Academy that this was a film worth taking seriously, rather than a nostalgic cash grab.
Some people felt that the trailer hid the "musical" aspect a bit too much. There's a segment of the audience that feels "tricked" when they show up and people start singing. But honestly? If you didn't know West Side Story was a musical, that's kind of on you. The trailer used the music as the heartbeat of the edit. Every cut was synced to a snare hit or a brass swell.
Technical mastery in the editing room
The editing of the trailer deserves a deep dive of its own. Look at the transition from the dark alleyways to the bright gym dance. It’s jarring in the best way. It shows the two worlds these kids live in—the violent reality of the streets and the temporary escape of the music.
- The use of silence: The trailer isn't afraid to let a shot breathe for three seconds. In trailer time, that's an eternity.
- The color palette: It moves from desaturated browns and greys to vibrant, saturated reds and yellows.
- The sound design: They layered the sounds of the city—trains, shouting, footsteps—over the orchestra. It makes the music feel like it's growing out of the pavement.
How to watch it now with fresh eyes
If you’re going back to watch the West Side Story trailer today, look at the background characters. Spielberg filled the frame with real-feeling people. This wasn't a sterile Hollywood set. It looked like a documentary of a place that doesn't exist anymore.
Pay attention to the scene where the two gangs meet under the highway. The way the camera moves low to the ground makes them look like giants. It’s classic Spielberg. He knows how to make children and young adults look like they're carrying the weight of the world on their shoulders.
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It’s also worth noting that the trailer released during the 2021 Oscars was actually the teaser. The full trailer came later and gave us more of "America" and "Gee, Officer Krupke." But the teaser is the one people remember. It’s the one that set the tone. It’s the one that proved that maybe, just maybe, some classics are worth revisiting if you have the right hands behind the camera.
Practical takeaways for film fans
If you're a student of film or just a casual fan, studying this trailer is basically a lesson in how to build tension. You don't need explosions. You don't need a narrator telling you that "In a world where love is forbidden..."
You just need a whistle, a shadow, and a girl in a yellow dress.
To get the most out of your re-watch, try this:
- Turn off the sound first. Watch the visual rhythm. Notice how the cuts get faster as the rivalry between the Jets and Sharks heats up.
- Then, listen to the sound only. Hear how the "Somewhere" melody is teased out slowly before the orchestration kicks in.
- Finally, watch it as a whole and see how the two elements work together to create an emotional response that doesn't rely on dialogue.
The West Side Story trailer remains a high-water mark for how to market a musical. It treated the audience like they were smart. It assumed we knew the story, so it focused on showing us the feeling. That is why it still works years later. It didn't just sell a movie; it invited us back into a world we thought we already knew, and showed us we were wrong.
If you haven't seen the actual film yet, the trailer is the perfect primer. It sets the stakes. It introduces the players. And most importantly, it leaves you wanting to hear that next note. That’s the job of a trailer, and this one did it better than almost any other in the last decade. It remains a masterclass in restraint and visual power.
Go watch the film on streaming services like Disney+ or Max to see how the promises made in those two minutes of trailer footage were actually delivered in the final three-hour epic. You'll see that every frame of the trailer was chosen with surgical precision to represent the heart of the movie. It wasn't a trick. The movie is just as beautiful as the marketing suggested. That’s the rarest thing of all in Hollywood today.