If you thought that the years have softened the spark of the screen legend Rita Moreno, you were wrong. Moreno, a nimble 89, joined TheWrap’s interview studio to discuss her new documentary at the Sundance Film Festival, “Rita Moreno: Just a girl who decided to go ahead,” and unleashed Hollywood racism – particularly against the Latinx community.
Asked if she saw the lack of opportunity for the Latin actors she experienced as a young actress differently today, Moreno did not measure words. “I’m sad to say it’s still the same problem, the same damn problem,” she said.
“It’s incredible. So far, we are the community that still doesn’t have their great wonderful films. Where’s our ‘Moonlight’?” She asked, referring to Barry Jenkins’ 2016 indie film about a young black man who became a surprise winner of the Oscar for Best Picture. “Where are any number of films that the black community has? Why isn’t this happening to us? It’s a shame. It’s so disheartening. I don’t know what the hell is going on.”
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Moreno, an Oscar winner for Best Supporting Actress for playing Anita in 1961’s “West Side Story”, as well as a rare EGOT winner for additional work on TV, theater and music, joined director Mariem Perez Riera and producers Brent Miller and Ilia Velez.
The film covers such painful subjects from Moreno’s past, including a sexual assault by his agent and the hurt of his relationship with Marlon Brando. The frankness in these topics was important for Moreno in this project. “It seems to me that if you’re going to do something like that, I made a promise that, in the best possible way, it would be as sincere as possible,” she said. “And I think I did very well.”
Miller said the project came about because he and Moreno worked on the Netflix / Pop TV restart of “One Day at a Time”, produced by his partner Norman Lear.
“When I worked with Rita, I was shocked to learn that no one had done her story before,” said Miller. “When I learned not only about Rita in ‘West Side Story’, but also about Rita with this expansive career, I approached her and asked: Would you trust me to tell your story?”
The film will air on PBS’s “American Masters” series later this year.
See the interview above.