'West Side Story': Steven Spielberg Refuses To Subtitle The Spanish Dialogue

Director Steven Spielberg opened up about his upcoming musical drama, "West Side Story" and revealed why he refused to add subtitles to Spanish dialogue in the movie.

"That was a mandate that I put down to Cindy Tolan who cast the movie, that I wasn’t going to entertain any auditions that aren’t parents or grandparents or themselves from Latinx countries," the 74-year-old director told IGN on Sunday.

Spielberg further revealed that he was keen to hire actors from either Puerto Rico or Nuyorican.

"We looked a lot in Puerto Rico, we have 20 performers in our film from Puerto Rico or they’re Nuyorican," he explained. "That was very important and that goes hand-in-hand with my reasoning for not subtitling the Spanish."

Spielberg further noted how subtitling Spanish dialogue would give more power to the English language over Spanish and he decided, this won't happen in this movie.

"If I subtitled the Spanish I’d simply be doubling down on the English and giving English the power over the Spanish," he added. "This was not going to happen in this film, I needed to respect the language enough not to subtitle it."

Puerto Rico-born American actress Rita Moreno praised the creative decision of the director last week and revealed how this new "West Side Story," which is a remake of 1961's movie of the same name, stands out.

Moreno, who played Anita's character in the 1961's version, noted that the new movie is something she is proud of because "every single Latino character is portrayed by a Latino actor."

Speaking with Vanity Fair, the actress noted that it is "very important because we are authentically showing what it means to be Latin. The representation of Latinos and Hispanics performers in Hollywood has a long ways to go, but we are starting to change that."

"There are so many talented people among Latinos, and Jennifer Lopez isn’t the only one. We are everywhere!" she noted, at that time.

"West Side Story" is based on William Shakespeare's classic story "Romeo and Juliet" and is set in 1950s New York. The movie revolves around the rivalry between two gangs, the Jets and the Sharks. The plot thickens when one of the gang members falls in love with another gang members' sister.

The musical is slated to release this Friday in theaters.