“In that scene, I suddenly become Doc.
I never could really get inside of the scene.
It was a difficult experience for me, doing it again in a very different role.”
Ariana DeBose in ‘West Side Story’.Niko Tavernise/20th Century Studios
“It was very meta,” she explains.
“It’s like, ‘Oh my God, that’s me; that’s not me.”
“I tried to keep a sensible amount of like separation of church and state,” DeBose adds.
I just played the truth.
Still, Moreno’s own sexual assault loomed large for both women throughout filming the scene.
“Now, having played the part, you never forget what it feels like.
You never forget what it feels like to have that many bodies on top of you.
Adds Moreno: “These are wounds that never quite healed.
