Mike Faist Caught Spielberg ‘Sweating’ on Set of ‘West Side Story’

Although Mike Faist may be blowing up screens these days with his performances in “Challengers” and “The Bikeriders,” his big break into acting came from none other than the maestro of cinema himself, Steven Spielberg. Faist was invited to audition personally by the director for his remake of the Leonard Bernstein and Steven Sondheim musical “West Side Story” and ended up landing the role of Riff, leader of the Jets and best friend of the main character Tony, played by Ansel Elgort. . Known for his elaborate oners, Spielberg brought all of his expertise and more to his first musical production (not counting the opening scene of “Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom”), perfectly blending choreography and visuals.

“The truth is we had four months of rehearsals before the first day of filming,” Faist said in a recent interview with The Hollywood Reporter. “So we were all living in it, and what we were rehearsing during that time was all the musical sequences and the dance numbers. Steven was there to see what we were doing, and every now and then he would pull out his iPhone and get pushed by someone in a computer chair or something. So I think there were things that were shot before (filming) – probably these bigger sequences where you have to do it.

Although Spielberg was largely prepared, during production Faist surprised him at a moment when he seemed to be struggling for inspiration.

“At that point, I was chain smoking. And Steven, every time he’s on set, he carries a cigar, but he never smokes it. He just kind of holds it. It’s like a weird security blanket or something. He always had it for some reason,” Faist told The Hollywood Reporter. “So I remember we had vaguely blocked out one of the scenes we were going to shoot that day, and I went outside to smoke a cigarette. And then Steven came up to me and asked me to light his cigar and I thought, ‘OK, I’ll light your cigar.’ So I lit his cigar for him and said, ‘Steven, I’ve never seen you smoke this stuff?’ And he said, “Well, I haven’t figured out how I’m going to shoot the scene yet.”Laughs.) He was stressed and I caught him sweating.

If he was, it certainly didn’t show in the final result.