Ever since her debut in Steven Spielberg’s adaptation of Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim’s “West Side Story,” New Jersey-native Rachel Zegler has quickly become one of Hollywood’s go-to young starlets. Despite this rapid ascension and her appreciation for the success she’s found in the entertainment business, in a recent interview with Variety, she admitted that the city where much of the actual business is conducted isn’t exactly her favorite place to be.
“The reason I fell in love with this industry is not because of this town,” Zegler said of Hollywood. “In fact, I kind of can’t stand this town. I don’t like that there’s a town built around the industry that I work in; it’s stifling and isolating and weird. In New York, nobody gives a fuck.”
Zegler is currently back on the east coast for a while, starring in a new Broadway production of “Romeo and Juliet” with “Heartstopper” star Kit Connor. This comes after a six-month shoot in the U.K. for Disney’s live-action reinterpretation of “Snow White,” which was preceded by a long shoot in Poland for “The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes.”
“It’s not until you have to go around the world filming in different cities that you realize how grateful you are for the diversity [of New York],” said Zegler of coming back to the city after being away so long. “When I came home from my year in Europe, going to my bodega, where people speak in Spanish to me, I was like, ‘Oh, my God, I missed you, Enrique!’”
Another reason Zegler loves New York is that she doesn’t feel the pressure of trying to impress there. She said to Variety, “People really wear whatever the fuck they want. If I go out and I’m like, ‘Is this too fancy?,’ someone is definitely dressed more ridiculous than me, in the best way.”
In truth, despite having her pick of roles to take on, Zegler chose to make her Broadway debut and take on Shakespeare for one very important reason…
“It keeps me in New York,” she said. “I love an excuse to be home.”
