Lin-Manuel Miranda, Norman Lear, and Michael Kantor are executive producing a documentary on EGOT-winning West Side Story star Rita Moreno, set to premiere on PBS in 2020. The film is directed by Mariem Perez.
Currently titled Rita Moreno: The Girl Who Decided to Go For It, the documentary will feature interviews with Moreno, Lear, and Miranda, along with Terrence McNally, Chita Rivera, Whoopi Goldberg, Gloria and Emilio Estefan, Morgan Freeman, Eva Longoria, and Justina Machado.
The film will cover Moreno's more than 70 year–long career on stage and screen, from her birth in Puerto Rico, to making her Broadway debut at the age of 13, becoming the first Latinx actor to win an Academy Award (for her performance as Anita in the 1961 film adaptation of West Side Story), and beyond.
On Broadway, Moreno appeared in such productions as Last of the Red Hot Lovers, The Odd Couple (the female version), and The Ritz, for which she received a 1975 Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play.
More recently, Moreno has played Lydia on Netflix's One Day at a Time, produced by Lear. She is currently filming the upcoming West Side Story film remake, playing the newly created role of Valentina and executive producing. Directed by Steven Spielberg, West Side Story is scheduled to hit theatres December 18, 2020.
The Girl Who Decided to Go For It is being produced by Lear's Act III Productions in association with Maramara. Brent Miller and Perez also serve as producers, with Ilia Velez as co-producer.
