We feel pretty, oh so pretty.

“West Side Story” likes New Jersey so much, it’s branching out.

The upcoming Steven Spielberg remake of the 1961 movie musical set up shop in Paterson this summer, where it plans to film for several weeks. Scenes featuring rival gangs the Jets and Sharks will play out in local parking lots. The production will shoot scenes in several spots downtown, including Ellison Street. But the film is not limiting production to Passaic County.

Tony and Maria, say hello to Newark.

Kenneth Gifford, director of the Newark Office of Film and Television, says Spielberg’s production company has applied to use 744 Broad St., the National Newark Building, starting with the second week of August. He says the production will use the location for a set meant to resemble Bamberger’s department store.

This past spring, the 1940s-set HBO limited series “The Plot Against America” also filmed in and around the neoclassical-style building, which was the tallest in New Jersey when it opened in 1931 and for decades thereafter. The series is based on the 2004 Philip Roth book of the same name, which imagines a Newark and America in which Nazi sympathizer Charles Lindbergh won the presidency.

The now-defunct Bamberger’s, which closed in 1986, was headquartered in Newark. The department store chain’s flagship store opened on Market Street in 1912 and eventually spanned a whole block.

The National Newark Building on Broad Street was used for the 1940s-set HBO series "The Plot Against America" in April. In August, the building will stand in for Bamberger's department store in Steven Spielberg's "West Side Story."Amy Kuperinsky | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com

“West Side Story” is slated to spend about three weeks in Newark, Gifford says, which means that for several weeks, the production will bounce between Paterson and Newark, with both cities standing in for 1950s New York.

Rachel Zegler, 18, of Clifton, is making her movie debut in the film about star-crossed lovers as Maria. Ansel Elgort (“Baby Driver”), 25, is playing Tony.

Zegler graduated in June from Immaculate Conception High School in Lodi. In 2017, she played Maria in a BergenPAC Performing Arts School production of “West Side Story."

this was two years ago.

little rachel.... if only you knew. pic.twitter.com/ErkrOxf9Xb — rachel zegler (@rachelzegler) July 31, 2019

On Tuesday, Zegler shared a photo of herself from two years ago posing in front of a poster for the BergenPAC production.

“Little Rachel,” she tweeted. “If only you knew.”

In December, Spielberg, 72, and Pulitzer Winner Tony Kushner (“Angels in America"), 63, who wrote the film’s script, traveled to Puerto Rico. The filmmakers responded to questions about how the remake would deal with Puerto Rican stereotypes in the original movie at a town hall at the University of Puerto Rico. Spielberg and Kushner were asked about lines in the musical, including when Anita sings about Puerto Rico and says “let it sink back in the ocean," and the song “America," which calls Puerto Rico “ugly," a place beset by disease and flying bullets.

The new “West Side Story,” Spielberg said at the time, "speaks a lot to what’s happening today — it’s very relevant in terms of what’s happening on the borders, and very relevant today to essentially the rejection of anyone who isn’t white, and that’s a big part of our story.” The director also said he the film would be hiring Puerto Rican actors, singers and dancers.

Steven Spielberg is a living legend who has produced some of the biggest blockbuster movies in American History. He is... Posted by Mayor André Sayegh on Sunday, June 23, 2019

After the first cast photo was released in June, Zegler, who is of Colombian American heritage, addressed fans on social media.

“We are working so hard to bring you the best of the best," she said. "Correcting wrongs. Making them right. A rainbow group of people. I am thankful this morning and every morning. xo.”

Other cast members with New Jersey connections include Patrick Higgins, a rising junior at North Arlington High School, who plays Baby John, a member of the Jets gang.

Paterson Mayor André Sayegh, who met Spielberg when he toured the city, has been glowing about the director choosing Paterson for the major motion picture.

Downtown Paterson has been transformed into a Puerto Rican neighborhood circa 1960 for Steven Spielberg's "Westside Story!" This is going to be EPIC! #GreatFalls #GreatFood #GreatFilming Posted by Andre Sayegh on Tuesday, July 30, 2019

“We’re very fortunate they picked us and we’re glad they’re going to contribute money to our parks,” he said in video dispatch posted on Tuesday that showed storefronts downtown outfitted with vintage signs to represent a 1950s Puerto Rican neighborhood on New York’s Upper West Side.

The Spielberg movie, set for release on Dec. 18, 2020, has also been filming in New York, in Harlem and at 107th Street between Broadway and Amsterdam on the Upper West Side.

Like Paterson, Newark has hosted a number of high-profile projects in recent months and years, including the “Joker” movie, which comes out on Oct. 4; the “Sopranos” prequel movie “The Many Saints of Newark,” which is slated for release on Sept. 25, 2020; and “The Hunt,” an Amazon series about Nazi hunters starring Al Pacino.

Gifford has attributed the latest production boom to local efforts to attract filmmakers and the restoration of the state’s film tax credit program.

Arthur Laurents, Stephen Sondheim and Leonard Bernstein created the “West Side Story” musical in 1957, which was in turn inspired by “Romeo and Juliet." The 1961 film based on the musical, starring Natalie Wood and George Chakiris and directed by Robert Wise and Jerome Robbins, won 10 Oscars, including best picture.

EGOT winner Rita Moreno, who won an Oscar for playing Anita, is also part of the new film, both as a producer and in the new role of Valentina, an adaptation of the Doc character who owns the store where Tony works.

Music will be conducted by Gustavo Dudamel of the Los Angeles Philharmonic and musical numbers will be choreographed by Justin Peck (“Carousel”).

Have a tip? Amy Kuperinsky may be reached at akuperinsky@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @AmyKup or on Facebook.

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