(exciting music) - Do you enjoy having your photo taken?

- Yeah.

- Yeah?

- Yeah.

- You prefer motion?

Being in a film?

- Yeah, it's easier.

- Yeah.

- 'Cause this is, you know, you're always trying to look like your natural self, which is, of course, bullshit.

(bright upbeat music) - Welcome to "Portrait Mode".

In this episode, I speak with the legendary actress, Rita Moreno.

She is the first Latina woman to win an Oscar, and to achieve EGOT status, and is still going strong in her 90s.

You might know her from both film versions of "West Side Story," the classic kids show, "The Electric Company," or from "The Ritz" on Broadway.

We're looking to shoot some new portraits.

Let's see how it goes.

Hi, Rita.

- Hey!

- It's Sophie.

Nice to see you again.

- I'm Rita.

So you wanna look at the- - I do!

- Stuff I brought to wear?

- I'd love to look at the clothes that you brought.

- Yeah.

- I love all the colors that you have.

- Well- - And the patterns.

- I thought this, you know, if we do color, this'll be lovely.

- That's gorgeous.

- That's just so pretty.

And then I brought this because I thought for black and white- - Yeah, this is really nice.

Well I have a gorgeous backdrop.

- Yeah?

- And it's sort of a white and some beige.

I mean, this is just beautiful.

- And I love purples.

- I love the purple.

- So I thought I would wear these.

You wanna do that?

- I think we should do the purple.

- Okay.

- Right?

- [Rita] Yeah.

- [Sophie] We have a plan.

- [Rita] See you in a moment.

- [Sophie] Okay.

(casual upbeat music) - Hi there!

- Hi there!

- It's me in purple.

- You look great in purple.

- Should I sit here?

- Yes, that's perfect.

- Okay.

- We can start on the stool.

- Okay.

- Well I know you were a dancer.

Originally, that was your start.

- That's right.

- You have all the moves.

Oh, I love that.

So when you're prepping for a role, like how do you prep when you're about to go onto set?

Do you have to sort of warm up, or do you just sort of do the same thing like here, and have your hair and makeup, and then go straight?

- If it's the very beginning scene, the opening scene of a play, and I'm nervous, and it's opening night, it's a whole other thing.

- Okay.

- I just stand there like a ghost.

And I'm usually trembling.

- Yeah?

Still?

- Oh, yes.

And I'm looking really like death warmed over.

And then comes the time when it's time, so I very often go- - So you definitely do the- - And you know, and in dancing it's called preparation.

You prepare to do something, and it's a very natural thing for me to do.

(bright upbeat music) - What's your favorite genre to do?

Is it like theater, movies?

You've done so many different things.

Which one is your favorite?

- I love theater, I just don't like doing eight a week.

- Yeah.

- You see, the way I see it, I'm now 92.

- [Sophie] Yeah?

- And that's exhausting.

So when I played Maria Callas at the Berkeley Rep a few years ago, I did six shows a week, and that was great.

I mean, I could just handle that.

- Yeah.

- And you know, very often people say, "Well you know, what about Angela Lansbury?"

And I say, "Well, fuck her.

I mean, if she can do it, fine."

- Yeah.

- I don't.

I can't.

- And you need to have it in a way that you feel good.

- Six a week is a lot.

Especially if you're playing a very demanding part, which I'm bound to be, because I'm this age, and I'm gonna play these kind of women.

- Oh, that's a good one.

Oh, that's really nice.

Perfect.

You were in "One Day at a Time" recently.

What was your process like, getting ready for that role?

- I loved playing Lydia, who is a drama queen to beat all drama queens, only with a Hispanic accent.

And I adapted my mother's accent, which is really very funny, and which sometimes turned into bad words.

Like you know, going, "I'm going to go swimming at the bitch."

- Right.

- And "Changing the shits on the bed."

I loved playing her, because she was so obvious, and so broad.

And what is, I think, hilarious about her is she has no sense of humor.

I love playing characters that really just, no sense of humor whatsoever.

- Right.

If you don't mind, I would love to show you some of these so I can see what you like.

- Okay.

- And I wanna hear from you.

- I love that.

- [Sophie] I love that.

- [Rita] That's very actress-y, and I love it.

- I love it.

- Yeah.

- And you did that naturally.

- That's my Norma Desmond.

- I love that.

- That's kinda charming.

- Yeah, I kind of love all these different positions that you've managed to figure out on the stool.

All right, let's try some without the stool.

- Sure.

- [Sophie] Yeah, I love that.

- You know I did this for the very last take of "West Side Story."

- Aw.

- Oh, wow!

- And I have the clapper.

And it's, Steven signed it, and the, Janusz, also signed it, the cinematographer.

And then Steven's says 'For a friend, an artist,' and something amazing like that.

I don't know, nice.

He was very nice.

Okay, this is take one.

Oh!

(Sophie laughs) I scared myself.

(soft music) - Okay.

So I wanna see some moving.

Not necessarily dancing, but almost like I'm doing a film.

Beautiful.

Right, like that, and then right at me with the face, too.

Beautiful.

That I love.

- Get outta here!

- Scram!

♪ And get me some money, too ♪ You had plenty money - Yeah, this is exactly- ♪ In '22 ♪ You let all the people ♪ Make a fool of you ♪ Why don't you do right ♪ Like some other men do ♪ Get outta here ♪ And get me some money, too - [Sophie] Amazing.

I love that.

♪ Get me some money, too ♪ Get me some money, too - Bravo!

- That was fun.

I haven't sung that in 100 years.

(casual upbeat music) - Every time I snap, just change it as you know, a little bit.

That's perfect, right there.

Oh, that's beautiful right there.

Perfect.

'Cause at the time when you started, there weren't a lot of other Puerto Rican actresses, right?

- There weren't any!

There were no Latina, I mean it was, don't even ask.

- So to look up, you had to- - They weren't even playing waiters in those days.

- What was that like, sort of pioneering in the industry as one of the first?

- Well you know, you don't know you're pioneering.

All you know is that you're out of work.

- Yeah.

- That's what you are.

I remember talking one day to Jessica Chastain.

And we were talking about movies and all that, and she was telling me about love scenes.

And she said "There's nothing I hate worse than coming cold into the studio in the morning and getting into bed with someone I barely know, you know, to do a love scene."

And she said, "Have you had that problem?"

And I said to her, "I'm going to shock you."

I said, 'cause all I ever played was island girls, and American Indian girls.

And I said "Island girls don't have love scenes.

They get raped.

They are tramps.

They're ignorant.

They don't know how to read."

And Jessica just went "(gasps) Oh my god, I never thought of that."

I said, "I think of it all the time."

- [Sophie] Let's do the stool.

That would be great.

I really like those.

- I wore those last night.

- That's really nice.

Gorgeous.

And then right at me strong one more time.

(Sophie laughs) Right away, not even a flinch.

Little happier right there.

That's great.

I love that.

Okay, we're gonna take a breather, and do some rapid fire questions.

- All right.

- Are you ready for some rapid fire questions?

- Probably not, but let's see what happens.

- All right, let's give it a shot.

Favorite role you ever played?

- Anita.

- Favorite pair of shoes?

I heard you have a lot of them.

- Oh my god.

Okay, any pair of Manolos.

- Last song you listened to?

♪ A boy like that ♪ Who'd kill your brother - Worst advice you ever received?

- Shut up.

Not good.

- Not good.

- No.

I mean, I may have something valuable to say.

- Exactly.

- Even if it's only once.

- Yeah.

This or that?

So, "This or that?"

you say which one you prefer.

- This.

- Oh.

(laughing) No, I mean I'm gonna ask you two things.

- Oh!

(both laughing) - But I'm glad you knew!

But I'm glad you knew- (Rita laughing) Oh, but that was great.

You're actually the very rapid rapid fire.

- That was a perfect, oh, wonderful.

Okay.

- New York or California?

- New York.

Always New York.

- Kindle or hardcover?

- Always, always hardcover.

I read newspapers.

I don't read my phone.

- Me too.

I read the newspaper, too.

Walk or drive?

- Walk.

- Flats or heels?

- Heels.

- Sharks or Jets?

- Sharks, are you serious?

- Cats or dogs?

- Dogs.

- Fast or furious?

- Furious.

- Yes.

Performing in front of a crowd of friends, or in front of a crowd of strangers?

- Strangers.

- I like that answer.

Thank you.

That's all I have for you.

- Oh god, that was exhausting.

- Ah.

(bright upbeat music) How was it different working on the new "West Side Story" than the original?

- Oh my goodness.

Huge, huge, huge difference.

Where do I start?

For one thing, it's a much more political movie, the new one, with Spielberg, and it's more political because Tony Kushner, who was the playwright of "Angels in America" for Broadway, he felt that the original movie truly lacked a lot of the problems that Hispanics have with being Hispanic.

And he really attended to that in a very good way.

He and Spielberg really worked very hard to make it more equitable, and they did.

It was absolutely marvelous.

And of course, not playing Anita, but playing Valentina, who was Doc's widow in this particular movie, was just fabulous.

I loved the way he wrote that part.

She's a gentle, quiet woman.

I mean, she is the opposite completely of Anita.

And what was very difficult about that version was doing a scene with Ariana who was now playing Anita.

- Yeah.

- That part is so a part of me, it's like part of my flesh.

- You did an interview and you said you tried not to get into her part as Anita too much, but you said you did give her advice on how you would've played one line differently.

- Yes, 'cause- - What was that?

- I think that, the way I read that one line in what I call the Oscar scene.

That's an Oscar scene in the candy store, where the boys try to abuse Anita.

And it was a reading that I gave of when they go after me, and I'm at the door, I'm about to leave, and telling them off, and they go to grab me, and I say, "Don't you touch me."

And it's not a way I would ever have said that, except that I was going with Marlon Brando during that film, and for many several years, and I thought, how would Marlon say that?

You know, you really don't want to do, "Don't you touch me!"

- Mm-hmm.

- It's so obvious.

And what was always fabulous about the way he did scenes as an actor was how he would pull back, like underneath, it was this broiling passion and anger and whatever was called for in that scene, so that's how I did it, and I said that's what got me the Oscar.

Holding back in that particular scene.

And guess what?

Guess who won the Oscar again?

- I know.

- Ariana.

(bright music) - I've directed you this whole shoot, right?

And asked you to do different things in front of the camera.

I was wondering if you, if we could turn the camera around, we could switch roles for a minute.

And you told me what to do for one.

- I'd tell you what to do?

- Yeah.

And you take the camera, and you'd do the same thing to me that I've asked you.

- And you have to sit here?

- And I'd be so interested to see how you direct.

- Oh!

- If you're up for it.

- Okay, I have no idea, but.

- I would love it.

It would be an honor.

- Just tell me how to click it.

- Yeah.

So basically- - What a great idea, I think.

- Thank you.

- We'll see.

- I think it'll be fun.

- We'll see how great this is gonna be.

- Okay, so you put this around.

- Okay, right.

- Hold on.

- Yeah.

- What do you think?

What should I do?

- Let me see, Sophie.

Do I wanna do this?

Yes I do.

And I wanna do it at a slight angle.

And I want you to look at me winsomely.

Do you know what winsome means?

- I don't.

- Well, like that.

There you go.

(bright music) How about showing me a three quarter angle, and look in that direction as well.

Three quarter face.

Oh yeah.

Now do slow eye.

That was good.

- I think you got it.

That's like my favorite picture of me ever.

- Are you serious?

- Yeah, I love that.

- Ah!

(laughing) - Thank you!

Thank you for being up for doing this!

- See that?

- That's so nice.

You're a great photographer.

Among many, many other things.

- I'm a director!

- Well that is what a photographer is.

Thank you so much for doing this, Rita.

It means so much to me.

And such an honor to- - Oh gosh.

- get to photograph you.

- I'm so glad, 'cause I was really so bored.

(Sophie laughing) - I hope not.

- I mean, I was really- - I hope we got something you loved.

- Oh my god, I'm so glad to get out of here.

(Rita exhales) - Well, I'm glad I at least got a couple pictures- - Goodbye!

Goodbye!

- Of myself.

(Sophie laughs) (casual upbeat music) (casual upbeat music continues) (casual upbeat music continues)