Rachel Zegler paid a loving tribute to prolific first assistant director Adam Somner, with whom she labored on Steven Spielberg‘s West Side Story, following his loss of life forward of the Thanksgiving weekend.
“i had the respect of constructing west aspect story with adam somner when i used to be seventeen years outdated,” she started on her Instagram Story. “and with a lot grace and love, he lifted me up and refused to let me stumble as i navigated the world of filmmaking. i couldn’t have been in higher arms.”
Because the Y2K actress talked about, the musical remake marked her movie debut and catapulted her into the highlight. Since then, the powerhouse singer has taken to Broadway reverse Package Connor in a revival of Romeo + Juliet, led a prequel to The Starvation Video games trilogy and brought on the function of Disney princess with Snow White, due for launch in 2025.
“lengthy story brief, i liked him. as did everybody who ever started working with him. he was the kindest, essentially the most environment friendly, the wackiest, and he was the most effective at his job,” she continued within the captioned submit, that includes a black-and-white video of the 2 embracing on set. “it isn’t honest that he gained’t get to do extra. a lot like to all of his household and all who bought the respect of working with him. i by no means took it as a right and now i’ll take it with me eternally.”
The Shazam! star concluded, “adam somner, you legend. i miss you already.”
Somner, an Oscar-nominated producer who was among the many most in-demand ADs within the enterprise, died at age 57 on Nov. 27 from anaplastic thyroid most cancers. He’s credited on greater than 75 options, brief movies and music movies, turning into the go-to for famend filmmakers like Spielberg, Paul Thomas Anderson, Ridley Scott, Alejandro G. Iñárritu and James Mangold.
These administrators have been amongst those that paid tribute to their proper hand.
Mangold joined Zegler in paying tribute to his collaborator, writing on X alongside a shot from Ford v. Ferrari and the two on set: “To know Adam Somner was to like him. And to work at his aspect was an honor, a masterclass and a lesson in how an Assistant Director could make their title wildly inadequate. He made a chaotic set run clean and, on listless ones, created power. He impressed his administrators (a few of the finest ever + me) to be their finest — he all the time discovered us a approach to get what we would have liked — and generally reminded us of one thing fantastic we didn’t consider. He can be missed profoundly however lived the form of life for which all of us aspire. He made an enormous distinction on the highest ranges of his craft — was a born chief — and did all this whereas being passionate, charming and hilarious. I’lll all the time bear in mind Adam strutting concerning the runway of Ontario Airport at magic hour with myself and my DP Phedon racing behind him our actors in tow as we bought this scene in shot half an hour because the down went down. God velocity, Governor.”
