Ariana DeBose has been cast in With Love.
The Oscar-winning actress will star opposite Ke Huy Quan in the upcoming Universal Pictures movie that will be released in February 2025.
Plot details are being kept under wraps on the film, which is being helmed by first-time director Jonathan Eusebio – an acclaimed veteran stunt coordinator.
87 North’s Kelly McCormick and David Leitch are producing while the flick has been written by Josh Stoddard, Luke Passmore and Matthew Murray.
According to Deadline, film bosses were searching for the perfect female lead after casting Quan and met with a number of performers before settling on the West Side Story star.
DeBose starred in the Disney animated movie Wish in 2023 and revealed that she “cried like a baby” when she was cast in the film.
“They came to me shortly after West Side Story had premiered, and I hadn’t really won anything. I was just excited that West Side Story had come out, and it looked like I was going to have the opportunity to make more work. Then they called, and Chris Buck [the director] was like, ‘We want to make this movie with you,’” she told MovieWeb.com.
“I was like, ‘Amazing, what is it?’ Because they hadn’t really told me, but then they explained what the story was going to be, and I cried like a baby because I was a Disney kid growing up,” she added.
DeBose voiced the heroine Asha in the movie and explained that her performance was inspired by other Disney princesses.
“I can tell you definitively that so many of our previous Disney princesses and heroines inspired me while in the booth. I could hear the echoes of Mulan and Cinderella. I would go, ‘Alice would have said that’ or ‘Raya, there you at girl!’ I drew inspiration from so many of the characters from the canon,” the 33-year-old star said.
