Rachel Zegler dreams of starring in a movie alongside the Muppets one day.

The West Side Story actress, who is a longtime fan of both Sesame Street and the Muppets, wants to follow in Michael Caine and Tim Curry’s footsteps and be the only human character alongside the likes of Kermit the Frog, Rizzo the Rat and Miss Piggy.

“Michael Caine did it for (The Muppet) Christmas Carol,” she told Variety. “Tim Curry did it for Muppet Treasure Island. I want to be the one!”

Jim Henson’s iconic puppet creations have starred in eight feature films. After the two ’90s productions Zegler named, they have appeared in 1999’s Muppets in Space, with Jeffrey Tambor and Andie MacDowell, and 2011’s The Muppets, with Jason Segel and Amy Adams.

Their most recent feature, Muppets Most Wanted, was released 10 years ago, starring Ricky Gervais, Tina Fey and Ty Burrell.

Zegler, 23, got her big break in 2021 with her debut film role as Maria in Steven Spielberg’s version of West Side Story. While she is grateful for her breakthrough role in the musical, she is “ready to move on” from it and be offered different types of projects.

“I didn’t want to be boxed into that part for the rest of time,” she explained. “I feel like nobody wanted me to do anything different. Even the Broadway offers I was getting were like, ‘Do you want to be Guinevere in Camelot?’ There’s a lot of interest there, but it would be another soprano, the thing that everybody’s already seen me do. It would have been an honour, but I need to think about the longevity of a career.”

Zegler, who is currently starring in Romeo + Juliet on Broadway, can next be seen in the comedy horror Y2K and Disney’s live-action Snow White remake.

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