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Credit: Disney/Inside the MagicRachel Zegler is finally speaking up about the controversial new version of Snow White, and it turns out that Disney is not on the level about something.
Snow White has been threatened by backlash since it was first announced as a live-action remake all the way back in 2016. While fans are nervous every time Disney decides to go for a new take on a classic (see: Halle Bailey in The Little Mermaid), many have felt that the company is playing with fire by trying to do a modern, allegedly “woke” spin on Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937), the world’s first-ever feature-length animated film.
But Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs was not just a landmark in animation (and Walt Disney himself’s feature directorial debut). It was also an adaptation of one of the Brothers Grimm’s most famous fairy tales (and thus, the world’s) and the movie that essentially created the Walt Disney Company as we know it.
Related: New ‘Snow White’ Officially Announced, Cast Changes Confirmed
The story of a beautiful princess who is threatened by her wicked stepmother/evil queen and takes refuge with seven dwarves in the woods until she is poisoned by a magic apple and wakened by Prince Charming and true love’s first kiss has enthralled audiences for generations. Unsurprisingly, writers Greta Gerwig and Erin Cressida Wilson and director Marc Webb messing with that formula in any way has enflamed some hardcore Disney fans.
It goes without saying that some of the backlash has been culturally loaded, like the colorblind casting of West Side Story (2021) actress Rachel Zegler, a person of color, as a character usually portrayed as White. Then there was the notion that the seven dwarves had been replaced by a multi-ethnic and multi-gender ensemble of actors, combined with actor Peter Dinklage’s outspoken comments on the matter.
The backlash wasn’t calmed by Rachel Zegler, Snow White herself, sharing that she did not particularly care for the original Disney princess movie as a child and that the original film had been updated because it is ” not 1937 anymore.” To be fair, that last part is a statement of fact.
All this led to heavy rumors that Disney had dropped Rachel Zegler and recast Snow White, or that the company was reworking the plot behind the scenes to try to mollify longtime fans. Like most movie productions, Snow White has been significantly delayed by the recently concluded SAG-AFTRA strike, meaning that we won’t really be able to tell what Disney has done for many months to come.
Related: Disney’s ‘Snow White’ Release Date Confirmed, Gal Gadot Weighs In
However, Rachel Zegler herself has hinted that Disney is holding back quite a bit on what the movie will involve, which is supported by the recent revelation that the seven dwarves will be portrayed as CGI characters.
In a Variety interview for her other upcoming movie, The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, Zegler said, “I’m just really excited to get to share [Snow White] with everyone in March 2025. We’ve got a lot of magic up our sleeve.”
While that is a carefully media-training controlled statement, the actress certainly seems to be implying that Snow White is not going to be exactly what people think. Maybe she’s just trying to speak in generalities to avoid yet more controversy, but it feels like Disney is not telling fans everything.
Do you think the Rachel Zegler Snow White will live up to the hype? Tell us your opinions in the comments below!