On Mar. 21, the new Snow White movie plans to premiere in theaters. With the movie, there are a few changes that make it different from the original “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs”. One change being that there will not be a prince who saves Snow White.
Rachel Zegler, “West Side Story” actress who is playing the lead role of Snow White, told Variety, in 2022, how the new Snow White was not going to be saved by a prince and is not dreaming about true love. Andrew Burnap, the actor who starred in “The Front Room,” was casted to play the role of Jonathan, who is replacing the Prince. In 2022, Zegler told Extra Tv how the original Snow White focused on her love story “with a guy who literally stalks her.” Since there will not be a prince to save Snow White, Zelger does not plan on singing “Some Day My Prince Will Come”. The song focuses on how someday, Snow White will see her prince again and they will go off to his castle and live happily ever after.
Another thing that makes the new live-action movie different from the original is the dwarfs and how they are going to appear. Disney plans on using CGI, or computer-generated imagery, to create the seven dwarfs to avoid reinforcing stereotypes from the original animated film. This made actors with dwarfism upset, such as actor and bodybuilder Choon Tan. Tan told Femail that Disney using CGI for the seven dwarfs was ‘absolutely absurd and discriminating in a sense’. Blake Johnston, a performer from Australia, also told Femail that “we have plenty of dwarf actors out there who are dying for roles like this”. Johnston believes that Disney had “succumbed to peer pressure on political correctness, which has now given top dwarf actors less work”.
Along with the changes, Zegler has made controversial comments about the movie, which caused fans to become upset. People described Zegler as a “walking PR disaster for Disney” and accused her of “shaming anyone who liked” the animated original. Some people, like writer, actor, and content creator Franchesca Ramsey, say that Zegler is very talented and that people’s hate “is not going to take that away from her.” Zegler did not respond to the comments made towards her, but posted on X, formerly known as Twitter. She stated, “Remember to be kind. Treat each other with patience and empathy. Remember that you are loved unconditionally, no matter your mistakes, no matter your misunderstandings.”
Due to the controversy and backlash the movie has gotten, Disney decided to scale back the lavish premieres to something small with controlled press events. The movie premiere was held in Los Angeles on March 15 at El Capitan Theatre. Along with the premiere in LA, there was also a secret Spanish ‘premiere’ held at Alcázar of Segovia, the Spanish castle that inspired the original castle in Snow White. The premiere was held on March 12, and with the decision by Disney to have a smaller premiere than usual, the event was not open to the public, but to selected VIPs.
Not only is Zelger starring in “Snow White”, Zegler has been in other films, along with “West Side Story”, such as “The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes” and “Shazam! Fury of the Gods”. Zelger plays Anthea in “Shazam! Fury of the Gods” and Maria in “West Side Story”, both being major roles in the films. In “Shazam! Fury of the Gods”, Zegler filmed alongside Gal Gadot, who plays the Evil Queen in “Snow White”. In all three films, Zegler has and is playing a major role or the lead role in the films. The “Hunger Games” film got a 64% Rotten Tomatoes rating, while “Shazam” received a 49% Rotten Tomatoes and “West Side Story” received a 91% Rotten Tomatoes. “Snow White” is expected to receive a 65% Rotten Tomatoes rating.
With Zegler’s films having average to higher-than-average ratings, it shows that viewers enjoyed the films. With the film expecting to get a 65% Rotten Tomatoes rating, viewers could enjoy the film as they have before with other films starring Zelger. Although changes have been made, Snow White fans will be excited to see the first Disney princess back on the big screen, with the famous Seven Dwarfs and some new characters.
