The star of the new live-action Snow White has responded to criticisms of the movie’s supposed ‘wokeness’.
Rachel Zegler opened up about the backlash in a recent interview.
Read on for the full story.
Twenty-one-year-old Zegler is set to take on one of the most iconic Disney princesses, Snow White.
Directed by Marc Webb, the live-action remake is set to be based on the original concept of the Brothers Grimm fairytale, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.
The original movie was released in 1937 and marked Disney’s first animated feature film.
Who doesn’t love the original?
Director Webb will be joined by Marc Platt as a producer, along with Benj Pasek and Justin Paul who will be creating the soundtrack for the remake.
Previously, the latter duo has been credited with music in other iconic films such as La La Land and The Greatest Showman.
It has been confirmed that Zegler will join them as the lead in the production.
Speaking of the young and upcoming star, the director said: “Rachel’s extraordinary vocal abilities are just the beginning of her gifts.
“Her strength, intelligence, and optimism will become an integral part of rediscovering the joy in this classic Disney fairytale.”
If you have no idea who Zegler is, then here’s a quick catch up for you…
Born and raised in New Jersey, she was always destined to be a star.
Throughout high school Zegler starred in a range of school productions, from Beauty and the Beast to Shrek the Musical.
She was originally discovered after she gained some fame from posting singing covers on YouTube.
Her cover of ‘Shallow’ from A Star Is Born currently has over 3 million views!
In 2018 Steven Spielberg posted an open casting call for West Side Story.
Zegler, then just sixteen years old, sent in videos of herself singing ‘I Feel Pretty’ and ‘Tonight’.
She was picked for the role of Maria, out of a whopping 30,000 applicants for the role!
This marked the beginning of a very exciting movie career for the actress.
Her performance was naturally met with critical acclaim.
Zegler even won a Golden Globe for her portrayal of the role!
And now, the star has been cast in another extremely exciting project.
The role of Snow White presents another career-changing opportunity for the star.
Posting to Twitter, the twenty-one-year-old star seemed very excited about the prospect of playing Snow White.
She also posted a video of herself with the character, writing: “Homegirl, we have LOTS to catch up on.”
Also joining the cast is Gal Gadot.
The Wonder Woman star will play the role of the Evil Queen.
Tony award winner Andrew Burnap will play the movie’s male lead.
The thirty-one-year-old will play Jonathan.
The news of this was first announced by Deadline.
However, it did spark some mixed reactions from the internet…
Most of the backlash focused on the fact that Zegler is Latina.
This comes in the wake of social media’s disapproval of the casting of Halle Bailey in another live action Disney remake, 2023’s The Little Mermaid, because of her skin color.
However, in a new interview with Vanity Fair, Zegler responded to these criticisms.
“People are making these jokes about ours being the PC Snow White, where it’s like, yeah, it is — because it needed that.
“It’s an eighty-five-year-old cartoon,” she told the outlet.
The star continued: “Our version is a refreshing story about a young woman who has a function beyond ‘Someday My Prince Will Come.’”
Zegler also explained the pressure the whole controversy put on her during the West Side Story press tour.
She said she had to answer a lot of “cultural questions” as her character in the musical is Puerto Rican, wheras Zegler herself is of Colombian heritage.
She said: “And at the same time answer for why I got cast as a Disney princess that isn’t associated with my skin color.”
“It was bizarre,” she added.
Despite some of the negative press around the casting, we hope to see Zegler flourish on the big screen.
The movie is set for release in 2024.