The upcoming live-action remake of Snow White from Disney has faced a fair amount of backlash since it was first announced. Now star Rachel Zegler, who will play the titular character Snow White in the film, has given her response.
Zegler has been at the center of the backlash since she was cast in the role. Many fans felt like she made controversial comments regarding the source material, while others thought she simply wasn’t right for the part.
Rachel Zegler sat down on Variety‘s “Actors on Actors” series with The Little Mermaid star Halle Bailey. Bailey herself has faced backlash for her role in that particular remake. As such, it’s interesting to see her speak with Zegler on the matter.
Here’s what Zegler had to share, emphasizing that she chooses to look past the backlash:
“Choosing thankfulness and gratefulness is choosing peace. As much as you’d like to remind people verbally that being in the spotlight doesn’t absolve you of your humanity — that you’re allowed to have human moments — it doesn’t necessarily do what you want it to do. It fuels them more.”
Rachel Zegler continued to note that those who complain are “probably just having a really hard day” while she’s working on Snow White:
“So it’s choosing to be present and know that they’re probably just having a really hard day. And I’m putting out a movie,” she added.
Rachel Zegler on facing online hate: “As much as you’d like to remind people verbally that being in the spotlight doesn’t absolve you of your humanity…it doesn’t necessarily do what you want it to do, and it fuels them more.” #ActorsOnActors https://t.co/anCpFtP4Gu pic.twitter.com/j2fKBLq5J7
— Variety (@Variety) December 7, 2023
Zegler also added her thoughts on the first official still from the film. The image revealed the movie’s CGI dwarves, an element that has been heavily criticized, and it seems even she thought it was the wrong picture to release at the time:
“This is an iconic thing that people really care about. I don’t want to mess this up for anybody, including myself. The writers and Marc Webb and our entire producing team. It’s a bit different story wise. We were able to do ‘Whistle While You Work,’ which made me really happy and excited. I was really nervous more about the technical element. That first-look image went out… and there’s a lot of CGI in the film.”
“Most of that day was spent singing to nothing,” Zegler went on. “I’m sure you also know how that can be. There was a lot of puppetry and CGI in post. It was really intense. There’s a lot of bloopers of me tossing a broom and letting it fall to the ground because that’s apparently how you toss things off to CGI characters. But it’s so much fun!”
As such, we’ll have to see how the response to Snow White turns out when the film hits theaters on March 21, 2025. Stay tuned to ScreenGeek for any additional updates as we have them.