The production of Disney’s live-action Snow White film has been followed by controversy since its inception. Now, due to controversies regarding stars Rachel Zegler and Gal Gadot, it looks like Disney is dialing back its Hollywood premiere for Snow White.
With a production that can be traced back to 2016, it’s been nearly a decade that Disney has put into bringing this story to the big screen in live-action. It’s a sign that this journey hasn’t been easy for the studio, and even with the film in the can, it looks like there have been some issues.
As shared via Variety, while the film will have a Hollywood premiere hosted by Disney on March 15, “the red carpet will not include the dozens of media outlets usually invited by Disney to interview the cast and creatives at its premieres.” The outlet adds that “coverage will be limited to photographers and a house crew.”
While Disney didn’t release an official statement on the matter, it seems that the smaller premiere is due to controversies surrounding Rachel Zegler, who plays Snow White in the film, and Gal Gadot, who plays the Evil Queen.
Backlash initially started against Zegler when she was announced for the part. Because she is Latina, some toxic individuals complained that she couldn’t be Snow White. Other controversies started to surface, however, when Zegler seemingly made comments criticizing the original animated film and its portrayal of the prince who she compared to a stalker.
In more recent times, Zegler made comments regarding Donald Trump and his supporters, hoping that they “never know peace.” She soon apologized for these remarks. On a similar political note, Zegler also made comments on social media to support the “free Palestine” movement, which is where the controversy surrounding Gal Gadot comes in.
Gadot, on the other hand, has supported Israel on social media being Israeli herself. With recent backlash to Captain America: Brave New World, which saw some boycotts due to the addition of Israeli superhero Ruth Bat-Seraph played by Israeli actress Shira Haas, it isn’t difficult to imagine there will be some similarities with the release of Snow White.
While promotion for the movie is certainly not at a standstill, and both Zegler and Gadot have been involved with publicity events, it seems as though Disney still wanted to offer a quieter premiere for Snow White than they usually give their films. Stay tuned to ScreenGeek for any additional updates as we have them.