Snow White star Rachel Zegler appears to have backtracked on her controversial comments about the film.
The 23-year-old is starring in Disney’s live-action remake of the popular fairytale, alongside Gal Gadot as the Evil Queen and Andrew Burnap as Prince Jonathan.
Its release has been overshadowed by controversy around casting, rumours of in-fighting among cast members, and complaints about the movie’s quality.
Zegler drew criticism in 2022 for saying that the 1937 film needed a drastic overhaul as the prince “literally stalks” Snow White.
But it appears she has tamed her opinions on the matter ahead of the film’s release.
“Snow White is on her own mission and she falls in love along the way, which is really awesome,” Zegler told Allure magazine. “That’s how life happens. You’re never looking for it, and then all of a sudden, it’s there.”
She added: “You can have it all. It’s all possible. Because you are everything you’ve been wishing and waiting for.”
The film has faced further controversy over Disney’s inclusion of the seven dwarfs in the remake.
Peter Dinklage, the Game of Thrones actor who has dwarfism, said in 2022 that he was surprised Disney was so proud to cast a Latina actress as Snow White, while “you’re still telling the story of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Take a step back and look at what you’re doing there.”
In a one-star review of the film, The Independent’s film critic Clarisse Loughrey wrote: “Of course, Disney is well aware of how troubling it is to characterise people with dwarfism as fairytale denizens. However, instead of using this as an opportunity to dismantle stereotypes through a reimagined narrative and platform seven actors with dwarfism in the process, the studio has summoned up the most corporate response possible.
“Human beings have been replaced with uncanny CGI caricatures that will make you yearn for the simple horrors of 2004’s The Polar Express. There are two actors with dwarfism in the cast – Martin Klebba voices Grumpy, while George Appleby plays an unrelated role – but neither are given the spotlight they deserve.”
It was widely reported that the film’s controversies were behind Disney’s decision to scale back the Hollywood premiere. According to Variety, the 15 March premiere, which would typically have included a large-scale red-carpet event with multiple media outlets invited to interview the stars, was reportedly reduced to only photographers and in-house crew.
