Rachel Zegler is addressing the multi-pronged backlash she faced regarding Disney‘s live action reimagining of Snow White, due in theaters March 21.
In a cover story with Vogue Mexico, the West Side Story starlet reflected on her previous statements surrounding the film adaptation and called audiences’ negative sentiments around it a reflection of their “passion” for the character and original 1937 animated Snow White and the Seven Dwarves, itself based on the darker Brothers Grimm German fairytale.
“I interpret people’s feelings about this film as their passion for her,” she told the magazine in Spanish, “and what an honor to be a part of something for which people feel so much passion. We’re not always going to have the same sentiments as those around us and all that we can do is give the best of ourselves.”
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Zegler didn’t touch on the initial wave of backlash in 2021 following her casting announcement as the titular princess — spurred by right-wing-fueled hate surrounding her Latinx background (Zegler is of Colombian and Polish descent) — though she did allude to it, drawing comparisons to the Halle Bailey-starring The Little Mermaid.
“Now I see what a beautiful experience it was for all the Black girls around the world to see Halle play Ariel in The Little Mermaid,” she said. (Bailey herself faced incredible racism following her announcement as the lead of another large Disney live action adaptation of a beloved princess. “As a Black person, you just expect it and it’s not really a shock anymore,” she said at the time of the initial #NotMyAriel negativity, which was eventually drowned out by young Black girls’ excitement for the film and its representation.)
The second wave of intense scrutiny came following 2022’s D23 Expo ahead of filming, where Zegler deemed the 1937 original “dated” in which Prince Charming “literally stalks” the heroine. Since then, she’s amended her take, telling Vogue Mexico: “It’s very important for the audience to know that Disney has found this beautiful and delicate equilibrium between the 1937 animated classic that everyone knows and loves, and at the same time, presents it to this new generation.”
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