The 23-year-old West Side Story actor was announced as the star of the forthcoming live-action remake in 2021. Rachel Zegler has said that backlash she has received against her casting in Disney’s Snow White live-action remake is because of the “passion” fans have for the 1937 original.
The 23-year-old West Side Story actor was announced as the star of the forthcoming live-action remake in 2021, which was received with significant backlash after many were outraged about the character being played by a person of Latin descent. Zegler also attracted further controversy when she referred to the original animated film as “dated” because there was a “big focus on her love story with a guy who literally stalks her”.
Now, in a new interview, Zegler acknowledged the backlash and spoke about how she now interprets the comments. “I interpret people’s feelings about this film as passion for it, and what an honour to be able to be a part of something that people are so passionate about. We’re not always going to agree with everyone who surrounds us and all we can do is our best,” the Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes star told Vogue Mexico in Spanish, according to a translation.
Zegler, who is Columbian, continued: “Understand that the conversation comes about that the community doesn’t want to be seen as a monolith, but the reality of being Latin and working in this industry is that we try to represent the entire diaspora.
“I know where I’ve been, I represent it in my narrative, and I carry it in my heart every day. No one can ever tell me that it’s not a part of me.”. The new film, by 500 Days of Summer director Marc Webb, follows Snow White after the wicked queen, who is also her mother, played by Gal Gadot, orders her murder. Fleeing from the peril, Snow White makes her way into a forest and discovers the seven dwarfs in a cottage.
On the differences between the original and the remake, Zegler said: “It’s really important for audiences to know that Disney has found this beautiful, delicate balance between taking the animated classic that everyone knows and loves from 1937, and at the same time introducing it to this new generation.”.
Zegler has previously talked about the response to her casting, saying on an episode of Variety’s Actors on Actors series in 2023 that she feels “so thankful for those moments because they make me feel like solid Teflon”. In 2024, Zegler said she had been inspired by Brandy Norwood, the first Black actor to play Cinderella in the live-action remake of the movie in 1997.
“I grew up in a house where that was Cinderella. Obviously, we watched the cartoon. But a child’s mind is the most amazing thing, where it’s just like, ‘OK, that’s Cinderella,’” she told Variety. “But the blond-haired, blue-eyed, blue-dress Cinderella from the 1950s cartoon is also Cinderella. Also, Hilary Duff is Cinderella in A Cinderella Story. I was able to comprehend those things at a young age.”.
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