Controversy surrounding Rachel Zegler and Snow White explained
The actress was cast in the live-action musical movie back in 2021
Long before the latest live action adaptation of Snow White landed in cinemas, movie buffs were threatening to boycott the production.
Much of the controversy surrounding the Disney film was seemingly centred around lead actress Rachel Zegler, who was cast as the titular princess back in June 2021.
But what could have gone so wrong for cast and crew of the magical musical for it to be doomed before even taking to air?
The cast is announced
Alongside the 23-year-old actress landed the role alongside Wonder Woman star Gal Gadot, who was cast as the film's Evil Queen, and theatre performer Andrew Burnap, as the handsome prince.
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Despite Zegler previously garnering praise for her role as Maria in Steven Spielberg's musical adaptation of West Side Story - for which she received a Best Actress Golden Globe - her casting in Snow White raised some eyebrows.
In fact, it wasn't until the full cast list was announced when producers were slammed for casting a Latina movie star in the role of a white princess. Zegler is of Colombian-American heritage.
Zegler's controversial interviews
Following the ethnicity-oriented criticism, Zegler set tongues wagging when she hit out at movie bosses who worked on the original 1937 cartoon. Interviewed on the red carpet of Disney's D23 Expo in 2022, she also took aim at the way the animated flick has aged.
"The original cartoon came out in 1937 and very evidently so," she said at the time. "There’s a big focus on her love story with the guy who literally stalks her. Weird, weird."
Zegler went on to claim that the latest version of the Brothers Grimm fairytale would take a different approach, and see the princess portrayed as a leader, as opposed to someone that needs rescuing.
"We have a different approach to what I'm sure a lot of people will assume is a love story just because we cast a guy in the movie, Andrew Burnap, great dude..." she continued.
"But it's really not about her love story at all, which is really, really wonderful. All of Andrew's scenes could get cut, who knows? It's Hollywood, baby!"
The actress' remarks rubbed a number of fans of the original film up the wrong way, including David Hale Handson - of one of 1937 movie's supervising directors, as per Extra TV.
Statements of regret
As hostility towards Zegler continued to grow, the actress attempted to clarify that she meant no harm with her remarks, claiming they'd been 'taken out of context'.
Speaking to Variety last year, she admitted: "It can be very upsetting when things get taken out of context or jokes don’t land."
She also reiterated that the love story aspect to the fairytale remains an 'integral' part of the 2025 version.
Political stances
Aside from conversations relating to the movie, both Zegler and her co-lead, 39-year-old Gadot, have found themselves under fire for passionate remarks they have given in response to the crisis in Gaza.
Gadot - who hails from Israel - has explicitly voiced her pro-Israel stance on the conflict, sharing a number of political statements on social media.
Zegler, meanwhile, is outwardly pro-Palestine.
Naturally, each stance has enraged supporters of the opposition, with leanehttps://www.tyla.com/donald-trumprs on both sides calling for the film to be boycotted.
Donald Trump's return to the White House in January has also seen the film plummeted into further hot water.
Following the Republican's second presidential inauguration, Democratic voter Zegler took to Instagram to post: "F**k Donald Trump."
She added at the time: "May Trump supporters and Trump voters and Trump himself never know peace."
Hoards of right-wing voters subsequently slammed the star, with many calling for Disney to cut ties with Zegler for good.
Topics: Celebrity, TV And Film, Disney
Rhianna Benson