‘Snow White’s’ Problematic Premiere: Inside Disney’s Decision to Scale Down in Promoting Rachel Zegler-Gal Gadot Film

Snow White is supposed to be a fairytale princess who gets her happily ever after, but for Disney’s Snow White live-action adaptation, it’s anything but a happily ever after, with all the controversies even before its release.

Starring Rachel Zegler as Snow White and Gal Gadot as the Evil Queen, the movie has been plagued by backlash and negative publicity since its conception. Now, Disney seems to be scaling down its promotion for the film. What happened, and is Disney suddenly trying to distance itself from its own princess? 

Since their characters are antagonistic toward each other, Zegler and Gadot’s ill feelings might have jumped from reel to real. According to People, the two stars have nothing in common, with Zegler only 23 years old and Gadot being a mother of four kids. On top of that, their differing in political views also add to the tension. 

Another source, however, mentioned that Gadot is “fine with Rachel but they are not friends.” While “they have nothing in common,” the two actresses just “did a job together and that’s it.” The same source also revealed how Gadot is “annoyed by the movie drama.” 

A second source also mentioned Gadot’s perspective which seemed to be the opposite of Zegler’s. The source said that Gadot’s attitude is that “you don’t criticize and cause drama for a project you signed on to do.” 

Zegler’s casting as Snow White generated controversy and backlash. In an interview with Variety, Zegler said that the movie has its own origin story for Snow White’s name, instead of the classic “skin as white as snow.” She said, “It fell back to another version of ‘Snow White’ that was told in history, where she survived a snowstorm that occurred when she was a baby. And so, the king and queen decided to name her Snow White to remind her of her resilience. One of the core points in our film for any young woman or young person is remembering how strong you actually are.” 

Fans have not taken lightly how the movie seems to deviate from the classic, especially after Zegler mentioned that the source material is “dated,” and that the prince is basically Snow White’s stalker. 

David Hale Hand, son of David Dodd Hand, supervising director for the animated classics Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, slammed the live-action remake in an interview with The Telegraph. Hand said, “I mean, it's a whole different concept, and I just totally disagree with it, and I know my dad and Walt would also very much disagree with it. There's no respect for what Disney did and what my dad did... I think Walt and he would be turning in their graves.” 

The two actresses were present and were seen posing for photos together at the Snow White premiere at El Capitan Theatre last Saturday. As reported by Variety (via Page Six), only photographers and a house crew were allowed on the red carpet, and, “The only interviewers [the cast] encountered were employed by Disney.” 

Snow White hits theaters on March 21.