Snow White Live-Action Movie: All About The Rachel Zegler Disney Adaptation
Disney's Snow White starring Rachel Zegler and Gal Gadot will release on March 24, 2022.
Disney is at it again; depending on who you are, this could be a good or unwanted thing. Diving back into its amazing history of animated classic features, the Mouse House is cranking out another film based on one of those beloved classics.
This time, it is a Snow White live-action flick, but don’t expect to see the same Snow White that the animated classic introduced. As far as more expectations go, don’t be looking for those seven dwarfs, either.
RACHEL ZEGLER IS SNOW WHITE
Disney announced way back in 2016 that it had started work on a Snow White live-action feature film. Sometimes, as we are all too aware, getting a movie made can be painstakingly brutal and snail-paced at best. It took Disney five years, but they found their Snow White in June 2021.
Rachel Zegler is your new Snow White in this live-action movie. It took Disney execs and the film’s director, Mark Webb, a few months before they settled on Zegler as they had been auditioning numerous actresses.
But it was Zegler’s audition that caught their attention the most. This was buoyed by the fact that she was spot on in West Side Story. Her performance as Maria pushed her past the finish line. The backlash at her hiring came fast.
“Never in a million years did I imagine that this would be a possibility for me. You don’t normally see Snow Whites that are of Latin descent,” Zegler said on Variety’s Actors on Actors interview with Andrew Garfield.
“You don’t particularly see people who look like me or are me playing roles like that. When it was announced, it was a huge thing that was trending on Twitter for days, because all of the people were angry. We need to love them in the right direction. At the end of the day, I have a job to do that I’m really excited to do. I get to be a Latina princess.”
GAL GADOT IS THE EVIL QUEEN
Joining Zegler is Wonder Woman’s Gal Gadot as the Evil Queen in the Snow White live-action movie. While Gadot didn’t want to give away too much, she did say she was very excited to play the Evil Queen.
“I can’t say much other than the fact that I’m so excited, and I cannot wait to get into the shoes and the crown of the Evil Queen,” she told People.
Andrew Burnap has been chosen to play Jonathan in the Snow White live-action movie. Wait, what? What do you mean ‘who is Jonathan?’ Rather than have Prince Charming or the Huntsman, this new remake will have Jonathan as Snow White’s love interest.
It is said his character is like a “Robin Hood-type” character. Burnap is best known for his Tony Award-winning role in the Broadway production The Inheritance.
He has also been seen in the feature films The Chaperone and Spare Room as well as the TV series The Good Fight and Younger and the TV mini-series WeCrashed and Under the Banner of Heaven.
PETER DINKLAGE TOOK ISSUE WITH THE SEVEN DWARFS IN THIS MOVIE
Right now, Disney is still calling their Snow White live-action film Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Right now. Apparently, though, Disney has a different idea as to what this new version of dwarfs will look like.
The dwarf controversy started shortly after the Zegler controversy began. Former Game of Thrones actor Peter Dinklage was speaking on the Marc Maron WTF Podcast, praising the casting of Zegler as the new Snow White. Then things took a turn for the Snow White live-action movie.
“Literally no offense to anyone, but I was a little taken aback when they were very proud to cast a Latina actress as Snow White — but 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. It makes no sense to me. You’re progressive in one way, but then you’re still making that fucking backward story about seven dwarfs living in a cave together? What the fuck are you doing, man? Have I done nothing to advance the cause from my soapbox? I guess I’m not loud enough.”
It didn’t take Disney long to respond to Dinklage’s outrage. Disney said in a statement to The Hollywood Reporter about the Snow White live-action casting, “To avoid reinforcing stereotypes from the original animated film, we are taking a different approach with these seven characters and have been consulting with members of the dwarfism community. We look forward to sharing more as the film heads into production after a lengthy development period.”
Apparently, Disney has been reimagining the dwarf characters in the three years that the Snow White live-action has been in development and instead of the dwarfs appearing as they did in the animated classic, this time they will be on screen as “magical creatures.”
In fact, The Wrap reported that a casting sheet that made rounds for the film said that voice actors were being sought after for the roles of the dwarfs.
Martin Klebba though has been cast as one of the seven dwarves in the Snow White live-action movie. You may recall Klebba played Marty in the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise and now he says he will be playing one of the most famous dwarfs of all – Grumpy.
Klebba was at a Fan Expo in Denver, Colorado when, per insider The Disinsider, he announced, “I just got done filming Snow White. It’s going to be coming out late next year. And, of course, I play Grumpy. Gal Gadot is our witch, and Rachel Zegler will be our Snow White. So, come on down, it’ll be a good time.”
This wouldn’t be Klebba’s first involvement in a Snow White project. He was part of the cast of the 2012 film, Mirror Mirror, which had Lily Collins as Snow White and Julia Roberts as the Evil Queen. Klebba was on board as Butcher.
MARC WEBB IS DIRECTING DISNEY’S SNOW WHITE
Marc Webb (The Amazing Spider-Man) has been attached to the Snow White live-action film pretty much since the beginning. Even through all its ups and downs trying to get the film started, Webb has remained steadfast at the helm.
He is directing a script from Academy Award-nominated screenwriter (and director) Greta Gerwig, who co-penned the script with Erin Cressida Wilson. New music is being written by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, who also wrote the new songs for Disney’s live-action remake of Aladdin.
THE PLOT APPEARS TO BE THAT OF THE ORIGINAL CLASSIC
The plot of the Snow White live-action appears to be similar to what we know of the Snow White animated classic, so expect to see the traditional elements such as the poisoned apple, the magic mirror, and even the glass coffin.
But with the seven dwarfs turning into magical creatures and Prince Charming turning into Jon, your guess is as good as ours as to what that will look like.
SNOW WHITE’S RELEASE DATE IS MARCH 21, 2025
The timeline around this movie has shifted quite a bit over the last couple of years, but Disney has finally honed in on a date when it will hit the big screen. Originally, March 22, 2024, was the planned date, but now Disney’s Snow White will be released in theaters on March 21, 2025.
DISNEY HAS 19 LIVE-ACTION ADAPTATIONS AND EIGHT MORE ON THE WAY
So, where are you with this remake? Where are you with all the Disney live-action remakes, of which there are quite a few?
Here is a list:
- 101 Dalmatians (1996)
- 102 Dalmatians (2000)
- Alice in Wonderland (2010)
- Alice Through the Looking Glass (2016)
- Maleficent (2014)
- Maleficent: Mistress of Evil (2019)
- Cinderella (2015)
- The Jungle Book (2016)
- Pete’s Dragon (2016)
- Beauty and the Beast (2017)
- Christopher Robin (2018)
- Mary Poppins Returns (2018)
- Dumbo (2019)
- Aladdin (2019)
- The Lion King (2019)
- Lady and the Tramp (2019)
- Mulan (2020)
- Cruella (2021)
- Pinocchio (2022)
- Peter Pan & Wendy (2023)
- The Little Mermaid (2023)
But that’s not all. On top of the new Snow White film, Disney has already announced they will be making live-action films of the following: Lilo & Stitch, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Bambi, Robin Hood, Hercules, and Peter Pan and Wendy.
They are clearly leaning all the way into this part of their catalog and so far the results have been mostly positive.
