All the controversies surrounding Disney’s ‘Snow White,’ explained

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By Herb Scribner, The Washington Post

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The years of production, marketing and promotion of Disney’s “Snow White” has been anything but a fairy tale.

The live-action remake of the 1937 animated film hits theatres this weekend, the latest live-action reboot of a Disney classic. But the project has been embroiled in controversy since its announcement in 2016, with its casting decisions, story choices and behind-the-scenes leaks providing regular fodder for tabloids and trade publications.

“Snow White” is expected to earn somewhere between $45 million and $55 million in its opening weekend, according to Variety – an estimate far lower than other Disney live-action remakes.

Starring Rachel Zegler as the titular princess and Gal Gadot at the Evil Queen, the film has also been wrapped into the online culture wars, drawing attacks from the right for its purported “woke” sensibilities and from Peter Dinklage for its adaptation of the original film’s seven dwarfs. Even the Israel-Gaza war has cast a shadow over the kingdom.

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Here’s what to know about the controversies.

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Rachel Zegler and the stalker prince

Zegler, who won a Golden Globe for best actress in a musical or comedy for her role as Maria in 2021’s “West Side Story,” was announced in 2021 to play Snow White.

A wave of social media criticism, some of it racist, blasted the pick because Zegler has Colombian ancestry. The original film, like the Grimm brothers fairy tale before it, depicted Snow White with “skin as white as snow.”

The backlash was reminiscent of attacks on Halle Bailey, a Black woman, after she was cast as Ariel in 2023’s “The Little Mermaid” remake, and generally accorded with right-wing criticism of Hollywood for embracing diversity in casting and characterization.

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Zegler has battled back, saying that the Snow White character is a major influence in Spanish-speaking countries and posting childhood photos of herself dressed as Disney princesses. She told Variety last year that her character’s origin story had been changed, earning the name Snow White because she survived a snowstorm as baby.

R&B artist Brandy, who faced backlash herself as the first Black woman to play the role of Cinderella in the 1997 remake “Cinderella,” offered advice to Zegler: “You’re not taking on this role to fit the mold of the critics,” she told Variety last year. “You’re doing this for every little Colombian girl who has yet to see themselves in a role like a Disney princess.”

Disney purists continued to complain about Zegler as she revealed other changes to the original film. Snow White was no longer a damsel in distress, but a hero on “an inner journey … to find her true self.” The Prince (“a guy who literally stalks her,” Zegler told a reporter) was swapped out for a more relatable love interest named Jonathan.

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“Disney is trying a really interesting marketing strategy where the star of the new Snow White spends a year before the movie’s release publicly talking about how much she despises Snow White,” the conservative influencer Matt Walsh wrote on X.

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The ‘Seven Dwarfs’

Disney has struggled to adapt the original film’s seven dwarfs for modern times, when dwarf actors such as Peter Dinklage have become powerful advocates for the community, and audiences are more sensitive to typecasting and stereotypes.

Dinklage himself harshly criticized Disney in 2022 for remaking Snow White, notwithstanding its attempts to diversify the story. “They were very proud to cast a Latino actress as Snow White, but you’re still telling the story of ‘Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs,’” he told Marc Maron on the “WTF” podcast. “You’re progressive in one way and you’re still making that [expletive] … backwards story about seven dwarfs living in a cave together.”

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Disney quickly responded to Dinklage’s concerns. “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,” the company said in a statement to Deadline. A few days later, the Wrap reported that producers had restyled the dwarfs as “magical creatures.”

But that wasn’t the end of the controversy. Lesser-known dwarf actors such as Terra Jolé told IndieWire that many of her peers would love to perform in a Snow White remake, and she criticized Disney for listening to Dinklage instead of “an entire community.” In 2023, the Daily Mail published behind-the-scene photos showing actors of various heights, genders and skin colors standing in for the dwarfs. “Snow White and the Seven … Politically-Correct Companions?” read the headline. Disney told the Daily Beast the photos were not official depictions of the production.

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The final film uses computer animation and voice actors to depict Bashful, Doc, Dopey, Grumpy, Happy, Sleepy and Sneezy. The Washington Post’s critic Ty Burr called the CGI septet “a pox upon the eyeballs” in an otherwise “pretty good” film.

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Gal Gadot and Gaza

Disney has notably scaled back its plans for the “Snow White” premiere amid mixed reviews and expectations of disappointing ticket sales. Instead of traditional red carpet events, Deadline reported, the film received a celebration and a small screening at the El Capitan Theatre that included no interviews with the cast and crew.

The lack of cast events has fed tabloid rumours of a behind-the-scenes tensions between Zegler and her co-star Gadot, based largely on their opposing views on the Israel-Gaza war.

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Gadot, who is Israeli and previously served in the Israel Defense Force, has been a vocal supporter of the country. “I stand with Israel you should too,” she wrote on Instagram shortly after the war started in 2023. “The world cannot sit on the fence when these horrific acts of terror are happening!”

Meanwhile, Zegler has long opposed Israel’s occupation of Gaza and other Palestinian territory. After the first trailer for “Snow White” premiered online in August, she thanked fans for watching and added in an X post: “always remember, free palestine.”

That said, no reports have emerged of an actual dispute between Zegler and Gadot, who presented together at the Academy Awards in March in a very sweet (if scripted) moment.

Representatives for Disney did not respond to a request for comment.

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