The original ‘Snow White’ director’s son slams Disney’s ‘insulting’ remake starring Rachel Zegler.
The live-action remake of 1937’s Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs won’t be released until next year, but the culture war over the film – simply titled Snow White – is already in full swing.
It all started when some questioned the casting of Colombian-born actress Rachel Zegler (West Side Story) to play the character described in the original Brothers Grimm story as having “skin as white as snow”, then continued when the production decided to turn the seven dwarfs into a collection of diverse characters and magical creatures of varying sizes and genders.
Rachel Zegler22, then caused a stir when she suggested she didn’t like the original film and that the new project would take a very different approach to the iconic character.
“She won’t dream of true love,” she told Variety (via the Hollywood Reporter) in September. “She dreams of becoming the leader she knows she can be and the leader her late father told her she could be if she was fearless, righteous, brave and true.The actress also told EW that the original movie was “extremely dated when it comes to the idea of women in roles of power and what a woman is worthy of in the world”, adding in front of Extra TV that “the original cartoon came out in 1937, and obviously the focus is on her romance with a guy who is literally stalking her. Weird. So we didn’t do it this time.”
WORDS BY DAVID HAND
Now it’s the turn of David Hand, 91, who worked as a designer for Disney in the 1990s and whose father, David Kerrick Hand, was one of the directors of the original film, to speak out on the topic in an interview with The Telegraph (again via The Hollywood Reporter). If he does not directly criticize Rachel Zeglerhe doesn’t mince words when it comes to the upcoming film – which obviously hasn’t been seen by anyone outside of the studio yet, even in trailer form.
It’s a completely different concept and I totally disagree with this one, and I know my dad and Walt would very much disagree with it as well.
He went on to call it a “shame” that Disney “try to do something new with something that has been so successful before.”
Their thoughts are so radical now. They change the stories, they change the thought process of the characters, they invent new ‘woke’ things and I’m just not attracted to that. I honestly find it a little insulting [ce] what they were able to do with some of those classic movies… There’s no respect for what Disney did and what my dad did. I think he and Walt would be turning in their graves.
Rachel Zegler did not directly respond to his comments resurfacing but recently tweeted: “I hope the world will become kinder”, while asking its subscribers to “treat each other with patience and empathy”.
Disney also did not respond to the controversy and did not comment on these latest reviews. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs is considered a particularly sacred title at Disney because it was the studio’s first-ever animated feature, and its breakthrough success allowed the company to move forward with more films.
The already so controversial feature film also stars Gal Gadot as the Evil Queen, Ansu Kabia as the Hunter, and Martin Klebba as the Grinch.
Snow White has wrapped filming and is set to hit theaters on March 20, 2024.
In the meantime, check out the top 5 Snow White movies below: