Snow White Live-Action Movie Updates Disney Princess Teases Star
Rachel Zegler, the star of Disney's upcoming live-action Snow White, teases how the film updates the classic princess. Snow White has been reimagined and rebooted numerous times over the years, and the latest take on the kindhearted but sleepy princess will come from the studio whose initial depiction of her is the most iconic. After making Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs its first animated film in 1937, Disney is revisiting the story for its latest live-action adaptation. Snow White has been in development for several years now, but it only recently started up production with director Marc Webb at the helm.
West Side Story breakout Zegler will take on the title role, making it her latest high-profile project alongside this December's Shazam: Fury of the Gods. Gal Gadot plays the Evil Queen, while theater vet Andrew Burnap will play the male lead. It has been noted that his character is not the Prince, nor the Huntsman, but is instead a new creation. The live-action Snow White is expected to be a unique reimagining of the classic fairytale, which of course revolves around a beautiful princess who falls prey to a poisoned apple.
The sentiment that Snow White will take a fresh approach to the oft-told story was echoed by Zegler while speaking to AP Entertainment on the Grammys red carpet. With production currently underway, Zegler teased how the film has updated Snow White for a modern audience. She gave special credit to Webb, who she said is motivated to give his daughter an empowering hero. Zegler said:
Well, I mean, it's an iconic cartoon, it's 85 years old, and Marc Webb - our director - is so dedicated to making a hero-princess for his daughter. And I just really love that sentiment, and I hope that it gets echoed for all eternity when we make live-action versions of these Disney cartoons where women are seen as a little bit less-than than male characters. I just think that it's possible to be a princess and a hero, and I like to be both.
Disney's various efforts in turning its most iconic princesses into live-action form have updated each character in vital ways, with Mulan perhaps getting the biggest changes yet with her 2020 film. While those like Mulan and Aladdin's Jasmine already have some empowering beats baked into their arcs, Disney's earlier princesses like Snow White tend to come off as feebler. However, Zegler's promise that the live-action Snow White will make her both a princess and a hero makes the overall prospect of the film even more exciting.
However, the idea of a stronger Snow White might call to mind 2021's much-maligned Cinderella, a Camila Cabello-starring movie that was jokingly referred to as a "girlboss" take on the princess. It is true that movies today often take a very blunt approach to their feminism, and one just has to hope that Snow White will have a more nuanced touch. Webb wants to give his young daughter an impressive role model, and that's an admirable goal. If Zegler is excited about it, then we can be too.
Source: AP Entertainment/Twitter