In a period defined by some of the most brain-melting discourse this country has ever seen, the backlash to Rachel Zegler's Snow White casting was among the dumbest. Despite the fact that the Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes actor looks and sings like a literal Disney princess, grown adults were upset that a Latina woman had been cast as their beloved white cartoon idol. (Halle Bailey faced similarly vile comments when she was cast as Ariel in The Little Mermaid in 2019.) People were pissed off again when the young star said her take on the classic story would not include the "weird" element of Snow White pining over a man who "literally stalks" her, interpreting her words in the least generous way to mean that she looks down on people who value love.
Zegler addressed all of this backlash in a new Variety cover story with a sentiment we've heard too many times recently from other young women (like Chappell Roan) who just can't seem to catch a break: "Being famous isn’t for the faint of heart."
Of the critics who thought she saw Snow White as lesser because she longed to fall in love, Zegler reflected that "it made me sad that it was taken in such a way, because I believe that women can do anything. But I also believe that they can do everything." Specifically, she "would never want to box someone in and say, ‘If you want love, then you can’t work.’ Or ‘If you want to work, then you can’t have a family.’ It’s not true… It can be very upsetting when things get taken out of context or jokes don’t land." She also promises that the love story is "very integral" to the film and is absolutely still happening. "It just wasn’t what we were talking about on that day."
Of the controversy surrounding the color of her skin, Zegler is (justly) more snide. Speaking about the 1997 version of Cinderella starring Brandy as the titular princess, Zegler said, "I grew up in a house where that was Cinderella. Obviously, we watched the cartoon. But a child’s mind is the most amazing thing, where it’s just like, ‘OK, that’s Cinderella.' But the blond-haired, blue-eyed, blue-dress Cinderella from the 1950s cartoon is also Cinderella. Also, Hilary Duff is Cinderella in A Cinderella Story… I was able to comprehend those things at a young age." (Brandy herself also chimed in to say that Zegler "will be absolutely incredible in this role" and is "doing this for the little girl that [Zegler] once [was], who grew up without that representation of her Colombian culture.")
Spoken like someone who just aced her princess etiquette classes. In the meantime, there are far more pressing matters to be discussed around the new live-action film, which comes to theaters on March 21, 2025. Namely, what the hell are those CGI dwarfs?
