When Rachel Zegler stepped onto the red carpet at the world premiere of Disney’s “Snow White” on Saturday afternoon in Hollywood, the newest Disney princess was greeted by a smaller-than-usual assembly of photographers to capture her light pink ballgown and dazzling diamonds.
Zegler’s co-star Gal Gadot, who plays the Evil Queen, soon followed, also smiling dutifully for the cameras assembled in the center of the tented venue outside the El Capitan Theatre that hosted the pre-party celebration ahead of the 3:30 p.m. screening.
Instead of the usual lineup of dozens of red carpet reporters, the only interviewers they encountered were employed by Disney, like Jodi Benson, who voiced Ariel in the studio’s 1989 animated classic “The Little Mermaid.” Such was the “scaled-back” premiere of “Snow White,” which hits theaters on March 21.
Scheduled for the hour and a half before the show began, the pre-party celebration was tucked away behind the El Capitan Theatre. It featured plenty of sponsored activities to keep youngsters occupied while they waited — including a magic mirror nail polish installation from Essie, Joffrey’s Coffee & Tea serving a “Just One Bite” brew and a MiracleGro booth where guests could make a flower bouquet to bring home after the film. Guests also sipped on apple-infused drinks — appletinis, sparkling cider and Shirley Temples, a nod to the fact that the legendary kid star presented Walt Disney with an honorary Oscar for the original “Snow White” in 1938.
The premiere event continues Zegler and Gadot’s promotional tour for the film. On March 2, the pair took the stage at the Dolby Theatre (just across Hollywood Blvd.) to present during the Oscars. Then, Zegler jetted off to promote the film internationally with director Marc Webb and perform the new single “Waiting on a Wish” — traveling first to Tokyo where she was joined on stage by Sakura Kiryu, who provides the Japanese dubbing voice of Snow White, then to Spain, where she performed the track with the Alcázar of Segovia Castle as a backdrop. (The medieval castle inspired the one that appears in the 1937 animated film.)
But the promo run hasn’t been without conflict. In fact, “Snow White” has been plagued by controversy since its early development, beginning with the casting of Zegler as the titular princess in 2021. For some die-hard devotees, the actress’s Colombian heritage disqualified her from playing the fantasy princess, described as having hair as black as ebony and skin as white as snow.
The social media outrage only got louder as time went on. In the summer of 2022, Zegler told red carpet interviewers that her version of the iconic princess wouldn’t spend her days pining over a man. She called aspects of the original story “weird” and said that the 1937 film’s prince “literally stalks” Snow White, prompting fans to deem her unworthy of playing Snow White due to her “disdain.”
Zegler addressed the torrent of online hate in her October Variety cover story, arguing that she’d meant to convey that, while Snow White wants romance, she has other goals, too. “I 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’s never been true. It can be very upsetting when things get taken out of context or jokes don’t land,” she said. “The love story is very integral. A lot of people wrote that we weren’t doing [that storyline] anymore — we were always doing that; it just wasn’t what we were talking about on that day.”
In 2022, “Game of Thrones” alum Peter Dinklage also spoke out about the movie’s portrayal of little people, critiquing the animated “Snow White” for perpetuating negative stereotypes and expressing concerns about the live-action adaptation. Following those remarks, Disney stated that “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.”
Angelique Jackson contributed to this story.