Disney is reportedly scaling back the premiere of its upcoming live-action remake of Snow White, following a number of controversies which have plagued the film over the past four years.
Newsweek has reached out to Disney via email outside of regular working hours for comment.
The Hollywood premiere has been reduced to photographers and in—house crew only, according to a report in Variety. On Wednesday night, a scaled-back premiere took place at a remote castle in Segrovia, Spain, a marked shift from the normal fanfare of a red carpet event, which would typically involve multiple media outlets.
The move comes amid a wider cultural shift toward conservativism, in tandem with the beginning of President Donald Trump‘s second term in office. Trump had previously branded Disney as “woke,” and the company has made moves to placate him, with Disney‘s ABC News agreeing to a $15 million settlement over a defamation lawsuit back in December, marking a win for the president.
Additionally, Disney has made headlines in recent months for its axing of a transgender storyline in the show Win or Lose, its casting of an openly Christian character in the same show, and pulling the plug on its Tiana princess series which would have featured Disney’s first Black princess.
Backlash to the Casting of Rachel Zegler
Pablo Cuadra/Getty Images for Disney
The backlash to Snow White began in 2021, when Rachel Zegler, the West Side Story actor, was announced as the star of the live-action remake.
This casting received significant backlash from conservatives, who were upset that Zegler was playing Snow White, as she is from Colombian and Polish descent; much of the criticism was discriminatory, and openly racist.
Speaking about the casting in 2023, American conservative political commentator Ben Shapiro said, “When the literal line from the movie is ‘skin as white as snow,’ and that’s why her name is Snow White, it makes it kind of weird.”
Zegler later faced criticism from Trump supporters for her reaction to his re-election in November. Shortly after the election, she took to Instagram and wrote, “May trump supporters and trump voters and trump himself never know peace.”
She continued, “I find myself speechless in the midst of this. another four years of hatred, leaning us towards a world i do not want to live in.” Zegler later apologized for contributing to “negative discourse,” and said that she had let her emotions get the best of her.
Boycott from Pro-Palestinian Activists
The film has also faced boycott calls for its casting of the Israeli actress, Gal Gadot, who plays the Evil Queen. Gadot has become a divisive figure in Hollywood in recent years because of her public support of Israel and the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF), in which she served as a fitness instructor, during two years of mandatory service when she was 20.
Gadot’s role in the film sparked calls for the film to be boycotted by pro-Palestinian activists. By contrast, Zegler, Gadot’s co-star, has publicly voiced her support for the Palestinian cause during the promotion of the film. Shortly after the trailer was released in August of 2024, Zegler posted on X, “thank you for the love and for 120m views on our trailer in just 24 hours!”
Kevin Winter/Getty Images
She quicky followed up this post, writing “and always remember, free palestine.”
Gadot did not attend the European launch of the film; only Zegler and the film’s director Marc Webb were in attendance.
Criticism for the Film Being Too ‘Woke’ or ‘Feminist’
Beyond the casting decisions for Snow White, the film has also been criticized for being too woke or too feminist, after Zeglerb and Gadot discussed how the film was being modernized.
In a 2022 interview with Variety, Zegler was asked by a reporter about bringing a “modern edge,” to the film, to which she responded, “I mean, it’s no longer 1937.”
Gadot then interjected to say that in the film, Snow White is, “Not gonna be saved by the prince,” a sentiment Zegler echoed.
“She’s not gonna be dreaming about true love,” Zegler said. “She’s dreaming about becoming the leader she knows she can be.”
Speaking about the criticism Zegler has faced in a recent TikTok, the digital creator Tasha Lustig said: “Movies are redone all the time, they are modernized all the time, so that the younger generations can watch them and relate to them.”
“A someone with a nine-year-old daughter, I would much rather this one. And if you don’t, you can go and watch the original,” Lustig said.
Addressing the backlash in a March interview with Vogue Mexico, Zegler said she thinks the response has been sparked by people’s passion for the original film, and said it is “an honor to be part of something that people feel so passionately about.”
Criticism from the Dwarfism Community
While conservative critics have raged at Zegler’s casting and the notion of a ‘woke’ Snow White, the film has also faced criticism over its depiction of dwarfs in the film, and the decision to retell that story at all.
Game of Thrones actor and dwarfism activist Peter Dinklage criticized the film while speaking to the podcaster Marc Maron back in 2022. “I was a little taken aback by [the fact] they were very proud to cast a Latina actress as Snow White,” he said.
“But you’re still telling the story of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Take a step back and look at what you’re doing there, it makes no sense to me.”
“You’re progressive in one way but you’re still making that backward story of seven dwarves living in the cave,” he said. “They were so proud of that, and all love and respect to the actress and the people who thought they were doing the right thing, but I’m just like, ‘What are you doing?'”
In a statement issued back in 2022, Disney said that the live action remake will be an updated version to the original 1937 film and said that they had been consulting with members of the dwarfism community.
Disney ultimately chose to use CGI for the dwarf characters, a decision which has sparked more criticism. Choon Tan, a 31-year-old bodybuilder and performer recently told the Mail Online that the film’s reliance on CGI for the seven dwarves is, “absolutely absurd and discriminating in a sense.”
“I think Disney is trying too hard to be politically correct… There’s really nothing wrong casting someone with dwarfism as a dwarf,” he said.
What’s Next
Snow White will open in theatres on March 21, 2025, when audiences around the world will have a chance to make up their minds on the film.
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