Disney has been on a hot streak when it comes to the live-action remakes of their animated classics (and not just because of the song remakes that have won us over). Movies like The Lion King, Beauty and the Beast and Will Smith’s Aladdin – which reportedly is getting a sequel – were box-office smash hits, and the studio has no intention to slow down. We are waiting to see a proper look at Halle Bailey in her upcoming The Little Mermaid movie. And Rachel Zegler now shares a story about being stalked by paparazzi so they could photograph her in her updated version of the Snow White dress.
After getting cast, Rachel Zegler opened up about the importance of a Latina actress getting the opportunity to play this Disney princess.
Rachel Zegler was cast to play Snow White back in 2021, with Wonder Woman herself, Gal Gadot, coming on board as the evil Queen. The movie must need a lot of time in post-production, perhaps in realizing the Seven Dwarfs, because we don’t get to see Snow White until 2024. This has generated a fair amount of curiosity with regard to the movie, up to and including what Zegler will look like in the Snow White dress. And during promotion for Shazam: Fury of the Gods, the actress relayed a story of being stalked, and not feeling very Disney Princess-y.
As Zegler remembers it:
I did get paparazzied, and it was terrifying. I was like in the woods, in London, and all of a sudden a guy with a camera pops put, and I was like, ‘What are YOU doing here?’ And I was just chilling with my… I was wearing UGG boots, I was listening to music … and like, I had clips in my hair. I didn;t look very Disney Princess at all. But I was wearing the dress And when I see kids in that dress, I just can’t. It’s so amazing. It’s such an amazing thing.
There’s almost as much focus and attention on the costumes worn by classic Disney characters as there is on Superhero costumes. Perhaps more so, now that Marvel and DC projects drift into characters that aren’t very familiar, and so you can exert creative freedoms on Blue Beetle, The Authority, Swamp Thing and some other upcoming DC projects.
When it comes to the looks of Belle (Emma Watson), Lilo and Stitch, Hercules, and Pinocchio, fans have a very vested interest, as these are the projects of their childhood. So with every upcoming live-action Disney project, a certain level of scrutiny exists to keep these projects rooted in some form of nostalgia. We want to evolve, of course. But if and when a movie goes too far, there’s the possibility of backlash.
There shouldn’t be any backlash for Shazam: Fury of the Gods, which continues the story of Billy Batson and the family that he created with the powers of the Gods. Look for that entertaining DC superhero movie when it arrives in theaters on March 17.
