One of Disney’s latest live-action retellings, Snow White, has been underway in the United Kingdom’s famous Pinewood Studios. On the set of the movie starring Rachel Zegler as Snow White and Gal Gadot as the Evil Queen, a fire broke out. “Enormous flames” reportedly even spread as the production was being set up ahead of filming.
The fire was said to have erupted at the Richard Attenborough stage at Pinewood Studios, which is famous for being the set of Marvel, Star Wars films and other live-action Disney movies. This includes projects like 2015’s Cinderella and the upcoming Little Mermaid remake among other upcoming Disney movies. “No filming was underway” and there were no casualties, per Variety.
The stage for Snow White is currently under construction and saw a tree caught alight, reportedly leading to a large fire at Pinewood Studios. It was detailed per photos (via The Sun) that huge flames next to a cottage then took flight, causing thick smoke to reach the ceiling of the studio and billow outside the building itself.
According to The Sun’s anonymous source, the Snow White set is made up of “a lot of wood” and following the tree catching fire to the rest of the set the crew on deck “evacuated without injury.” The Buckinghamshire Fire and Rescue Service confirmed the blaze on Tuesday afternoon, describing the situation as a “fire in [an] industrial unit.” According to the service, twelve appliances (fire trucks and/or pumps, ladders) came to the scene along with the local police and an ambulance service.
This is not the first incident of this nature at Pinewood Studios. Previously, a set on the same property burned down while Ridley Scott was filming 1985’s Legend, which starred Tom Cruise. A fire also occurred after production wrapped on Daniel Craig’s first outing as James Bond in Casino Royale back in 2006, and during the production of No Time To Die in 2019 (his last time as the 007 character), a controlled explosion caused damage to the exterior of the stage as well.
Snow White is scheduled to begin filming this month, with West Side Story breakout star Rachel Zegler as the first Disney princess and Wonder Woman’s Gal Gadot taking on the Evil Queen. Per the reports, no actors were on set during the fire but Zegler was in London after being part of two award shows over the weekend, the BAFTAS and UK Critics Choice Awards. She’s apparently in New York to attend the National Board of Review Awards after being nominated for Best Actress for Maria in West Side Story on Tuesday.
Snow White will be a musical directed by The Amazing Spider-Man and (500) Days of Summer filmmaker Marc Webb. It will feature new music from Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, who previously wrote the music for La La Land, The Greatest Showman and Dear Evan Hansen. The script was written by Girl on the Train’s Erin Cressida Wilson and Ladybird and Little Women’s Greta Gerwig reportedly also involved.
