New Snow White Rachel Zegler calls out original movie for being ‘creepy and stalker-ish’

The latest fairytale to get the live-action adaptation treatment is the beloved classic Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.

While many are excited for the upcoming flick set to hit our screens next year, it’s clear the actor starring as the titular character, Rachel Zegler, has some opinions on the original movie – which is now over eight decades old after first being released in 1937.

Zegler, 22, has called out some issues with the original plot and has dubbed it ‘creepy and stalker-ish’.

The upcoming American musical fantasy film is directed by Marc Webb, with a screenplay by Barbie’s Greta Gerwig and Erin Cressida Wilson.

In an interview with Extra TV, the West Side Story star revealed she wasn’t a major fan of the original Disney princess nor the prince – set to be played by star Andrew Burnap – for that matter, even dubbing him a ‘stalker’.

“The original cartoon came out in 1937, and very evidently so. There’s a big focus on her love story with a guy who literally stalks her. Weird! Weird! So we didn’t do that this time,” Zegler said in the interview.

“We have a different approach to what I’m sure a lot of people will assume is a love story just because we cast a guy in the movie,” Zegler went on. “All of Andrew’s scenes could get cut, who knows? It’s Hollywood, baby!”

“I just mean that it’s no longer 1937,” she told the outlet. “She’s not going to be saved by the prince and she’s not going to be dreaming about true love.

“She’s dreaming about becoming the leader she knows she can be and the leader that her late father told her that she could be if she was fearless, fair, brave, and true.”

While some people are clearly excited for the latest adaptation, it’s clear Zegler’s comments have ruffled some Disney fans’ feathers.

One took to Twitter reposting the interview with the caption: “Snow White IS a LOVE STORY but just like everything.

“Disney makes now the NEW movie has gotta be WOKE – change as much of the original story as possible to influence upcoming generation of children!

“Original STORY has worked for over 60yrs but won’t now, please!”

And it’s not just Twitter that has rushed to hit back against Zegler, as one video that has since been viewed over 9.4 million times sees TikTok, user Angie who goes by the handle @cosywithangie, weigh in on the matter too.

Stitching a video with the Variety interview, Angie says: “It is not anti-feminist to want to fall in love, to want to get married, to want to stay at home, to be soft, to want to be a homemaker.”

She continued: “None of these things makes you less valuable as a person or a woman. Criticising Disney princesses is not feminist. Not every woman is a leader. Not every woman wants to be a leader. Not every woman wants or craves power and that’s ok.

“Thinking that a woman is any less valuable because she falls in love or because she accepts help from somebody instead of girl-bossing her way through her problems is not feminist.”

Others, however, defended Zegler and her comments with another Twitter user writing: “The Rachel Zegler hate is genuinely some of the stupidest sh*t I’ve seen on this app.

“She made one comment about how snow white has ambitions of her own that has nothing to do with romance, and suddenly everyone decided that women being damsels in distress is feminist, actually.”

Where do you stand?

Snow White is set to be hitting our screens in spring of next year (22 March 2024).

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