Live-Action ‘Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs’

[MoonRakerSCM]

Nothing Emma Watson said about the original Belle was untrue. The whole first song is about how weird she was because she wanted to read and wasn't in a hurry to get married. It's not an odd or critical take.

To be fair, all the opening song in BatB does is show every single person in town is a jerk (Belle included).

 

[Andrew C]

Agreed. Her smirky approach to these Snow White interviews, a movie that is so important to Disney and its place in our culture, is not a good marketing angle.

From other interviews she's done unrelated to Snow White, that seems to just be her personality in general. She gives off rather cringey vibes. She may think she is being savvy and reflective towards the artistry she is involved in, but instead it reads as smug and arrogant. Even unlikable.

It's seems to be a perfect storm of cringe.

Another young actress with a more gracious personality may have been able to say exactly the same things about the upcoming Snow White remake and it wouldn't have hit as big as Rachel Zegler's delivery of those same statements. But... it was Rachel Zegler saying it all and smirking at the cameras about it. The rest is now history.

Agreed. Her tone, delivery and attitude make it a lot worse

 

[TP2000]

Agreed. Her tone, delivery and attitude make it a lot worse

At that exact same D23 Expo, the young Halle Bailey did many interviews about the (then) upcoming The Little Mermaid.

Miss Bailey comes off as gracious and smart and very sweet and entirely likable, even if she's saying fairly similar things about the Mermaid remake compared to the 1989 original.

Before Disney sends Rachel Zegler out on the talk show circuit this winter, they need to give her media relations lessons from Halle Bailey. If not just perform a personality transplant.

 

[Tony the Tigger]

Thanks for sharing. We can now add Cinderella to the list of remakes whose stars “insulted” the original version yet somehow avoided the censure that Zegler has received.

Quoting Lily James: "This girl isn't waiting for a prince. . . . She is in charge of her own destiny in that her strength and her courage that come from within make her almost a superhero."

https://www.cbc.ca/amp/1.2992153

Thought of you when I read that part.

 

[Tony the Tigger]

Well to be fair, that was well before everyone was sick of Disneys remakes. If she made those comments today, I'm sure it would have been criticized. If the focus on Disney wasn't on the lagging box office, this probably just gets some eye rolls and people move on. But we are in a completely different time with Disney than the plus 8yrs ago when Cinderella was released.

Come on. You’re right about the timing, but wrong about the reason.

This has very little to do with “sick of the remakes” and everything to do with politics.

 

[Tony the Tigger]

Agreed. Her tone, delivery and attitude make it a lot worse

You know how we complain about people who just want to be offended by everything?

This is that. There is no reason for random fans who didn’t adapt Snow White in 1937 to be personally offended by what some young actress says about her own role.

People just want to be offended.

 

[LittleBuford]

Well to be fair, that was well before everyone was sick of Disneys remakes. If she made those comments today, I'm sure it would have been criticized. If the focus on Disney wasn't on the lagging box office, this probably just gets some eye rolls and people move on. But we are in a completely different time with Disney than the plus 8yrs ago when Cinderella was released.

I agree with @Tony the Tigger’s response to you, besides which none of the posters who’ve criticised Zegler here have pointed to remake fatigue as the reason for their anger towards her. We have instead been told repeatedly that her words were singularly offensive to fans of classic Disney.

 

[LittleBuford]

I find that interesting, as one of my biggest criticisms of the Lilly James version of Cinderella was that her character was even more of a pushover than the 1950 original. The original version felt more assertive and subtly pushed back at her stepmother while the Lilly James version — though well acted — just sort of let things happen because she was too nice.

I can’t honestly say I remember the remake well enough to comment, but I always found the animated Cinderella very spirited and assertive.

 

[LittleBuford]

Nothing Emma Watson said about the original Belle was untrue. The whole first song is about how weird she was because she wanted to read and wasn't in a hurry to get married. It's not an odd or critical take.

You’re referring to the director’s comments. Watson’s were as follows:

“I was like, ‘The first shot of the movie cannot be Belle walking out of this quiet little town carrying a basket with a white napkin in it. We need to rev things up!’”​

 

[LittleBuford]

In a different interview with the Extra TV reporter, Miss Zegler already dismissed that character and said he might be cut out of the movie entirely. Snow White doesn't need a romantic angle because she's on a leadership journey, after all.

"We have a different approach to what a lot of people, I'm sure, will assume is a love story, just because we, like, cast a guy in the movie.... It's one of those things that I think everyone's going to have their assumptions about what it's going to be. It's really not about a love story at all. Which is really, really wonderful. And whether or not she finds love along the way is anybody's guess until 2024. All of Andrew's scenes could get cut, who knows? It's Hollywood baby!" -Rachel Zegler

It doesn’t have to be a love story to include love. Frozen being a case in point.

I took her to be joking about the scenes featuring Jonathan. After all, he’s a major character.

 

[LittleBuford]

Thought of you when I read that part.

I’m nothing if not predictable!

 

[LittleBuford]

Relax.

Don’t watch the film.

This should be the mantra of the thread.

 

[Californian Elitist]

This should be the mantra of the thread.

Yes. I think some people would benefit from taking some time to consider the truly important things in their lives, the ones they want to spend a good portion of their time and energy on, including expressing anger towards. If an actress expressing her opinion regarding a nearly 90-year-old cartoon film and her tone, as well as box office numbers of Disney films are on such a list, then…k.

 

[LittleBuford]

Come on. The reason Zegler has become a story is not exhaustion over remakes.

Indeed. Many of those criticising her have also faulted the film for straying too far from the original. It’s a strange sort of fatigue that wants the remakes to be less original rather than more.

 

[Casper Gutman]

Also, acknowledging that certain elements of an old work of art have aged poorly or that they reflect outdated social and political views does NOT mean that the work of art is not a masterpiece or that we don't love it.

Casablanca is one of my two or three favorite films. It's an unquestionable masterpiece. If it were remade today, several elements, including the relationship between Sam and Rick, would have to be fundamentally altered due to social changes in the years since its release, changes I consider positive. I can believe everything in this paragraph at the same time.

 

[GimpYancIent]

Of interest is the fact the real star power in the film Gal Gadot has been quiet, her silence is actually loud, she even commented about a Wonder Woman Three (which is not going to happen) to move conversation away from Snow White. Not exactly an endorsement of the film.

 

[Chi84]

Of interest is the fact the real star power in the film Gal Gadot has been quiet, her silence is actually loud, she even commented about a Wonder Woman Three (which is not going to happen) to move conversation away from Snow White. Not exactly an endorsement of the film.

That’s reading an awful lot into silence. Why are the few people commenting here so invested in seeing this film fail?

 

[Casper Gutman]

Of interest is the fact the real star power in the film Gal Gadot has been quiet, her silence is actually loud, she even commented about a Wonder Woman Three (which is not going to happen) to move conversation away from Snow White. Not exactly an endorsement of the film.

This isn't true. Gadot has talked about it quite a bit recently - a cursory glance found interviews from USA Today and People in mid-August.

 

[LittleBuford]

Of interest is the fact the real star power in the film Gal Gadot has been quiet, her silence is actually loud, she even commented about a Wonder Woman Three (which is not going to happen) to move conversation away from Snow White. Not exactly an endorsement of the film.

No, she hasn’t been quiet. She’s speaking alongside Zegler in the resurrected interviews. Her sentiments are pretty much the same as those of her costar:

“Also the fact that she’s not gonna be saved by the prince, and she’s the proactive one, and she’s the one who set the terms—is what makes it so relevant to where we are today.” (Gadot’s words, not Zegler’s.)

 

[LittleBuford]

And here's another one, in which she interrupts Zegler to declare, "She's not gonna be saved by the prince!" Indeed, Zegler repeats Gadot's words before continuing in the same vein.