Live-Action ‘Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs’

[Disney Analyst]

Those women were discussing the roles they played in the movies they were in; Zegler was talking about the role she is playing in the movie she was hired for. If Disney has an issue with what she said, they can fire her. My thought is that she was accurately describing her role in the movie.

The narrative that has been created surrounding Rachel is so absurd, and so obviously driven by the usual suspects on the internet, to continuously rage farm and grift off that rage and drama.

She’s a very talented, and seemingly kind human being who’s gotten her big break. It’s disheartening the vitriol thrown at a younger new talent. People act as if she pushed grandma down into traffic.

It’s ridiculous. Frankly I am sick of it.

 

[Chi84]

She’s a very talented, and seemingly kind human being who’s gotten her big break. It’s disheartening the vitriol thrown at a younger new talent. People act as if she pushed grandma down into traffic.

It’s ridiculous. Frankly I am sick of it.

Me too. I’m still trying to find out what she said that was so wrong.

She was hired to play Snow White in a movie she had no part in writing or producing. Her comments were in support of the movie she’s acting in and probably describe it accurately. Disney is making a modern version of the movie that doesn’t have the same sort of princess it had in 1937.

If people don’t like what they think the movie is going to be (based on almost no information from Disney) that’s fine. But Zegler’s comments in support of the film she’s in are pretty normal statements.

People here are calling her a miserable human being. Why?

 

[TP2000]

Nothing screams creative confidence like a late news drop on a Friday.

It makes me think that they were rushing to get this announcement out there while the strike was still on. The last 48 hours have had meaningful progress with SAG-AFTRA and they are continuing to negotiate into the weekend, with rumors that they may have a deal to announce by Monday or Tuesday.

So Disney had to announce the one year delay quickly while they could still use "The Strike" to take part of the blame. Even though it's obvious from the artwork released that the movie was sent back for major rewrites and rethinks, and they've scrapped the Seven Magical Creatures From Portland and have returned to old-timey German-ethnic Seven Dwarves in all their 1937 glory.

They had to get this out there ASAP so they could still blame the strike for part of this mess they created themselves.

 

[Vegas Disney Fan]

It feels as if everyone is latching onto rumors and running with it… I think the delay has more to do with the Actor’s strike…Elio was also delayed over a year, but no one is talking about that

Filming had concluded before the actors strike began but it’s possible the strike has affected reshoots, “if” they are making changes to the story that would be even more problematic.

 

[Vegas Disney Fan]

Me too. I’m still trying to find out what she said that was so wrong.

She was hired to play Snow White in a movie she had no part in writing or producing. Her comments were in support of the movie she’s acting in and probably describe it accurately. Disney is making a modern version of the movie that doesn’t have the same sort of princess it had in 1937.

If people don’t like what they think the movie is going to be (based on almost no information from Disney) that’s fine. But Zegler’s comments in support of the film she’s in are pretty normal statements.

People here are calling her a miserable human being. Why?

I think this explains it better than anyone here could, and from a fairly unbiased view.

How a New Disney Princess Managed to Piss Off Both Disney Fans and Conservatives

An unholy union has come together to criticize Rachel Zegler for her comments about the 1937 film Snow White.

slate.com

 

[MisterPenguin]

Better quality:

View attachment 751152

This looks barely better than the animation of Hoodwinked (would you believe, a Weinstein production?).

They'll need a year to make it look... good.

Tho, I do miss the touring production of Godspell's production of Snow White.

Ya know, it could generate a lot of interest and 'event watching' to release the animated dwarf version and the Godspell dwarf version at the same time...

Excuse me, I'm going to the back of the the-ater!

 

[Disney Irish]

Either these were the original "magical creatures" (dwarfs) all along or Disney decided enough negativity and be closer to the classic film. Either way the final product is having dwarf-like companions for Snow, and they have another year to "address" any potential CG issues.

Much ado about thing in my opinion. Its why I cannot compel myself to care much about pre-release rumors.

 

[Chi84]

I think this explains it better than anyone here could, and from a fairly unbiased view.

How a New Disney Princess Managed to Piss Off Both Disney Fans and Conservatives

An unholy union has come together to criticize Rachel Zegler for her comments about the 1937 film Snow White.

slate.com

It doesn't explain the vitriol or people calling her a miserable human being. But I do agree with the article that it wasn't her comments alone that have people so upset. And for what it's worth, I've recently seen the nearly 100-year old movie and I can vouch for the fact that it's "dated." There really is no way to make a live-action version of that movie, which is probably why Disney may be making significant changes.

 

[LittleBuford]

It feels as if everyone is latching onto rumors and running with it…

The sudden presence of the dwarfs isn’t a rumour, though. It’s pretty clear to me that Disney has decided to overhaul the film at the eleventh hour.

 

[Disney Irish]

The sudden presence of the dwarfs isn’t a rumour, though. It’s pretty clear to me that Disney has decided to overhaul the film at the eleventh hour.

No matter what the truth is I'm sure some will say this is Disney's "Ugly Sonic" moment to try to claim some victory.

 

[LittleBuford]

No matter what the truth is I'm sure some will say this is Disney's "Ugly Sonic" moment to try to claim some victory.

I think it’s pretty clear I’m not one of the people you’re referring to, yet I cannot explain this latest news other than as an about-face. It was reported a few months ago that the film was near completion and had had positive test screenings. No mention was made of dwarfs at the time. I see no reason to doubt that they’ve been hastily added to placate the naysayers.

 

[Disney Irish]

I think it’s pretty clear I’m not one of the people you’re referring to, yet I cannot explain this latest news other than as an about-face. It was reported a few months ago that the film was near completion and had had positive test screenings. No mention was made of dwarfs at the time. I see no reason to doubt that they’ve been hastily added to placate the naysayers.

Yeah not you...

As long as the final result is a good movie, I don't really care how many times they tweak and change it.

 

[LittleBuford]

Yeah not you...

As long as the final result is a good movie, I don't really care how many times they tweak and change it.

It’s actually put me off the film quite a bit. If you’re doing something you believe in, you stand by it and (try to) prove your detractors wrong. This feels like a cheap, frankly cowardly bit of appeasement to me, and I’m much less interested in what the remake might bring than I was before they released the new picture, which, to my eyes at least, just looks like a bad CGI version of the original’s artwork.

 

[TP2000]

And for what it's worth, I've recently seen the nearly 100-year old movie and I can vouch for the fact that it's "dated." There really is no way to make a live-action version of that movie, which is probably why Disney may be making significant changes.

If that's the case, and Walt's source material that built his company and was officially celebrated as recently as a decade ago (Carthay Circle Restaurant at DCA) in fact is really so miserably bad, then why even bother with a remake? Why not just cancel it and send it into a memory hole like Song Of The South and Splash Mountain?

The Snow White rides in the parks are minor C Tickets, with the lone exception of the D Ticket in WDW in a park that is already pitifully starved for rides. So if the source material, Walt Disney's 1937 Snow White & The Seven Dwarves, is so hopelessly dated and so offensive that it requires Trigger Warnings before being screened on college campuses, why even redo it? Why are the dark rides still in operation? Why does Carthay Circle Restaurant still have 1937 ephemera and awards and photos on display?

If the 1937 movie is really that awful and offensive to 2023 eyes, why is it still visible in the parks?

And does Peter Dinklage and Rachel Zegler know this offensive Oscar and related photos are on display at the Carthay Circle Restaurant in DCA? Should someone call HR on Monday morning?

 

[Disney Irish]

It’s actually put me off the film quite a bit. If you’re doing something you believe in, you stand by it and (try to) prove your detractors wrong. This feels like a cheap, frankly cowardly bit of appeasement to me, and I’m much less interested in what the remake might bring than I was before they released the new picture, which, to my eyes at least, just looks like a bad CGI version of the original’s artwork.

I understand how you feel, but we still don’t know if this is going to result in other changes to overall plot points they were originally telling or not. But unfortunately this project was always going to upset someone not matter what they did.

 

[erasure fan1]

I wonder if they are going to have big-time celebrities voice the six other Dwarfs

I don't really see them investing in big name actors. The movie was expensive as it was. Now they're going to have to spend a bunch more to add cg dwarfs plus the reshoots. So paying a group of even C-list actors would be pretty costly.

 

[Indy_UK]

Did you not see the article that Iger will be voicing Grumpy?

 

[Tha Realest]

Grain of salt and all that, but this reflects a purported test screening reaction. It seems to suggest that both 1) Zegler knocked it out of the park, and 2) the dwarfs were replaced with conventional-sized human like characters:

Reports: 'Snow White' is One of the Better Live-Action Disney Remakes

‘Snow White,’ the live-action remake of the 1937 animated film ‘Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs,’ is “one of the better Disney live-action remakes,” revealed a test screening reaction. The attendee of the screening praised Greta Gerwig’s screenplay, which she co-wrote with Erin Cressida Wilson...

thecinemaholic.com

 

[Willmark]

Some thoughts:

Pushed back to 2025? that’s (around) 1.5 years from its initial release date (from now to the projected release). It can be legitimately asked now if they are ever going to release it. It’s a strong possibility. Not saying it will happen but now in the realm of possibility.

Along with this as to why they might never release it? Cost. The initial pictures of the “stand ins for certain talent” are NOT actors geared for motion capture, this is what they would look like:

https://imgix.ranker.com/list_og_img/110/2197345/original/people-replaced-by-cgi-u3?fm=pjpg&q=80

So add the initial cost of the movie to whatever they are doing now? CGI Dwarfs in a Live Action movie? I’m not sure how it could be argued “this was their plan all along.” Huh?

About the only way I could see it working is if she was surrounded by the costumed actors in “real time” and dreams about the dwarfs? Turning the whole thing into a dream sequence? Don’t think that’s likely. Even so that wouldn’t account for the disparity of the the two photos.

So it boils down to two possibilities as it stands now: they really were going with the actors as seen in the photos and shifted course or they decided to go with CGI dwarfs late in the game; there is no third possibility based on what is known.

Actors strike. The strike provides convenient cover for the delay. It buys Disney time, but doesn’t solve all of the problems surrounding this movie. People can complain all they want or deny them all they want. They are there. I’ll leave it at that.

Next, releasing this news on a Friday? That is the classic Washington DC trick of doing so. Surprisingly that it’s still attempted in a digital media age: there is no place to “hide” bad news.

Finally, this movie is now certainly part of a trend of films by Disney facing real headwinds and decreasing returns on investment, if it wasn’t before. It can’t be simply explained away by Disney+, the pandemic or any other number of ways. A company’s #1 job is to make money, we’ll see if Disney realizes that.

In the end, I have no horse in this race it’s simply a very interesting saga unfolding in terms of the hows and whys of this movie.

 

[donaldtoo]

Some thoughts:

Pushed back to 2025? that’s (around) 1.5 years from its initial release date (from now to the projected release). It can be legitimately asked now if they are ever going to release it. It’s a strong possibility. Not saying it will happen but now in the realm of possibility.

Along wit this as to why they might never release it? Cost. The initial pictures of the “stand ins for certain talent” are NOT actors geared for motion capture, this is what they would look like:

https://imgix.ranker.com/list_og_img/110/2197345/original/people-replaced-by-cgi-u3?fm=pjpg&q=80

So add the initial cost of the movie to whatever they are doing now? CGI Dwarfs in a Live Action movie? I’m not sure how it could be argued “this was their plan all along.” Huh?

About the only way I could see it working is if she was surrounded by the costumed actors in “real time” and dreams about the dwarfs? Turning the whole thing into a dream sequence? Don’t think that’s likely. Even so that wouldn’t account for the disparity of the the two photos.

So it boils down to two possibilities as it stands now: they really were going with the actors as seen in the photos and shifted course or they decided to go with CGI dwarfs late in the game; there is no third possibility based on what is known.

Actors strike. The strike provides convenient cover for the delay. It buys Disney time, but doesn’t solve all of the problems surrounding this movie. People can complain all they want or deny them all they want. They are there. I’ll leave it at that.

Next, releasing this news on a Friday? That is the classic Washington DC trick of doing so. Surprisingly that it’s still attempted in a digital media age: there is no place to “hide” bad news.

Finally, this movie is now certainly part of a trend of films by Disney facing real headwinds and decreasing returns on investment, if it wasn’t before. It can’t be simply explained away by Disney+, the pandemic or any other number of ways. A company’s #1 job is to make money, we’ll see if Disney realizes that.

In the end, I have no horse in this race it’s simply a very interesting saga unfolding in terms of the hows and whys of this movie.

Sometimes it’s best to think inside the “box”…just ask a cat…!