Mirror, mirror on the wall, what’s the most controversial of them all? The reportedly feuding co-stars, the weird comments about a Disney legend, or a literal on-set fire? All of these (and more) have surrounded the 2025 live-action remake of Snow White, and it can be hard to keep track of all the drama. Like a witch with a poisoned apple who just won’t leave you alone, all these controversies have been circling the movie for years, and they haven’t let up even after it came out in theaters on March 21.
Unfortunately, all these controversies have not done Snow White any favors at the box office. It made only $43 million in the U.S. opening weekend, which might sound like a lot of money, but it’s actually less than the live-action Dumbo remake made. That’s right, Snow White is doing worse than a weird CGI elephant.
FWIW, audiences who do make it to the theater do seem to be enjoying Snow White. It has a 74% rating on RottenTomatoes’ Popcornmeter, which tracks audience reviews. But, that still might not be enough to save Snow White from the poison of all its drama. Here’s a breakdown of all the many Snow White movie controversies.
Casting Drama
When Rachel Zegler was first announced as the live-action Snow White, some troll-y people online didn’t like the fact that a Latina actress was stepping into the role. In a now-deleted post, Rachel wrote: “Yes I am snow white no I am not bleaching my skin for the role.” She also called her critics “losers obsessed with maintaining the bloodline purity of a cartoon princess.”
Later during a Variety conversation with Andrew Garfield, Rachel was a little less harsh in her approach. She said, “We need to love them in the right direction. At the end of the day, I have a job to do that I’m really excited to do. I get to be a Latina princess.”
The Fire On Set
Even before filming got fully underway, the Snow White crew needed to put out fires… literally. A fire broke out at Pinewood Studios in the U.K. where construction was happening for the film in March 2022. Luckily, no one was hurt and it didn’t mess with the filming schedule. But still, it’s not a great sign for your movie when the set lights up in flames.
The Debate Over The Dwarves
Peter Dinklage, who has dwarfism, was pretty upset when the Snow White remake was first announced. The original 1937 animated film has the tile Snow White and the Seven Dwarves, and Peter voiced his opinions on it on WTF With Marc Maron in 2022. He said, “You’re progressive in one way but then you’re still making that fucking backwards story about seven dwarfs living in a cave together. What the fuck are you doing, man?”
Disney took that to heart and decided to use CGI to create the dwarf characters instead of hiring live actors, in order “to avoid reinforcing stereotypes from the original animated film.”
That wasn’t quite the fix Disney thought it would be, though, because a lot of actors with dwarfism were upset about the lost work opportunity from the decision. In the end, actors of varying heights voiced the seven dwarves.
Rachel’s Criticisms Of The Story
In the time leading up to the release of Snow White, Rachel had her own critiques of the movie’s source material. At the Disney conference D23 in 2022, she called out the original animated movie for celebrating a romance where the prince “literally stalks” the princess, and promised that her version wouldn’t be as dated.
She echoed those same sentiments to Extra and downplayed the romance, saying, “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. We have a different approach to what I’m sure a lot of people will assume is a love story just because, like, we cast a guy in the movie…But it’s really not about the love story at all, which is really, really wonderful.”
Disney purists were really mad at Rachel for taking a shot at the original Snow White, but of course they were gonna update the plot for the 2025 version?
Geopolitical Feuding
Yup, this is a whole other level of controversy; it involves international relations. There’s been a lot of discussion about the alleged feud between Rachel Zegler and Gal Gadot, who honestly just seem like very different people. Rachel is 23 and Gal is 39, so they clearly lead different lives. But more than that, they also have different feelings about politics. Rachel is vocally pro-Palestine (and even included a call-out to “free Palestine” when she posted about the Snow White trailer), while Gal is pro-Israel and served in the IDF.
The two seemed to be able to put any reported issues aside when they presented together at the 2025 Oscars. But, Disney seems to have downsized the premiere in an effort to avoid more press interviews, and eagle-eyed fans noticed Rachel may have snubbed Gal in a recent Instagram post. Anyway, there are bigger fish to fry with this issue, now that one of the movie’s producers has entered the chat with his own take on the situation.
