With the release of any new movie Zegler is in, she seems to be the main topic of discussion. The release of Snow White has been no exception to this idea.
Zegler got her big break in the Steven Spielberg adaptation West Side Story, where Zegler played the female lead Maria. Zegler’s luck and talent pulled her to the top beating over 30,000 other applicants for the role.
Though after she was chosen for the movie, her luck began to run out.
The film was scheduled to release in December of 2020, but was delayed until December 2021 due to the pandemic. When the film was getting ready to do release promotion, the male lead, Ansel Elgort, was put under fire for sexual assault allegations. Though the allegations were from 2014, the resurfacing of them tarnished Elgort’s reputation and the release of the movie as well.
The following year really began the public hate train that continues to follow Zegler.
On Sep. 9, 2022 Zegler attended the Disney convention D23, where they announced the live action Snow White. Zegler then started to star in red carpet interviews with her co-lead Gal Gadot.
There is one Variety interview in particular that people began to criticize because of her comments regarding the original Snow White.
In the interview, Zegler and Gadot both talk about the new Snow White and how it was going to be different from the original.
“I just mean it is no longer 1937,” Zegler said. “[We created a Snow White] that is not going to be saved by the prince and is not dreaming about true love. She is dreaming about becoming a leader.”
People took this interview and ran with it.
The comments made by Zegler in this interview and others are not even critical if you watch them with context. You can see how she is mostly joking and trying to explain how their version of the movie is different from the original version.
There are many other stars who make the same jokes or even straight up bash the projects they are in and receive no criticism for it; sometimes they even get praised.
Robert Pattenson has criticized the Twilight series, Renee Rapp has made similar jokes during her Mean Girls movie promotion and even people in the Star Wars franchise have made comments that didn’t favor the franchise.
Regardless of the comments she has made, there has been obvious racism in the critiques that come with Zegler playing Snow White. People claim that the diversity in the new live action movies are ruining the original stories and if they tried to make a white actor play a character of color, people would be outraged.
Snow White was then delayed a year, not due to criticism, but instead the result of the SAG-AFTRA strike.
In 2023, Zegler then appeared in The Hunger Games prequel “The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes,” with decently positive reviews. People still commented on how Zegler should not have the opportunity to be a part of the franchise. She then appeared in the movies Y2K and Spellbound, both released in 2024, with no stand out praise for either project.
Snow White has been in theaters for two weeks with nothing positive being said about the film. People are still treating Zegler unfairly and criticizing many of the decisions she had no control over when it came to the movie.
There is a wide debate on if Zegler was the one who ruined the release of this movie due to her pro-Palestine comments on social media. The opposing side on social media defends Zegler, and instead blames co-star Gal Gadot for not only being an Israel supporter, but also a terrible actress.
Regardless of politics, Snow White is simply not a great movie. From the bad computer generated seven dwarves, to the bad costume choices, this movie was bound to flop. That weight should not be placed on Zegler.
A lot of Zegler’s criticism stems from the drama of starring in one movie, which is incredibly unfair considering how talented Zegler is and how well she performs in all of her projects. Many movie reviews call Zegler a saving grace in not only Snow White but her other movies as well.
Zegler is still young and relatively new to the industry. She is going to flub up in interviews, but she shouldn’t be held to a different standard than every other celebrity that has said the same thing she has.
Zegler has recently taken her talents to Broadway theater and I am happy for her. Zegler has a phenomenal voice and should be recognized instead of torn down by people who don’t want to understand the situations she has been in.
