Disney banishes most press from Snow White premiere

To her enormous credit, Zegler has handled this whole horrid situation with grace. “I interpret people’s sentiments towards this film as passion,” she recently told Vogue Mexico, translated by Variety. “What an honor to be a part of something that people feel so passionately about.”

Game Of Thrones actor Peter Dinklage also had a negative reaction to the announcement of Zegler’s casting, but for a very different reason. “Literally no offense to anyone, but I was a little taken aback when they were very proud to cast a Latina actress as Snow White. But you’re still telling the story of Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs,” he commented in 2022, calling out the “hypocrisy” of the studio’s eagerness to be “progressive in one way,” but still make “that fucking backwards story about seven dwarfs living in a cave together.” Following Dinklage’s critique, the company said in a statement to Good Morning America that they would be “taking a different approach with these seven characters” after “consulting with members of the dwarfism community.” The characters are now animated.

Then there’s the Gal Gadot of it all. The Wonder Woman actor has been vocal with her support of Israel, her native country, following the October 7 attacks. Disney has already seen one premiere protest this year at Captain America: Brave New World, in which activists called for a boycott of the film over its inclusion of Israeli actor Shira Haas. Zegler, on the other hand, has been vocally supportive of Palestine on her own Instagram story, per Variety.

All in all, while it’s been interesting to test the limits of the old “all press is good press” adage, Disney’s decision is probably in the best interest of everyone involved. We’ll see how all that publicity translates into ticket sales when the film officially opens to the public March 21.