By Randal C. Hill
By 1812, Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm had collected hundreds of German fairy tales and combined them into a book they called “Children and Household Tales.” Included in that first edition was the Grimms’ version of “Snow White,” a downbeat story involving a sadistic queen trying to murder her stepdaughter.
In 1937, Walt Disney Films offered Walt’s own perception of Snow White, and moviegoers instantly embraced a sweet main character whose skin was “white as snow.”
But the world moves on, and the Snow White we’ve known and loved is about to undergo a drastic change. And not everyone is happy about that. Rising star Rachel Zegler is 2025’s reimagined Snow White. Born to a Polish father and a Colombian mother, Zegler adds a touch of sass, spunk and confident determination to her sure-to-become-controversial role.
Gail Godot (“Wonder Woman”) portrays the evil queen. (Unlike in the 1937 animation, she sings and dances here.) Tony-winning stage actor Andrew Burnap comes to us as Jonathan, a new character who replaces the dashing prince.
The Grimms originally saw the dwarfs as unnamed, supernatural beings. Disney, though, felt differently and named Bashful, Doc, Dopey, Grumpy, Happy, Sleepy and Sneezy as quirky but adorable animated additions to the 1937 release. Now, we’ll be seeing one dwarf actor, with the rest being CGI.
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Zegler wants the moviegoing world to know that, as the 2025 Snow White, she won’t be saved by the prince or spend time pondering true love with him. “She’s going to be dreaming about becoming the leader she knows she can be,” Zegler explains, “and that her late father told her that she could be.”
Controversial? Yep. Zegler: “People are making these jokes about ours being the ‘PC’ (politically correct) Snow White, where it’s like, yeah, it is—because it needed that. It’s an 88-year-old cartoon, and our version is a refreshing story about a young woman who has a function beyond ‘Someday My Prince Will Come.’” She then adds, “Never in a million years did I imagine that this would be a possibility for me. You don’t normally see Snow Whites that are of Latin descent!”
See “Snow White” nationwide in theaters March 21.
