Snow White (2025 film)

Disney's Snow White, or simply Snow White, is an upcoming American musical fantasy film directed by Marc Webb, from a screenplay by Greta Gerwig and Erin Cressida Wilson. Co-produced by Walt Disney Pictures and Marc Platt Productions, it is a live-action adaptation of Walt Disney's 1937 animated film Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, which itself is loosely based on the 1812 fairy tale of the same title by the Brothers Grimm. The film stars Rachel Zegler as the title character and Gal Gadot as the Evil Queen.

Plans for a remake of 1937's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs were confirmed in October 2016, with Wilson announced as a screenwriter. Webb entered talks to direct the film in May 2019 and joined the film as director in September 2019. Filming took place primarily at Pinewood Studios in England from March to July 2022, with additional filming and pick-ups taking place in June 2024. The film elicited pre-release controversies, with criticism levied against Zegler's outspokenness during the 2023 SAG-AFTRA strikes, story changes, and color-blind casting, as well as actors without dwarfism playing originally dwarf characters.

Snow White is scheduled to be released in the United States on March 21, 2025.

Cast
Colin Michael Carmichael has an undisclosed role.
 * Rachel Zegler as Snow White
 * Gal Gadot as Evil Queen
 * Andrew Burnap as Jonathan
 * Ansu Kabia as the Huntsman
 * Dujonna Gift as Maple
 * Martin Klebba as Grumpy

Development
On October 31, 2016, The Hollywood Reporter reported that Walt Disney Pictures was developing a live-action remake of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, with Erin Cressida Wilson being in talks to write the screenplay. On May 30, 2019, it was reported that Marc Webb was in talks to direct the film. In November 2021, Greta Gerwig was reported to be co-writing the screenplay. Gurinder Chadha was also heavily considered for the job.

Casting
In June 2021, Rachel Zegler was cast in the titular role, and in November, Gal Gadot was cast as the Evil Queen. On December 7, 2021, during an interview with ExtraTV, Zegler revealed that Snow White would be a lot "stronger" than the original. A new casting search was announced for a young actress to star as a younger version of Snow White in the live-action remake, and Emilia Faucher was cast. On January 12, 2022, it was announced that Andrew Burnap was cast as a new character named Jonathan in the lead male role, replacing the character of The Prince. At the 2022 Denver Fan Expo, Martin Klebba revealed that he would be portraying Grumpy in the film; Klebba previously played similar dwarf roles in prior productions based on the "Snow White" fairy tale: in the 2001 made-for-television film Snow White: The Fairest of Them All as Friday, and in the 2012 fantasy comedy Mirror Mirror as Butcher. Colin Michael Carmichael appears in the film.

Filming
Filming for Snow White was originally set to begin in March 2020 in Vancouver, British Columbia, and Los Angeles, California, but it was delayed to July 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In August 2021, it was announced that filming would take place in the United Kingdom from March to July 2022. Principal photography began on March 7, 2022. A fire damaged the production set on March 15 at Pinewood Studios; the stage was under construction when a tree reportedly caught on fire, leading to a huge blaze. A source from Disney confirmed that "no filming was underway". The shooting schedule was also reconfigured for Zegler to travel to Los Angeles to present at the 94th Academy Awards ceremony on March 27, in support of her West Side Story colleagues. While Zegler was attending the ceremony, Gadot began filming her scenes. During a podcast interview with Forbes, Gadot revealed that she sings and dances in the film, which is something that the character did not do in the original. On April 22, Gadot confirmed that she had completed filming her scenes, much later adding that playing the role of the first Disney villain was "fun and delicious", feeling that she was able to make a more dramatic role by changing her voice due to the film being a musical. On July 13, Zegler revealed that filming had wrapped. Additional filming took place in June 2024.

Visual effects
Moving Picture Company provided the visual effects.

Music
Songwriters Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, who previously wrote the lyrics for two new songs for Disney's 2019 remake of Aladdin, are set to write new songs for the film, which is expected to also feature songs from the original film by Frank Churchill and Larry Morey, including "Whistle While You Work," which was confirmed by Zegler.

Marketing
On September 9, 2022, during Disney's 2022 D23 Expo presentation, a 30-second first-look teaser of the film as well as first-look images were previewed. There were quick flashes of several major settings, including Snow White's cottage in the woods, the intricately designed interior of the Queen's castle and the moss-covered forest. There were also short glimpses of Gadot as the Evil Queen questioning her magic mirror, Zegler as Snow White, and Snow White's hand falling with the poisoned apple toppling along with her. Gadot said about her role that playing the Evil Queen was "very different than what [she] had done before. [She is] used to playing the other end of where the heart should be", but she found it very "delightful" to "get under her skin". The title logo of the film was also revealed. In an interview with Vanity Fair, Zegler criticized the "jokes" that were being made about the film's modern updates, including her casting in the role of Snow White as a Latina, and addressed the film's approach, saying:

"People are making these jokes about ours being the PC Snow White, where it's like, yeah, it is—because it needed that. It's an 85-year-old cartoon, and our version is a refreshing story about a young woman who has a function beyond 'Someday My Prince Will Come'."

Zegler later said of the changes from the original film:

"The original cartoon came out in 1937 and very evidently so. There's a big focus on her love story with a guy who literally stalks her... Weird! Weird. 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 we cast a guy in the movie, Andrew Burnap, great dude. It's one of those things that I think everyone's going to have their assumptions about what it's going to be, but it's really not about the love story at all, which is really, really wonderful."

On October 27, 2023, Disney released the official first image of the film with Zegler as Snow White as well as Bashful, Doc, Dopey, Grumpy, Happy, Sleepy, and Sneezy. Zegler confirmed that there is a lot of CGI in the film, which made her feel "nervous". Footage of Gadot as the Evil Queen was shown at the 2024 CinemaCon. Disney presented new footage and a behind-the-scenes look at the film during the 2024 CineEurope.

Release
During the 2022 D23 Expo Presentation, it was announced that Snow White would be released in 2024. On September 15, 2022, the film was announced to have a release date of March 22, 2024. However, in October 2023, the film was delayed a year to March 21, 2025, with Disney claiming it was due to the 2023 SAG-AFTRA strike.

Casting of Snow White
The casting of the Latina Zegler as Snow White, a character described in the original material as having skin "as white as snow", attracted some controversy. While appearing on Variety Actors on Actors series with Andrew Garfield, Zegler responded to the Snow White casting backlash with comments such as: "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. Even though Snow White is really a big deal in Spanish-speaking countries. Blanca Nieves is a huge icon whether you're talking about the Disney cartoon or just different iterations and the Grimm fairy tale and all the stories that come with it. But you don't particularly see people who look like me or are me playing roles like that. When it was announced, it was a huge thing that was trending on Twitter for days, because all of the people were angry. We need to love them in the right direction. At the end of the day, I have a job to do that I am really excited to do. I get to be a Latina princess."

Zegler's criticism of the 1937 film
Zegler attracted criticism over statements expressing disapproval of the original film, the Prince, and Snow White's character. In response to her comments, many rebuked her for making Snow White "more feminist", while others criticised her for misinterpreting feminism, with accusations of promoting the girlboss archetype or maligning women that seek traditional feminine roles uninterested in power or leadership. Ashten Stein, a brand strategist, felt that Zegler's statements made it appear that she had not received media training for marketing the film.

David Hand, whose father of the same name co-directed the original animated film, criticised the remake, describing it as "insulting" and suggesting that his father and Walt Disney would be "turning in their graves". This controversy would lead to conservative media organization The Daily Wire announcing on October 16, 2023 (the day of Disney's 100th anniversary) the launch of the streaming service Bentkey and the upcoming release of their own live-action adaptation of the original fairy tale, titled Snow White and the Evil Queen, set for release in 2025 in an effort to compete with Disney's version.

Reimagining of the Seven Dwarfs
In January 2022, during an interview on Marc Maron's WTF podcast, actor Peter Dinklage, who has a form of dwarfism and has played dwarfish characters in his career, commented on the upcoming live-action Snow White remake, dismissing it as a "backward story". In response to Dinklage's comments, Disney stated that "to avoid reinforcing stereotypes from the original animated film, we are taking a different approach with these seven characters and have been consulting with members of the dwarfism community." Numerous other actors with dwarfism responded negatively to Dinklage's comments, feeling he was unduly speaking on their behalf and costing them roles.

In July 2023, footage of the production from Berkshire revealed that the depiction of the Seven Dwarfs had been reimagined for the film, consisting of only one actor with dwarfism along with six other non-dwarf actors of varying ethnicity, 6 males and 1 female portraying the associated set of seven individuals, who were originally all portrayed as supernatural beings from German folklore, not actual human beings. After initially denying reports that these images depicted the actual film production, Disney later confirmed that they did indeed depict the production, with stand-in actors substituting for the leads (the already confirmed actor Martin Klebba not appearing in said footage). The decision to reimagine the characters as such was criticised by mainstream and social media sources as being overly politically correct, as well as potentially taking away acting opportunities from the dwarfism community. Jackass actor Jason "Wee Man" Acuña criticised Disney for not casting dwarf actors and expressed disappointment about the changes. Acuña said "You're replacing jobs that people could have as little people. It's for dwarfs. Why are you hiring 'Snow White and the seven average people'?" Wrestler and actor Dylan Postl also disagreed with Dinklage's view and in an interview with Piers Morgan, he echoed Acuña's sentiments and defended the portrayal of the dwarf characters in the animated film.

On October 27, 2023, along with the film's delay, Disney unveiled a first-look image for the film showing Zegler as Snow White alongside the Seven Dwarfs, all of which are CGI characters made to look similar to their appearances in the 1937 film, confirming that they are in the film.