Disney has found its actress to portray the very first Disney princess in the upcoming Snow White live-action remake. According to Deadline, Rachel Zegler (West Side Story) has been cast as the eponymous princess for director Marc Webb (The Amazing Spider-Man).
Zegler went through a long casting process for the role as Webb and Disney executives worked through auditions for months. Zeglar will be seen later this year in the West Side Story remake as Maria and Deadline says it was this that impressed Disney the most as they’ve seen footage from the upcoming remake.
“Rachel’s extraordinary vocal abilities are just the beginning of her gifts. Her strength, intelligence and optimism will become an integral part of rediscovering the joy in this classic Disney fairytale,” Webb said.
The new take on Disney’s first ever animated feature comes from a script by Erin Cressida Wilson (The Girl on the Train) while Oscar-winning songwriters Benj Pasek and Justin Paul (La La Land, The Girl on the Train) will be writing new musical material as they did for 2019’s Aladdin. The live-action Snow White has been in development for quite a while and it is because of Pasek and Paul’s additions and other story expansions that have taken development so long as Disney wants to get everything right with this film given the significant legacy Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs holds both in pop culture and to the company’s history.
Originally slated to be released in 2021, production was pushed back from 2020 due to the global health crisis and is now expected to begin in 2022.
Along with West Side Story, Zegler will be seen in the DC superhero film Shazam! Fury of the Gods.
Ricky Church – Follow me on Twitter for more movie news and nerd talk.