PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) — In 1937, Walt Disney debuted his very first feature-length animated film with his very first princess: “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.”
And now, almost 90 years later, the legacy story comes to life in a brand new way, with a live action cast, and a magical, extended soundtrack.
Alicia Vitarelli was there for the film’s world premiere in Los Angeles and talked to the director and the star of this gorgeous new adaptation.
Rachel Zegler plays Snow White and calls it a “pinch me” moment for the lifelong Disney princess fan.
“It’s pretty wild,” she said. “It’s a pretty full-circle moment that means a lot to that kid.”
Zegler’s own journey to the big screen has had it’s own touch of magic. She was in high school in New Jersey with no film credits to her name when Steven Spielberg cast her in 2021’s “West Side Story.”
“I really am grateful for all of it, and this,” she said of her starring role in “Snow White.” “It’s been four years since I was cast in it, and so, out of a seven year career, four years is the majority. I’ve learned so much along the way.”
To reimagine the animated classic 88 years after its original release, director Marc Webb went straight to Walt Disney’s vault and studied the animation cells.
“What an ambitious kind of endeavor it was for him,” Webb said of Disney. “It blew people away. He invented the mold. It was an amazing legacy of storytelling that he created in 1937. I went back and studied. We went deep into the archives and looked at what they were working on.”
Webb was able to bring back back scenes that originally never made it into the animated classic. His goal was to honor the nostalgia, while adding to the legacy with new music and a princess now ready to lead and inspire the next generation of Disney fans.
“This is for them,” Zegler said. “Every day I walked onto set and our director is a dad making a movie for his kid and we are now giving it to kids all around the world. It is for them.”
The live action Disney film, “Snow White,” is in theaters on March 21.
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