LOS ANGELES - Disney's live-action remakes of animated classics are usually safe bets. But a new version of the oldest of them all, "Snow White," has become mired in controversies, receiving an unusually low-key premiere in Hollywood on Saturday.
The studio kept its outspoken stars Rachel Zegler and Gal Gadot away from reporters at the afternoon event, with no red carpet interviews -- and has avoided questions about the film's divisive depictions of the Seven Dwarfs.
It follows a similarly pared-down European premiere on Wednesday at a remote castle in Segovia, Spain, where few media outlets were invited.
The negativity began way back in 2021, with the casting of Zegler, who is Latina, as Snow White -- a character from a German fairy tale who was famously "the fairest of them all."
This was predictably slammed as "woke" by some fans and conservative commentators.
But criticism spread more broadly across Disney's loyal fan base when Zegler appeared to repeatedly denigrate the 1937 "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs," Walt Disney's first feature-length animation.
Zegler described the beloved original as "weird" because Snow White's love interest is "a guy who literally stalks her."
This time "she's not going to be saved by the prince, and she's not going to be dreaming about true love," Zegler said in one interview that was blasted on Disney forums by fans longing for exactly those traditional tropes.
Zegler is unusually outspoken by Hollywood standards.
She publicly complained about not being invited to the 2022 Oscars gala, despite being the star of best picture nominee "West Side Story." She eventually bagged an invitation -- and some disapproving tuts.
Compounding Disney's headaches, Zegler has signed off social media posts with "Free Palestine," while Gadot -- who plays the Evil Queen -- has expressed public support for her native Israel.
Disney did not respond to AFP request for comment.