When Gal Gadot, playing the Evil Queen in the just-released trailer for the live-action movie version of Snow White, asks, “Magic mirror on the wall, who is the fairest of them all?” a reasonable person would expect the answer, “You are, Gal.”
That’s the conclusion Internet movie fans have come to, following the trailer’s release over the weekend at the D23 Disney showcase of the studio and streamer’s upcoming content.
D23, billed as the “ultimate fan event,” is taking place at the epicenter of the Disney empire, Disneyland in Anaheim, California.
Rachel Zegler, who plays the title character, and Gadot were both present for the trailer’s release, which reignited an Internet controversy over their casting.
Many of those commenting on the trailer – where Zegler sings “Whistle While You Work” with the dwarfs, and Gadot hatches the plot to get Snow White out of the picture – carped that Gadot is so gorgeous she overshadows Zegler.
Zegler, who became a star in the West Side Story remake and who recently appeared in the latest Hunger Games film, has a Colombian mother, and fans have complained in the past that she does not fit the bill for the porcelain-skinned Disney heroine, but that Gadot does.
One fan called @onyx_0807 who commented on the trailer on YouTube expressed the sentiment of many by saying, “When the mirror said, ‘Snow White is more beautiful,’ I think people at cinema[s] will say, ‘The mirror is broken.’” @raydanz commented, “Evil Queen: ‘Who’s the fairest of them all?’ Mirror: ‘Wonder Woman.’”
Snow White, directed by Marc Webb, has been the focus of several controversies in the past, mainly the decision to use CGI imagery for the dwarfs (who are not mentioned in the title) rather than live actors, which is seen by some as being sensitive and by others as depriving actors with dwarfism of work.
The movie is set for a 2025 release.
D23 was one of the first major public appearances by Gadot since the birth of her fourth daughter, in March, and she kept a low profile during the pregnancy, which coincided more or less with the outbreak of the current war.
She was warmly received by the fans at D23, and Variety quoted her as saying, “It was a lot of fun to get to do something that is completely different than anything I’ve ever done before. She’s delicious, she’s evil, she’s magical. We got to sing all these different songs. It was incredible.”
She posted a video to her Instagram Saturday of her getting ready for the appearance with Zegler and going onstage.
Gadot looks radiant and chic in a leather skirt and midriff-bearing top with a black jacket, and is hugged by other Disney stars and directors, among them Taika Waititi (whose birth name is Taika Cohen), who is directing what is still listed on the Internet Movie Database as Untitled Taika Waititi Star Wars Film.
Israel's very own Gal Gadot
Gadot has been outspoken in her condemnation of the October 7 massacre and mass kidnappings by Hamas and reportedly helped organize a showing in 2023 at the Museum of Tolerance in Los Angeles of the compilation video footage of atrocities perpetrated by the terrorist group.
It was reported that she lost a million Instagram followers due to her speaking out for Israel, but the truth is that while her follower count dipped by a few hundred thousand, it still stands at a healthy 108 million.
More than eight years before the current hostilities, there were calls to boycott her Wonder Woman movies and her other films in Arab countries such as Lebanon because she is Israeli, although Arab Wonder Woman fans have admitted to watching the movies online. Said one, “You can keep them out of theaters, but you can’t stop people from watching them.”