Rachel Zegler Pays Tribute To Forgotten Star Ahead Of Snow White Release

Can you name the woman who first brought Snow White to life? Rachel Zegler can.

The actress took to Instagram today to share a retro look with a touching twist. She arranged her hair into luscious curls, wore a red bow, and wrote in the caption, “Just had to pay homage to the original Snow White, Miss Adriana Caselotti, to whom i owe everything.”

Casual Disney fans might not know the name of Adriana Caselotti, but she’s a very big deal seeing as she was the star of Disney’s first ever animated feature. Oh… and she was also treated pretty badly by Walt Disney himself. He didn’t credit her for the film, leading her career to stall, and he also refused to let her take radio opportunities, reportedly declaring, “That voice can’t be used anywhere. I don’t want to spoil the illusion of Snow White.” She managed to push forward and still had success as a singer, but she wasn’t treated anywhere near the way we treat voice actors nowadays. (Of course, those rights were hard-won.)

Now, Zegler is the new Snow White, and her Instagram tribute to Caselotti might finally put paid to the rumors that she hates the original animated movie. It’s true that she had some negative things to say about the actual romance of the story. Back in 2022, the young star gave an interview to Extra TV where she said that Snow White’s prince “literally stalks” her and it was “weird.” At around the same time, she gave an interview to Entertainment Weekly where she said the movie was “extremely dated when it comes to the ideas of women being in roles of power and what a woman is fit for.”

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Fans of the original Snow White were furious, and this, added to the fact that the same racists who didn’t want a Black Ariel also didn’t want a Latina Snow White, spelled toxicity for Zegler. She got a lot of hate she really didn’t deserve. It’s even evident on the post she made about Caselotti. “What kind of distortion is this? The actress is very beautiful yes but she can’t be Snow White. because she is not white!!” wrote one person in a comment.

Luckily, there were multiple other people on the post sharing support for Zegler and even telling her Caselotti would have liked seeing her in the role. Zegler is certainly coming out the winner in the fan wars, because so far, early reviews of Snow White are praising her performance to the high heavens. “Rachel Zegler is a shining supernova in Snow White, beautifully embodying the graceful, gentle nature of the OG Disney princess,” wrote Variety’s Katcy Stephan. “…The screenplay wisely gives its heroine newfound depth through her fervent desire to become the leader her father believed she could be, and a love story that’s sweet as apple pie.”

So, it looks like the movie is on track to become a hit for Disney, despite the hate and the fact that people are starting to tire of the Disney live-action remakes. We have Rachel Zegler to thank for a lot of that, but we also have Adriana Caselotti to thank.