Original ‘Snow White’ director’s son slams Disney’s ‘bright, pathetic’ remake
The son of the original director of ‘Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs’ has called Disney’s forthcoming live-action adaptation of the film a ‘pathetic’ remake that would leave his father and Walt Disney ‘turning in their graves’.
David Hand, whose eponymous father directed the popular fairy tale animation that hit theaters in 1937, told the telegraph that Walt Disney Studios’ forthcoming adaptation – which has already been criticized for being “politically correct” after leaked images showed the seven dwarfs reimagined as “magical creatures” of all sizes and genders – is “offensive” and “woke”.
“I mean, it’s a whole different concept and I don’t agree with that at all, and I know my dad and Walt wouldn’t agree with it at all, either,” he told the Telegraph.
Studio bosses “destroyed” his father’s creation, 91-year-old Hand said of the adapted edition of his father’s famous work, according to the outlet.
In the modern version of the animated film The Mouse House, based on the 1812 fairy tale by the Brothers Grimm, a character named “Jonathan” replaces Prince Charming, portraying 22-year-old Hispanic actress Rachel Zegler as Snow White Disney in the Shadows has said, “Avoid reinforcing stereotypes.”
There have also been rumors that Disney has canceled the film’s classic, Someday My Prince Will Come.
“I find it pathetic that people think that way…these are art forms in the film world today,” Hand said of the updates, which he predicts will appeal to young viewers — particularly those who “have never seen the original” — ” will lead to misunderstandings”. ” the film.
Meanwhile, her successor as the title character, Zegler, has called the original storyline, featuring a prince whose behavior resembles that of a “stalker,” “extremely outdated.”
“The original cartoon came out in 1937, and it’s obvious that it is. The focus is on her love story with the man who is literally stalking her. Weird, weird,” she said during a red carpet interview with entertainment news channel Extra TV.
“So we didn’t do that this time,” she said.
Zelger, who made her film debut as Maria in Steven Spielberg’s 2021 remake of West Side Story, defended the changes to the upcoming Snow White, which has angered Disney fans, including Game of Thrones star Peter Dinklage aroused criticism. Who has short stature and early on criticized the film for its portrayal of the disability.
“People make jokes about how we’re the PC Snow White, where it’s like, yeah, that’s it, because it needed that.” She told Vanity Fair in October.
The upcoming remake is written by Barbie director Greta Gerwig and directed by Marc Webb.
The Post has reached out to Disney for comment.
Hand told the Telegraph of his father’s creation, which, adjusted for inflation, remains one of Disney’s top-grossing films, grossing $997 million at the domestic box office: The original film was “done in good taste, when it was written… and I disagree with this whole new concept… but I know Disney is getting into that mode.”
Hand, who himself worked as a designer at Disney in the ’90s, also called it a “shame” that Disney is “trying to make something new out of what used to be such a big hit.”
“They change the stories, they change the characters’ thought processes, they just aren’t the original stories anymore. They invent new, bright things and I’m just not excited about it,” he told the Telegraph.
“I honestly find it a bit insulting that they did it to some of these classic films. There’s no respect for what Disney and my dad did… I think he and Walt would roll in our graves.”
Hand’s father worked for decades as an animator for Walt Disney Productions and created a number of Disney shorts in the 1930s before serving as executive director on the original animated films “Snow White” and “Bambi,” which premiered in 1937 and 1942, respectively.
However, as the films approach their centenary, Hand told the Telegraph that studio bosses should be coming up with new film ideas rather than reinterpreting old hits.
They “should not take a classic and rewrite it in their own image. Choose something different… create new characters when you do that, but don’t destroy anything and don’t try to destroy something that’s a classic and a beautiful piece,” he said.
Hand recalled how Adriana Caselotti, the original voice of the fairy tale heroine who died in 1997, would be “terrified” if she found out that her character would not one day be “saved by the prince” or “dream of true love.”
He told the Telegraph that Caselotti was “very proud of her role in Snow White.” So beautiful…she’s lived that role her whole life.”
