For the son of the director of Snow White, the Disney remake is “a shame”

“Walt Disney and my father must be rolling over in their graves”, launches David Hand.

After Pinocchio, Peter Pan and more recently The little Mermaidthe adaptation of Walt Disney’s very first animated feature is added to the (long) list of studio remakes. Snow White in live action is only scheduled for March 2024, but has been causing strong reactions since its official announcement.

To begin with, the choice of Rachel Zegler (West Side Story) to embody the princess, announced in 2021, made a lot of noise.“We’re not really used to seeing Snow Whites of Latin descent, although Snow White is famous in Hispanic countries. Blanca Nieves is a major icon, in the Disney universe as well as in the tales of the Brothers Grimm and in other stories. It’s not usual to see heroines who look like me.“, she replied in an interview for Variety. Then, we learned that Disney was going to partially change the story. “She’s not going to dream of true love (…) She dreams of becoming the leader she knows she can be and the leader her late father told her she could be if she was fearless, righteous, brave and true”Rachel Zegler told variety last September.

Choices that David Hand, son of the director of the original film, who was also called David Hand, does not approve of. “It’s a whole other concept, and I totally disagree with that. I know my dad and Walt (Disney) would be too.”he explains in an interview with Telegram. For him it is “a shame” than Disney”try to do something new with something that has been so successful in the past”. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs was released in 1938, and then began a long series of legendary feature films for the studio.

“Their thoughts are so radical now. They change the stories, change the reasoning of the characters. They invent new woke things and I just disagree. Frankly, I find it a bit insulting what they’ve done with these classics… There’s no respect for what Disney, and my dad, have accomplished. They must be turning in their graves”adds David Hand.

According to the latter, it would therefore have been preferable for Disney to leave it there. Unfortunately for him, the American giant has many other remakes in store for the next few years. If the strike in Hollywood does not drastically change the calendar, Lilo & Stitch And Mufasa are due out in 2024, followed by Moana in 2025.

As for Snow White, filming wrapped up this summer. The film is set to hit theaters on March 20, 2024.

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