Yesterday afternoon, a new batch of photos from the set of Disney's upcoming live-action Snow White remake found their way online. While an obvious stand-in was incorrectly identified as lead Rachel Zegler (Shazam! Fury of the Gods), fans were quick to praise the title character's costume due to its similarity to the classic 1937 movie.
That was where the compliments ended, though, as the "Seven Dwarves" have not been met with a particularly positive response.
With only a single little person spotted on set, the rest of the group was shown to be made up of diverse men and women of regular height. As you might expect, Disney has come under fire for putting a "politically correct" spin on Snow White's friends, but the House of Mouse has now responded (via Toonado.com).
A statement issued to The Daily Beast by the studio says, "The photos are fake and not from our production. We are currently trying to have the Daily Mail issue a correction."
We're not sure what movie these images actually come from in that instance, and this wouldn't be the first time Disney has claimed something that's very real is "fake" (you'll no doubt remember the Solo: A Star Wars Story promo art which was dismissed as fake, only to adorn every single piece of merchandise).
For what it's worth, The Daily Mail has published an update...in which they claim these Snow White set photos are very much the real deal.
"This article has been amended since initial publication to correctly identify the actress portraying Snow White as an extra who stood in for post-production photography," it reads. "Disney confirm that stand-ins were used for both Rachel Zegler and Andrew Burnap in these images."
Honestly, we'd guess these are real and the actors here are stand-ins for reshoots which don't require the striking leads. Set photos rarely do a movie justice, so the studio may just want to avoid people getting the wrong impression of the project by branding these as not being the real deal. We'll see.
Snow White is set to be released in theaters on March 22, 2024.