Rachel Zegler has recalled the shocking request made by “white executives” when she was in the running to play Maria in Steven Spielberg’s West Side Story.
The 23-year-old Latina actor, who will play Snow White in the forthcoming live-action remake, has revealed that she was repeatedly asked to prove her Colombian heritage to be cast as the Latina protagonist in Spielberg’s 2021 musical film.
“There’s confusion because I don’t have a single ounce of Latin in my name,” she told Allure in a new interview.
“When I was in the running for Maria in West Side Story, they kept calling to ask if I was legit. I remember thinking, ‘Do you want me to bring my abuelita in? I will. I’ll bring her into the studio if you want to meet her.’”
Things didn’t go that far – but she expressed bemusement at “having a bunch of white executives have you prove your identity to them”. The Independent has contacted production company Amblin Entertainment for comment.
Past remakes of the 1949 Jermone Robbins musical have been viewed as controversial due to the casting of non-hispanic actors in the role of Maria, such as Natalie Wood.
Zegler’s performance in the film marked her breakthrough role, which saw her win critical acclaim and a Golden Globe for best actress in a musical or comedy film.
The actor’s success in West Side Story saw her cast as the Disney princess Snow White, but Zegler has since faced backlash from right-wing voices who were unhappy about the character being portrayed by a person of colour. Critics claimed that Zegler should not play a character who is referred to as having “skin as white as snow.”
Zegler further provoked traditionalists by arguing the plot needed to be updated as, in the original 1937 film, Prince Charming “literally stalks her”.
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“It’s no longer 1937,” Zegler said. “She’s not going to be saved by the prince, and she’s not going to be dreaming about true love. She’s dreaming about becoming the leader she knows she can be.”
The film has faced further controversy over Disney’s inclusion of the seven dwarfs in the remake.
Peter Dinklage, the Game of Thrones actor who has dwarfism, said in 2022 that he was surprised Disney was so proud to cast a Latina actress as Snow White, while “you’re still telling the story of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Take a step back and look at what you’re doing there.”
He continued: “It makes no sense to me. You’re progressive in one way, but then you’re still making that f***ing backward story about seven dwarfs living in a cave together?”
Disney responded to Dinklage’s comments at the time, saying it was consulting with the dwarfism community to “avoid reinforcing stereotypes from the original animated film”.
It was widely reported that the film’s controversies were behind Disney’s decision to scale back the Hollywood premiere. According to Variety, the 15 March premiere, which would typically have included a large-scale red-carpet event with multiple media outlets invited to interview the stars, was reportedly reduced to only photographers and in-house crew.
Nevertheless, Zegler and her co-star Gal Gadot appeared all smiles as they were photographed side-by-side at the premiere along with the remake’s director Marc Platt.
Meanwhile, the film’s various controversies failed to put off critics, who hailed the film as “enchanting.”
One reviewer wrote on social media: “The biggest surprise of 2025 is that the most ‘controversial’ and most hated film of the year is actually a decent live-action remake.”
