'West Side Story' actor Rachel Zegler to play 'Snow White' in Disney's live-action remake

Disney has found the female lead for the live-action remake of their 1937 classic Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. According to reports, actor Rachel Zegler who will be making her debut with Steven Spielberg's West Side Story remake has been roped in to play the titular role in the upcoming Snow White movie. 

Disney has found their live-action Snow White star

According to a report by Deadline, the Snow White cast announcement comes after a months-long search. The report also stated that while Rachel's audition for the part was impressive, to begin with, watching her performance in Steven Spielberg's West Side Story remake which will be releasing later this year helped the makers in finalising her for the role. 

Talking about Rachel nailing the auditions, the film's director Marc Webb told the website that Rachel’s extraordinary vocal abilities are just the beginning of her gifts and her strength, intelligence and optimism will become an integral part of rediscovering the joy in the classic Disney fairytale. Other than the titular role, the makers have not made any other Snow White cast announcement, yet. 

More about Snow White movie

Produced by Marc Platt, the Snow White movie is set to start production in December 2022. The movie will be premiering more than 85 years after the fully animated Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs released. It was based on Brothers Grimm fairytale and marked Disney's first animated feature film which went on to become a massive success for the studio.

On June 22, Rachel took to her Twitter account to confirm the news by sharing a video and pictures of herself dressed in a yellow flowy skirt and a black spaghetti top learning the works of a princess from Snow White. She captioned it with, "homegirl we have LOTS to catch up on." She also shared that she has been manifesting this for her entire life.

A look at Rachel Zegler's upcoming projects

Her debut in Hollywood, West Side Story is slated to release on December 10, 2021. Rachel was only 17 when she auditioned for the role and she beat out more than 30,000 actors for the lead role of Maria in the movie. In the movie, Rachel will be sharing screen space with Ansel Elgort and Rita Moreno.

In February 2021, it was announced that Rachel has joined the cast of the 2023 DC movie Shazam! Fury of the Gods in which she will be playing a mysterious key role opposite Zachary Levi.

IMAGE: RACHEL ZEGLER'S TWITTER