Original 'Snow White' director's son roasts remake as 'insulting': 'Turning in their graves'
'There's no respect for what [Walt] Disney did and what my dad did,' designer David Hand said
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The son of one of the directors of the original "Snow White" film bashed the upcoming Disney remake of the classic movie as disrespectful and too politically correct.
"I find it quite frankly a bit insulting [what] they may have done with some of these classic films," David Hand told The Telegraph.
"There’s no respect for what Disney did and what my dad did," added Hand, who worked as a designer for Disney in the 1990s. "I think Walt and he would be turning in their graves."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}David Hand, a designer who previously worked for Disney and whose father was one of the directors of the original "Snow White" film, bashed the remake of the classic movie in a recent interview. (Screenshot/ Gutfeld!)
"Snow White" star Rachel Zegler has drawn attention for viral comments that she made criticizing the original 1937 film "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs," for which Hand's father David was a supervising director.
"She's not going to be saved by the prince and she's not going to be dreaming about true love," the 22-year-old told Variety at the 2022 D23 Expo. "She's dreaming about becoming the leader she knows she can be and the leader that her late father told her that she could be if she was fearless, fair, brave and true."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Zegler repeatedly emphasized that the new film would not be a "love story" in the resurfaced clip.
"We have a different approach to what I’m sure a lot of people will assume is a love story, just because we cast a guy in the movie, Andrew Burnap, great dude," the actress said. "It’s one of those things that I think everyone’s going to have their assumptions about what it’s going to be, but it’s really not about the love story at all, which is really, really wonderful."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"Snow White" star Rachel Zegler has drawn attention for her criticism of the original 1937 film. (REUTERS/Gonzalo Fuentes)
Hand also said he was worried about what Disney would do to its classic films in general. "I’m afraid of what they’re going to do with the early films," he said, adding that "their thoughts are just so radical now."
The new turn that Disney has taken, which Hand called "woke," would have disappointed both his father and Walt Disney himself, he said in the interview. "It’s a whole different concept and I just totally disagree with it, and I know my dad and Walt would also very much disagree with it," Hand said.
"They change the stories, they change the thought process of the characters," he continued. "They’re making up new woke things and I’m just not into any of that."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The 2024 film has also come under scrutiny after set photos revealed Disney had replaced the seven dwarfs with multi-racial, mixed-gender "magical creatures." Zegler has appeared to respond to the backlash her old comments are receiving by calling for more kindness.
"I hope the world becomes kinder," the actress said. In follow-up posts, she told followers she was "exhausted" by the negative attention.
Disney did not respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The original 1937 movie is widely considered a landmark achievement in animation that helped pave the way for Disney to continue making original films. It is one of the highest-grossing movies of all time when adjusted for inflation, and Walt Disney himself received an honorary Oscar for it.
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{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Fox News' Kristine Parks contributed to this report.