After months in the news, Rachel Zegler is back on the big screens this week for another Hollywood premiere.
Rachel Zegler is a newer actress recognized for both her acting and vocal talents. She first held the audience’s attention in her starring role as Maria Vasquez in the latest adaptation of West Side Story (2021) by director Steven Spielberg. She impressed fans with her performance and her incredible voice in this film.
Recently, Zegler has fostered a lot of attention surrounding Disney’s decision to cast her in their latest live-action remake. After recognizing her talent for acting and singing in West Side Story, Disney offered Zegler the role of Snow White. Disney’s live-action remake of Snow White (2025) has faced controversy since it was first announced.
Zegler has been outspoken about her role in the new Disney film, defending Disney’s decisions. Rumors say the new film may stray from the original Snow White storyline, focusing more on a strong, brave princess seeking to lead. These rumors have led to much pushback from the public, accusing the film of being too “woke” or pushing a specific agenda for Disney.
Rachel Zegler Shines as a Songbird
While working on Disney’s Snow White, Zegler has also been taking on a leading role in the new movie The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes (2023). This movie premieres November 17, 2023, starring Rachel Zegler, along with costars Viola Davis and Tom Blyth. The film is based on The Hunger Games prequel written by author Suzanne Collins in 2020.
To celebrate and promote the film during its opening week, Zegler and her costars appeared on Good Morning America to share about their experience on set. Blyth, Davis, and Zegler agreed that while filming for this new installment of The Hunger Games, it felt like the cast and crew became a small family.
Credit: Good Morning America
The stars also shared about the characters they portray in the film. Iconic actress Viola Davis was asked if the rumors were true that her character, Dr. Volumnia Gaul, was inspired by Willy Wonka (1971). Davis responded that she took her biggest inspiration from how Collins wrote her character. In the novel, Dr. Gaul is the creator of The Hunger Games, using her twisted imagination to create the games.
“My inspiration was just the book by Suzanne Collins. Which when I read it, I had to put it down a couple of times…I’m an empath. Any level of violence or whatever, I feel everything. Which made it more of a challenge to sort of transform into this sadist; she’s a sadist. I did all the work; she’s a narcissistic sadist.”
Zegler, on the other hand, portrays Lucy Gray Baird, a young woman selected to participate in The Hunger Games. The actress described her experience as Lucy Gray, getting to sing throughout the film.
She said, “It’s an amazing opportunity to get to use a different part of your instrument. And getting to harness this different sound of a country, folksy, twangy folk singer is a gift as an actor. It’s delicious to bite into that and have an accent and get to do all the different things that Lucy Gray gets to do within the film. The music is home to me, but this was an added element that was really exciting.”
Will you be heading to see Zegler’s new movie this weekend? Let us know in the comments below!