'Snow White' actor says he is 'disappointed in the world' over downgraded premiere of Snow White remake
Variety reported this week that the studio is scaling down the film's red carpet premiere on March 15, making it a smaller event than Disney's typical big-budget premieres.
The smaller red carpet event will not be attended by media outlets that usually attend premieres to speak to the film's cast and crew. Though film stars Rachel Zegler and Gal Gadot are set to attend a pre-party and screening at L.A.'s El Capitan Theatre, media coverage will only include photographers and a house crew.
Disney did not reply to Fox News Digital's questions about why the premiere was downsized, but the news comes as the film has been mired in controversy for years, stemming from the outspoken views of its lead actress, Zegler, as well as the film's original portrayal of the Seven Dwarfs.
"I was a little disappointed," Klebba, who plays one of the seven dwarfs, told The New York Post. "I'm not disappointed in Disney. I'm disappointed in the world."
He explained, "We've come to this place in society where people work really hard on this movie, where Marc [Webb], the director, is probably four years into putting this together, [along with] the producers and Disney, and just because a couple of people have views that not everybody feels the same way, now we're having to alter the fun part of making a movie, which is premieres."
Even so, he said that he ultimately understands why Disney chose its current course of action for the film's premiere.
"So I'm a little bummed, but I understand it as well," Klebba said. "Disney is one of the greatest production companies of all time, so you gotta be really careful in today's world. So I see why they did it. I'm just still a little bummed because I was really looking forward to doing the red carpet."
"I just was really hoping to get together and walk the red carpet with these guys," he said, referring to his fellow cast members.
Nonetheless, the actor, who has been in projects like "Pirates of the Caribbean" and the upcoming "Electric State" film on Netflix, said that times have changed.
"The world has come a long way. Whether you're woke or not woke, God doesn't make mistakes. Just be you and accepting," he said. "Accept everybody for who they are, and the world would be a great place."
He did say that Hollywood has room for improvement, however.
"I wish Hollywood would be a little bit more open minded with people with disabilities," he told The Post. "Whether they're in a wheelchair or they're shorter or whatever it might be, give everybody an opportunity."
"Step outside the box and be open to casting someone for their abilities, not just for what they look like, even though I'm better looking than Brad Pitt," he quipped.
He expressed gratitude for Disney granting him significant opportunities, however.
Even if he is frustrated by how this premiere panned out, he credited the company for granting him some major opportunities so far.
"When I was 8 years old and I went to Disney World, I was like, 'I'm gonna work for this company one day,'" he said. "Only I thought I was gonna be one of the characters that walked around the park with a big plastic head on, you know? Never did I think I was gonna become an actor and work on some of the biggest franchises of all time."
"I love Disney. They do what they gotta do," the actor said. "It's sad that society has gotten to the point where we have to do this nowadays."The film endured multiple controversies in the years before it was released. During Disney's D23 expo in 2022, Zegler slammed the original movie, telling the media, "I mean, you know, the original cartoon came out in 1937 and very evidently so. There's a big focus on her love story with a guy who literally stalks her. Weird! Weird. So we didn't do that this time."
One of the remake's other controversies included discussion of how the film's dwarves would be portrayed. Disney ultimately said the company would be taking a "different approach" for the characters. In October 2023, the film was delayed a year. In November 2024, star Zegler apologized for her social media rant against Donald Trump and his supporters that wished they never knew peace.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
17 minutes ago
- Yahoo
A Salute to Legends Like Kathy Bates, Jean Smart and Harrison Ford on Finally Getting Their Emmy Flowers
I'm sure we're all doom scrolling through social media these days, and it has most certainly not been good for my mental health. (Have you read some of my recent columns or Awards HQ newsletters? Yeah, things are dark.) But one bright spot that actually was good for my psyche came from 'Matlock' creator Jennie Snyder Urman and her team. Recently, when the iconic Kathy Bates was recognized with a well-deserved Emmy nomination for playing the unexpectedly complex 'Matty' Matlock (er, Madeline Kingston), Urman and team were ready with their flowers. Literally. The team formed a spirit tunnel, filled with cheers and balloons as well. They filmed that moment, and it was a joy to see on my feeds. More from Variety 'The Residence,' 'Frasier' and More: A Closer Look at Shows That Landed Emmy Nominations Post-Cancellation Warner Bros. TV Group's Channing Dungey on Emmy Nomination Haul, Future of 'The Pitt' and 'The Penguin,' When to Expect New 'Ted Lasso' (EXCLUSIVE) Adam Scott and Britt Lower Debate Which 'Severance' Couple to Root For: Mark and Gemma Scout, or Mark S. and Helly R. 'We're inspired every single day by your hard work and your grace and your humility and your talent and the way that you lead this set,' Urman said through tears on the video. Quipped Bates: 'This has been an extraordinary experience for an old broad like me.' As I wipe away my own tears, I think: This is the kind of content I desperately need. And honestly, how lucky are we to be living in a golden age of legends? Bates, of course, made history as the oldest person ever to be nominated in the drama actress field, but she's not the only acting veteran still making waves. And at this point I have to turn to Jean Smart, who has been turning her Sept. 13 birthday into an almost annual Emmy celebration — having now won the comedy actress Emmy in 2021, 2022 and 2024. This year, the Emmys take place the day after she turns 74. Smart is already the second-oldest Emmy comedy actress winner, but is actually the overall champ if you don't consider Ruth Gordon, who is the oldest winner at 82, in 1979 for 'Taxi.' But Gordon was a guest star; there was no guest category that year so she competed in lead. Technicality or not, let's just remind folks that Smart also remains a screen queen. Her turn on this season of 'Hacks' was once again both impressive and heartbreaking; watching Deborah Vance realize her talk show dreams was exhilarating. And then, seeing it quickly turn toxic was a twist I didn't see coming. I honestly can't tell who has a more crowded IMDB list of credits over the past decade — Bates or Smart. Both have experienced some whiplash castings in recent years: Bates doing Chuck Lorre comedies like 'The Big Bang Theory' and 'Disjointed,' and then Ryan Murphy-style thrills with 'American Horror Story' and straight-up drama with 'The Great Lillian Hall' and 'Richard Jewell.' Then there has been the lengthy 'Jean Smartaissance' with her dramatic, powerful and sometimes scary roles in 'Fargo,' 'Watchmen,' 'Mare of Easttown' and 'Babylon' among them. (I will forever remember Smart as Helen in 'Mare of Easttown,' hiding her ice cream in a bag of frozen vegetables. It's a life hack I still think about to this day.) Of course, on the actor side, on July 30, Variety ran a wonderful cover story on Harrison Ford — who just landed his first Emmy nomination, at 83, in the comedy supporting actor category for 'Shrinking.' Like Bates and Smart, Ford is doing some of his best and most memorable work right now. He also hasn't been busier, having also headlined the drama '1883.' And if we want to talk about national treasures — and couples goals — let's look no further than Ted Danson and Mary Steenburgen. I was disappointed that Danson and his wonderful Netflix comedy 'A Man on the Inside' failed to get Emmy love, and am hopeful voters rectify that next year with the show's Season 2, in which Steenburgen joins her real-life husband on the show. But I was pleased to see the TV Academy will single out the couple for this year's Bob Hope Humanitarian Award for their charitable work in several causes. Because, while I continue to scroll through nonstop awful headlines about what's happening in our country, I at least can take solace in knowing that there are living TV legends using their resources to do something about it. Best of Variety New Movies Out Now in Theaters: What to See This Week What's Coming to Disney+ in August 2025 What's Coming to Netflix in August 2025 Solve the daily Crossword
Yahoo
17 minutes ago
- Yahoo
‘Nobody 2' Star Sharon Stone Says Her Unhinged Villain Character Was Inspired by the ‘Cruelty' of Social Media: ‘There's a Lot of Pent-Up Feelings … That I Put on the Screen'
Bob Odenkirk sent Sharon Stone a note asking her to be in 'Nobody 2' after they met for the first time at the Golden Globes. 'She was kind to me, said hi to me and I thought, 'Holy cow, Sharon Stone!'' Odenkirk told me Monday at the 'Nobody 2' premiere at the TCL Chinese Theatre in Hollywood. 'Then we had this big bad villain and part of the fun of this to me is I want a regular guy to be ending up in a James Bond film. Starts in the real world, ends up in a film. And we needed a big villain, a big presence, a big personality. I wondered if Sharon would be willing to be that and she said yes… She owns the third act entirely.' More from Variety 'Wednesday' Star Hunter Doohan on Killing [SPOILER] and Why Missing Lady Gaga on Set Felt Like a 'Hate Crime': 'I'm the One Gay Guy on the Show!' Charli xcx on Her Acting Career and Being Inspired by David Cronenberg and Abel Ferrara Films: 'I Don't Necessarily Go to Movies to Feel Good' A Sense of Home Marks New York Expansion With Fundraiser at Shawn and Serena Levy's Hamptons House The sequel to 2021's 'Nobody' finds Odenkirk's assassin character Hutch Mansell facing off against Stone as evil bootlegger Lendina. The two unexpectedly cross paths when Hutch takes his family on vacation to a waterpark. Stone says her work as Lendina was inspired by taking a good look at today's world. 'I'm a mother of three, and when you go through this kind of climate and through COVID and through this onslaught of what has happened with social media with three boys who've become young men, there's a lot of pent-up feelings about a lot of things that I put on the screen,' she told me. 'I'm not really happy with what comes out of social media, and I wanted to portray that cruelty, the lack of any sort of care or sense of responsibility. There's no empathy, and this is becoming a climate that people are starting to think is correct because it's something they saw in a video game. So I based the character on that because I've had it with that, really had it with that, and so I wanted to demonstrate it because I felt it was the zeitgeist of the moment now.' She continued, 'That's very important to me when I'm going to step up and play somebody who's killing a bunch of people, because even when my kids were little and they played toy soldiers, I made them have a MASH unit because I'm like, 'You're killing them' … I wanted my children to have an ethical reality because you can take the toy guns away, but they'll make a gun out of a sandwich and chase you around the house, so you have to create a sense of ethical understanding. I play villains and so when I play them I want them to attach to something in the zeitgeist that people are gonna leave the theater going, 'Man, that was great, but wow.'' The Oscar-nominated Stone said that she 'liked getting the calls' that 'she might have gone a little too far.' 'Really? Look around. Really?' she continued. 'What do you think is too far? I think you should wakey-wakey, eggs and bakey.' Meanwhile, Stone also revealed that she'll start shooting 'Euphoria' Season 3 in a couple of weeks. 'I'm a big fan of all of the kids that are on that show, past and present, and I feel they've hit something that's really, really important,' she said of Sam Levinson's HBO series. 'It's something that we do need to see and understand and I'm grateful to be a part of it.' Stone said she wasn't allowed to talk about who she's playing on the show. She joins the series alongside new cast members Rosalía, Marshawn Lynch, Kadeem Hardison, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, Toby Wallace, Darrell Britt-Gibson, Priscilla Delgado, James Landry Hébert and Anna Van Patten. Returning stars include Zendaya, Sydney Sweeney, Hunter Schafer, Jacob Elordi, Eric Dane, Alexa Demie, Maude Apatow, Martha Kelly, Chloe Cherry, Colman Domingo and Dominic Fike. Best of Variety New Movies Out Now in Theaters: What to See This Week What's Coming to Disney+ in August 2025 What's Coming to Netflix in August 2025 Solve the daily Crossword
Yahoo
17 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Tramell Tillman on His Emotional Coming Out Story, ‘Severance' Delays and Acting With Tom Cruise the Day After He Got ‘Mission: Impossible' Script
The drive to Petersburg, Virginia, pours out of him: a memory in slow motion. Green fields blurring past the windows, telephone lines trailing across the sky. Behind the wheel, Tramell Tillman, then in his 20s, sits in silence, his mother beside him. It's the holiday season — a time of hushed reverence and fragile traditions, of winter roses and greeting cards that can say too little or too much. They're headed to visit his grandmother, the family matriarch. But Tre, as his family calls him, has brought something else on the trip: a truth that has matured quietly inside him for years. 'Mom, I'm bisexual,' he says to her, his eyes fixed on the road. More from Variety Adam Scott and Britt Lower Debate Which 'Severance' Couple to Root For: Mark and Gemma Scout, or Mark S. and Helly R. The Era of Emmy Sweepers: How Recent Trends Point to 'Adolescence,' 'Severance' and 'The Studio' Winning Big Apple TV+ Programming Head Matt Cherniss on When 'Severance' Might Return and Why the Streamer's Execs Didn't Cameo on 'The Studio' She glances at him, surprise flickering across her face, before turning her gaze back to the highway: 'Well, how's that going for you?' Tillman laughs softly at the memory now — but you can tell it's one of those exchanges that later becomes a family anecdote, the kind you laugh at because it was awkward. No dramatic climax or emotional hug followed, he says. Just the acceptance of a deeply religious woman who was, and still is, the closest to him in the Tillman family. Some years later, a second conversation follows, more direct this time, with no ambiguity: 'I'm gay.' This time, her response lands with different gravity, not laced with judgment, but with fear. 'I don't want this to ruin your career,' she tells him. 'I don't want you to be blackballed. I don't want you to be pigeonholed.' This isn't disapproval; it's preparation and protection from a mother who knows how the world punishes those who dare to live truthfully — especially a Black man. And then come the words he isn't quite ready to receive: 'Anyone you bring home, I will embrace him as my son.' It turns out Tillman's mother's fears were unfounded — his honesty about who he is fueled his rise. And now, for his hypnotic, unnervingly cheerful turn as Seth Milchick in Apple TV+'s genre-defying drama 'Severance,' the soft-spoken actor, 40, has scored a historic Emmy nomination: He's the first openly gay Black man to be recognized in the supporting actor drama category — the only Emmy acting category that has yet to crown a Black winner. Just in the last few months, the Maryland native shared the screen with Tom Cruise in the summer blockbuster 'Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning' and has become a breakout star of television's most nominated series. Milchick, the workplace liaison whose saccharine smile conceals something sinister, was conceived as a Black character. But Tillman's casting transformed everything — not only the role, but how audiences experience the unsettling world of 'Severance.' 'Playing Milchick is like putting on a suit of armor,' Tillman says. 'This man has layers upon layers upon layers, and every movement of Milchick is 100% intentional.' And yet, the performance never feels mechanical. It's balletic. Almost too smooth. As if charisma itself has become a surveillance tool. Noah Greenshner, executive VP of development and production at Fifth Season, the production company that makes 'Severance,' calls it one of the show's most masterful performances, saying, 'Tramell brings so much subtle humor and menace. He's able to play the depth of this character and make you laugh while making you afraid.' Season 1 of 'Severance' emerged in 2022 from the pandemic, made with masks and mandates, a kind of forced isolation that mirrored the show's core themes. Season 2 was rocked by the twin Hollywood strikes. Still, an alliance formed between the show's three then-unknown main players — Tillman, Britt Lower (Helly R.) and Zach Cherry (Dylan) — who dubbed themselves 'the freshman class.' 'We were surrounded by giants,' says Lower, naming co-stars like Adam Scott, Patricia Arquette, John Turturro and Christopher Walken. And yet she compares Tillman to an orchestra conductor. 'It's like he could play any instrument. And then he'd pull out another one. You'd think — how is he good at this too? He can do anything.' Cherry, reflecting on their shared time on the SAG-AFTRA picket lines, added, 'It solidified our bond outside of work, just knowing that this is someone who's going to show up when you do.' The audience showed up too. Online, due to his character's vast vocabulary ('devour feculence,' anyone?), Tillman became something of a fan magnet — dubbed 'Dictionary Daddy.' He smiles at the nickname but doesn't take it too seriously. Today he leans forward, not delivering lines or navigating the surreal landscape of viral fame. He's just himself: a Black man, a gay man, a man who told his mother the truth on a quiet road trip years ago and is on the cusp of making history. I'm going to get into trouble because the older siblings have their own perspective on what the younger siblings got. My sister, who's four years my senior, swears my upbringing was so much better and I got away with more. I don't know if I got away with more, but I was savvy in the sense that I could watch everyone else's mistakes and not do that and pivot. But I was also very responsible — oftentimes I was responsible for my older siblings. There were conversations with my parents like, 'Why don't you tell your sister to do this? Look out for your sister.' And I'm like, 'She's not going to listen to me. I'm 8.' First Baptist Church of Highland Park. Every Sunday, we were in church and dressed for church. We weren't allowed in the living room — that was for fancy moments. We had this beautiful crushed-velvet blue couch with gold accents. Music always played in our household, but on Sundays, church music. So we would go from Temptations, Aretha Franklin, Tupac, Biggie, Janet on weekdays to Sunday morning: Shirley Caesar, Kirk Franklin, Mississippi Mass Choir. That was our way of making sure that we kept the Sabbath holy. I had not heard 'front room' until I went to the South. We weren't allowed in the living room, or on the china in the dining room. The living room was for fancy moments. We had this gorgeous grandfather clock there, so you had to be careful how you walked. It was a mixed bag. We were a very passionate family. So there were arguments, there were fights, but there was also laughter and love sprinkled in as well. There was a lot of music. We were a very active family who were always running around, so a lot of footsteps. Every Saturday, my father would go to Blockbuster Video and rent movies, and we would order Domino's Pizza. Films like 'Die Hard,' 'Crooklyn,' 'Do the Right Thing,' 'Malcolm X' — we watched a lot of Black films. I was watching movies I had no business watching as a kid. My parents felt it was important that I be educated about what's going on in the world. I learned about sex when I was in the second grade. Yes. It's an action Christmas movie. Absolutely. There were rules, there was corporal punishment, and then when we got too old for that, we would be punished with book reports — academic punishment. This curtailed my love for reading, because at that time I started to associate punishment with reading. Anytime I didn't take out the trash, I broke a vase, I lied, I had to write book reports. Yes. I tried to glue it back together. It didn't work. I was very studious. It was very important for us to be excellent in everything we did, including academics — especially academics. Give you an example: When I got my report card, I got all A's and a B, and the first thing my father said to me was 'What's going on with this B?' The B was in math — I just didn't like it. Nothing was acceptable in our house but excellence. I had to be studious. My go-to was my My Buddy doll. Do you remember those? I remember having that doll as my best friend. I also had imaginary friends. Being shy and growing up in a tough home, I needed coping mechanisms. My wall was painted blue; when things got hard, I'd go to my room and just stare at it to dissociate. That shade of blue would call me. Even now, blue is my favorite color. Spades — you lose your life! [Laughs] If you asked me to play Spades, I'd break out in a sweat, because it tested the strength of our family relationships. In high school, it got so bad, they would ban us from playing spades. Uno was another one that would cause people's feelings to be hurt. We stack in this house. [Laughs] If someone says 'Uno' and another makes them draw four, you'd watch their whole disposition collapse. My mom used church as a coping mechanism, but my dad rejected it. He'd say, 'I'm not anti-white; I'm pro-Black, and I don't see why I need to worship a white Jesus.' He hated hymns that talked about being 'washed white as snow.' There was this stark dichotomy when it came to faith in the home, because my mom really believed in the teachings of Jesus Christ, and my father believed more in community and self-reliance. He stopped going to church with us. When we would go to early-morning service, he would say, 'Oh, y'all going to get God out the way early.' Even as a kid, something about that made me bristle. I felt that God and the art saved my life. I'm a person who still prays and believes. I wanted to be a storm chaser. 'Twister,' 'Dante's Peak,' earthquake movies, apocalyptic films. I was fascinated by natural disasters. I did not want to be in one and never wished anyone to endure a natural disaster. But there was something about the science behind it that was so mysterious, how these storms can have a dynamic effect and just move on. Honestly, no. There were moments that I felt release or freedom through the art form, because I could get away from the negativity. For me, acting was a vessel to escape, to avoid, to run away. Dancing was a way for me to allow my body to be free and express itself. Singing was a way to be heard in a different way, to allow myself to be loud. A lot of my childhood was about survival. I had to learn how to survive, produce and be excellent. I think with all those pressures, there weren't moments where I felt seen, because I didn't know who I was. I was hiding behind singing, acting, dancing, writing, performing. I'm always a little jealous when people talk about their first crush or first kiss — I don't remember those. My first live performance was a Christmas play I did at First Baptist Church in 1995. I played my mother's son — she was also in the play — and I had one direction: to say hello and sit on the couch. I cried and didn't want to go onstage because I was very shy as a kid. But my mom strongly encouraged me, and I did it, and it just clicked. From there, I became more involved in church performances, singing in the choir and even choreographing dances with my sister. But I was not a part of the liturgical dance ministry because, you know, I'm a boy — dance was for girls. My father's response was devastating. He said I'd never make it and I'd be a waiter for the rest of my life. My father had rarely seen me perform and wouldn't come to my plays. So I carried that with me and thought, 'Maybe I just won't make it.' The head of acting warned it might be a deal breaker — I'd be the only Black person in that program, and nearly the only Black male among faculty, staff and students. I thought, 'Hey, free education; I'll learn.' But I didn't grasp what I was signing up for until I moved there. It was never intimidating — more frustrating, overwhelming and isolating. I endured being called the N-word, followed and taunted with 'White power!' There were countless microaggressions. When I reported incidents, some in the community would say, 'Well, I didn't see it,' or 'I didn't think it was racist.' I can understand that theory. It's hard for me to answer because there are so many questions that I have about the character myself. What scares me is his potential. How he moves his eyes, how he moves his head. Everything is methodical. I'm always intrigued by people's histories. If I could go back to any time period, it would be the 1950s, because I want to watch my parents grow up. With Milchick, it's understanding where this man came from. I'm fascinated by history and how people get to certain points. When I learned there'd be a celebration with a band, I didn't want to reinforce a stereotype of 'Every season the Black man dances.' They understood. I wanted Milchick's movements to feel intentional, not random; this wasn't a co-worker who just showed up to kickline for no reason — it followed his being policed over vocabulary, terrible paintings and boardroom disrespect. Yes, it celebrates Mark, but this is also a moment for Milchick: Just like Tramell needed to be seen, Milchick needed to be seen. It was very important for me that this character did not shy away from his Blackness. I asked if we could infuse HBCU energy — that's how we got that style. That celebration was for him. That was him reclaiming joy. I knew it would feel authentic. I was a little nervous if the fans were going to come back. There's no telling, and there's so much quality programming out there. But I knew that we had to finish. I knew that there was too much invested in this show for it not to finish. It was just a matter of when and whether the fans would stay with us. I'm grateful that they did. The delay was outside of our hands. The first season, it was a pandemic. Second, we had two strikes. We're a show that doesn't rush. We want to take our time. This show needs that. I think the more we do it, we find our groove. We know who these characters are to a certain extent. We know how they move. On my first day, I filmed the doughnut-garage scene. I had gotten the script only the day before, and I was shaking in my boots. I was taken by his strength, grace, humility and passion. Definitely passion. I was shaking all morning, and I kept telling myself, 'I just want it to be over. I want 11:30 to come and go so I can just know and move on with my life.' I kept telling myself, 'Tramell, no matter what happens, it's OK. It's all right. It's not the end of the world.' My manager had set up a Zoom link for the team — if it went our way, everyone could hop on and celebrate, and if it didn't, there was no pressure. So when the list came out, my manager says, 'Outstanding supporting actor in a drama series: Tramell Tillman from 'Severance!'' and I was jumping up and down. That's when my team revealed their screens, and they all had 'Tram-Emmy' shirts on. Do I feel a weight? No. I feel honored to join the legacy of these incredible storytellers. I'm ambitious and would love an Emmy, but I've learned it's not up to me. I'd adapt African folktales and fairy tales, casting Colman Domingo, Mahershala Ali, Lupita Nyong'o, Sterling K. Brown, Jeffrey Wright, David Oyelowo, Michael B. Jordan and Nicole Beharie. Yes! Black Avengers but rooted in our ancestral stories. I'm not playing small for nobody. I'm not dimming my light for anybody. I have spent years doing that, and those days are done. Myself, stepping into that level of thinking and embodying, that is my own form of revolution. Best of Variety 'Blue Velvet,' 'Chinatown' and 'Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas' Arrive on 4K in June All the Godzilla Movies Ranked 'House of the Dragon': Every Character and What You Need to Know About the 'Game of Thrones' Prequel Solve the daily Crossword
