Mark Webb is the director of the live-action Snow White. This movie, now in theaters, retells the original animated classic film made by Walt Disney on December 21, 1937. As this new version of the story arrives in theaters, Webb shares how he and his team mined the Walt Disney Archives when making this film.
Along with director Mark Webb, Snow White has a screenplay by Erin Cressida Wilson. It stars Rachel Zeglre as Snow White, the courageous, kind, and spirited princess. Gal Gadow plays the Evil Queen, Snow White’s icy and unyielding stepmother. They are joined by Andrew Burnap as Jonathan, a young man who is eager to defy the monarchy.
“Snow White is iconic, obviously, and the opportunity to look at that character and her story through a slightly new lens was thrilling,” Webb said. “I kept thinking about my daughter and what messages I want to send her way; I want her to be proud of what her dad is working on, and this was a great way to do that. There’s something elemental about Snow White’s kindness, but she’s also quite brave. She finds the best in people, and so I think Snow White is a reminder that there’s real value in being kind and having good faith.”
“There’s a lot of motifs and themes that are really important, but something that’s stayed with me is Snow White’s optimism, her kindness, and her ability to inspire the people around her,” Webb said of the beloved character’s timeless qualities. “What cuts through everything else in the film is her gentle, thoughtful, quite powerful worldview of kindness.”
About Snow White
In Snow White, the vain Evil Queen rules the kingdom with an iron fist. When her magic mirror reveals her stepdaughter is the fairest in all the land, she devises a devious plan to get rid of the princess. After fleeing the castle to escape her stepmother’s wrath, Snow White encounters woodland creatures that lead her to a picturesque cottage in the woods. There, she befriends seven dwarfs — Bashful, Doc, Dopey, Grumpy, Happy, Sleepy, and Sneezy — who spend their days digging for jewels in the nearby mines. She also meets Jonathan, who is captivated by her beauty and benevolence. Thanks to her new friends, Snow White is inspired to find her voice and summon the strength to face the Evil Queen.
Webb shared that Snow White honors the original story and also expands on it. Before production began at London’s Pinewood Studios in 2021, he went to Walt Disney Archives for creative inspiration. This turned out to be an invaluable visit in the creation of this new film Webb shared.
“One of my favorite discoveries was an early sketch of the prince in the dungeon,” Webb said. “There’s not much of a storyline in the original film about him. It’s all very lovely and graceful and so beautifully rendered. So, we went back and we used what Walt Disney had started to build and expanded on that in our movie. The storyline with Jonathan, who’s the love interest in our movie, really began with that one image of the prince stuck in the dungeon. It felt like we were reaching into the past and connecting with the incredibly talented animators who had come before us.”
Sandy Powell, a three-time Academy Award winner, who created costumes for the live action version of Disney’s Cinderella went with Webb to the Disney Archives. She “took copious notes” during the visit, Webb shared. “She looked at not just the original renderings of all the costumes in Snow White, but the historical periods from which they came. She fleshed out those ideas. She got a great sense of history, attention, and reverence for these characters to build on.”
Another highlight that came out of this research trip to the Disney Archives came to Jeff Morrow, who is the composer behind the new movie’s original score. “The Archives brought out the old jugs that were used in ‘Silly Song,’ and Jeff and I actually got to play them on the Disney studio lot,” Webb said. “We recorded them, and you can hear them in ‘Silly Song’ — and in ‘Whistle While You Work, by the way! You can hear the calliope bit as Sneezy is sneezing his way through the song.”
Getting to record a new version of the yodel song that the seven dwarfs perform to entertain Snow White, “That was a magical, fun day in Burbank,” Webb said.
Snow White is full of magic and includes original songs by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul.
“You want to be surrounded by all the emotion; it makes for a thrilling, completely profound, fun time at the movies,” Webb explained. “It’s like going to a concert or a live show; you get to experience it with a crowd and hear the excitement. I just experienced it at the premiere, and the response was humbling. It was wonderful to hear the laughs, the cheers, the sighs, the applause. That was as good of an experience as I’ve had in my career.”
