Rachel Zegler is opening up about a shocking experience she faced while preparing to star in “West Side Story.”
In a March cover story for Allure, the actor, 23, claimed that “white executives” asked her to prove her Latina heritage was “legit” during the casting process for Steven Spielberg’s remake of the famous 1961 musical.
“There’s confusion because I don’t have a single ounce of Latin in my name,” Zegler, who is Columbian American, told the outlet. “When I was in the running for María in ‘West Side Story,’ they kept calling to ask if I was legit. I remember thinking, ‘Do you want me to bring my abuelita in?’ I will. I’ll bring her into the studio if you want to meet her.”
The “Hunger Games” actor added, “Having a bunch of white executives have you prove your identity to them … it’s an interesting experience being part of that diaspora in the current climate we live in. But I love being Colombian.”
Zegler was casted by Spielberg as the musical’s female lead, María, which marked her big-screen debut. The film later earned her a Golden Globes win for Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture — Musical or Comedy.
HuffPost has reached out to 20th Century Studios and Amblin Entertainment for comment.
The star went on to say that she was cast as Snow White in the upcoming live-action retelling of Disney’s 1937′s “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” — despite the animated version of the titular character not being of Latina descent — because of her singing abilities.
“The reality is, I was given a chance because I could sing,” Zegler said. “My only prayer for the future of diversity and inclusion is that we invest in and nurture talent no matter what they look like.”
In 2021, Zegler’s casting as the Disney princess prompted racist backlash. She addressed the criticism in an interview with Vogue Mexico last month.
“I interpret people’s feelings about this film as a passion for it,” Zegler said in the story, which was translated to English by The Hollywood Reporter. “What an honor to be part of something that people feel so passionate about. We’re not always going to have the same feelings as everyone around us, and all we can do is give the best of ourselves.”
Elsewhere in the Allure interview, Zegler shared why she thinks it’s “so important for the next generation to see movies like ‘Snow White.’”
“To realize there’s nothing wrong with choosing to do what’s right and that it doesn’t have to be with anger or a clenched fist,” she explained. “Anger can be a powerful emotion, but it doesn’t bring the brightest future … Snow White chooses kindness and still makes change.”
Zegler added: “Power takes many forms. I hope we’ll see a new dawn of kindness and acceptance in the next couple of years. And people don’t see the need to use hate to cause further division.”
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