Rachel Zegler and Gal Gadot avoided traditional signs of closeness at the woke Snow White premiere, showcasing a forced and awkward display that hints at their true distance

Rachel Zegler and her co-star Gal Gadot appeared ‘forced and uneasy’ while posing for snaps together as they attended the US premiere of Disney’s much-maligned Snow White remake.

The pair have been embroiled in rumours of a backstage feud due to their opposing views on the Israeli-Palestine conflict, but attempted to show that all was well as they attended the scaled-back red carpet on Saturday.

While Rachel, who plays the titular princess, and Gal did pose for a group snap with the film’s cast, as well as another with producer Marc E. Platt, fans were quick to note that tension between them seemed clear.

This was a point echoed by body language expert Judi James, who told MailOnline that the pair had both presented a ‘professional stance,’ at the premiere in a bid to seem more united than they did at the Academy Awards earlier this month.

However, noting the pair’s painted-on smiles as they attended the afternoon screening, she added that one tell-tale sign from Gal indicated that they are not as close as they’d like fans to believe.

She said: ‘When Gal and Rachel appeared together on stage at the recent Oscars there was none of the usual Hollywood displays of co-star bonding like touch, exchanges of eye contact or shared smiles. 

‘Rachel ”marched” out ahead, her arms swinging, and the two women walked off stage separately too, fueling those rumors of a ”feud”.

‘Here on the red carpet, there is at least proximity and touch with what looks like a line-up that includes arms being placed around waists, suggesting the two women are taking a very professional stance.

‘There are also smiles in these photos, but those smiles are shared with the camera rather than each other and some do look forced or uneasy, mainly those of the producers.

‘To be fair there’s a need for context. Gal and Rachel have a big height differential which could make vast exchanges of eye contact tricky. 

‘And red-carpet smiles are nearly always ”performance smiles” that have to be sustained for long periods of time, rotating around the banks of press cameras. 

‘There is also the possibility that the two women have decided to stay partly in role as they’re plugging their movie, with one playing Snow White to the other’s ”Evil Queen”.

Analysing the two stars’ appearances on the red carpet, Judi continued: ‘Rachel’s poses here are more animated and ‘Snow White’ cute. 

‘In the line-up she performs a wide mouth smile and a head tilt that is a gesture of a desire to look friendly and likeable. Gal’s head is upright and more regal-elegant, and she sports a symmetric social smile.

‘When the two women pose alone together there is again no touch or obvious rituals of connection in these photos. 

‘Gal has her right hand in a pocket and her left arm hangs straight at her side rather than being placed around Rachel’s back. 

‘Rachel mirrors the pose, which can suggest a lack of desire from both to be more tactile together.

‘Even in the group line-up where they do have arms behind backs there is no sign of Gal’s fingers around Rachel’s waist so we can’t see where her arm is actually placed.

‘But when we look at Gal’s solo poses here, she adopts the same look of one hand in her pocket and the other straight down at her side, meaning the pose with Rachel might not have anything to do with rejection.’

The promotional trail for Snow White has been beset by backlash, with scaling back the planned lavish premieres to a ‘handful’ of tightly controlled press events.

Fans were also quick to spot the tension between Gal, who plays the Evil Queen, and Rachel, amid claims of a feud behind the scenes.

One person on X observed, ‘Those are some bad, fake, forced smiles; none of the smiles are reaching their eyes.’

Another agreed, adding, ‘Guarantee the smiles dropped as soon as they were done with the picture.’

In reference to a photo featuring producer Marc E. Platt between the two actresses, someone commented, ‘He’s holding them back like two wild beasts trying to kill each other.’

Another person shared a photo of enemies feigning camaraderie while wielding weapons behind their backs, comparing the image to Rachel and Gal. 

It has been widely speculated that there is a behind-the-scenes clash between the live action film’s two leading stars.

It’s believed to be over their opposing views on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict; Gadot is notably from Israel.

A source recently told People that the two stars ‘have nothing in common’ and added, ‘On top of that, their political views differ, adding to the tension.’ 

The premiere is the latest scaled-back event from Disney bosses to promote the film, days after raising eyebrows by holding a ‘secret’ screening in Spain where global press were shut out. 

Zegler had attended an event in Tokyo to promote the film last week as she has led the press for the remake, but Gadot and the rest of the cast were not in attendance.

Disney’s choice comes following criticism and fears that the remake prioritized ‘woke’ messaging over authentic storytelling. 

Notably, the remake has dumped the traditional romance plot because of ‘sexism’ and reimagined the Seven Dwarfs as a diverse group of ‘magical creatures’.

Zegler herself has also criticized David Hand’s 1937 original animated film as ‘extremely dated when it comes to the ideas of women being in roles of power and what a woman’s fit for in the world’.

‘The original cartoon came out in 1937, and very evidently so,’ she told Extra TV in 2022. 

‘There’s a big focus on her love story with a guy who literally stalks her. Weird. So we didn’t do that this time.

‘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.’

‘All of Andrew’s scenes could get cut, who knows? It’s Hollywood, baby!’ she joked.

About the 1937 film, she added: ‘I was scared of the original version. I think I watched it once and never picked it up again. I’m being so serious.’

Zegler also told Variety that her version of Snow White would be dreaming about becoming a ‘fearless leader’ rather than ‘dreaming about true love’.

Sources previously revealed to DailyMail.com that Zegler’s reputation as a ‘loose cannon’ nearly got her axed from playing Snow White.

Zegler’s strong opinions have prompted some haters to vow to boycott the film.

Reflecting on comments made on social media about her casting as Snow White, Zegler insisted she doesn’t even try to wrap her head why ‘Disney adults’ would have a problem with someone Latina portraying the beloved princess.

Zegler proceeded to reveal that the line describing her character’s ‘skin as white as snow’ will reference ‘another version of Snow White that was told in history,’ in which the character ‘survived a snowstorm that occurred when she was a baby’.

‘The king and queen decided to name her Snow White to remind her of her resilience,’ she noted. ‘One of the core points in our film for any young woman or young person is remembering how strong you actually are.’  

The star also admitted that it was ‘sad’ to see so many people rip her apart for teasing that her version of Snow White would not not be saved by a prince.

Disney also sparked backlash after they announced that ‘magical creatures’ would replace the seven dwarves to ‘avoid reinforcing stereotypes’ after Game of Thrones actor Peter Dinklage criticized the ‘f****** backwards story’ last year.

Dinklage’s concerns were shared by some charities, including the Restricted Growth Association in the UK.

The story has also been criticised as being ableist for portraying the dwarfs with lesser intelligence and Snow White seeing them as children.

Disney later said it’s ‘taking a different approach’ with Snow White’s seven companions.

In a statement last year, the company said it had been consulting with members of the dwarfism community throughout the early stages of production. 

‘To avoid reinforcing stereotypes from the original animated film, we are taking a different approach with these seven characters and have been consulting with members of the dwarfism community,’ a spokesperson said.

‘We look forward to sharing more as the film heads into production after a lengthy development period.’

In December last year, sources close to the production said Snow White’s seven ‘dwarfs’ were not going to be fully computer generated, and wouldn’t be dwarfs at all.Instead, she would be befriended by magical, forest-dwelling creatures.