Israeli actress Gal Gadot will play the evil queen in Disney's remake of the 1938 classic "Snow White", entertainment online outlet Deadline reported late on Wednesday.
"Gadot is in final negotiations to play the Evil Queen, in Disney's live-action adaptation," Deadline said.
The news came a week before the release of the Netflix action film "Red Notice," where Gadot plays an art thief alongside Dwayne Johnson and Ryan Reynolds.
Disney executives eyed Gadot for the role from the start, the report said, adding that she was excited to join a list of Hollywood villains such as Angelina Jolie and Kate Blanchet, who both played iconic roles in Disney films. Jolie played Maleficent and the evil stepmother in the production Cinderella, and Blanchet was the evil step-mom in Disney's Sleeping Beauty.
Marc Webb will direct Gadot. He made his feature film directorial debut with the romantic comedy "500 Days of Summer" and "Gifted," and went on to direct the 2012 "Spider-Man" reboot."
Relatively unknown 20-year old Rachel Zegler will play Snow White in the film. She also played a starring role in the soon-to-be-releasedSteven Spielberg's remake of "West Side Story."
Snow White, which is based on the Brothers Grimm fairytale, was originally released as Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, by the Disney Studios in animated form in 1938.
Hollywood Reporter quoted sources as saying that filming will begin in 2022 and expand on the Brothers' Grimm original storyline.