Rachel Zegler Shows Gratitude To Disney Over To 2022 Oscar Awards

Only a few days remain till the 94th Academy Awards. While final preparations are already rounding up, the showrunners hope that this year's edition will beat the previous year's low viewership and ratings.

As the world tries to recover from the impact of COVID-19, the Oscars are still maintaining some rigorous criteria for the show. One of which is the downsizing of the regular hall capacity to allow social distancing.

While the reduced numbers meant that fewer invitations would be sent out, many fans were surprised by the impending absence of prominent celebrities. Rachel Zegler, for example, recently stated that despite her efforts, she unfortunately did not receive an invitation to the upcoming event.

The statement led to backlash from fans who got upset at her omission from the event. Luckily for the young actress, this led to her eventually getting invited by the Academy of arts to be a presenter, an invite which she recently acknowledged.

Zegler officially accepted her invite to the Oscars as a presenter by reposting the official announcement by the Academy on her Instagram stories and tweeting her appreciation to Disney and her fans.

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"Well Folks, i can’t believe I’m saying this but... see you on sunday!" the star stated joyfully in the tweet.

The actress who played Mara Vasquez in the new version of "West Side Story," alleged in a series of social media remarks that she was left off the list of persons invited to the Academy Awards. The admission occurred after a fan commented on the actress' previous Instagram photo, "Can't wait to see what you'll be wearing on Oscar night," to which she answered straight, "I'm not invited, so sweatpants and my boyfriend's flannel."

Following up on her remark, the 20-year-old revealed that her impending absence is not due to a lack of effort. Instead, she had attempted multiple times to obtain an invitation but had been unsuccessful each time.

"[I don't know] y'all, I have tried it all, but it doesn't seem to be happening," she said. "I will root for West Side Story from my couch and be proud of the work we so tirelessly did three years ago."

The actress was hopeful that a last-minute invitation would arrive before the D-day, allowing her to physically support "Westside Story."

"I hope some last-minute miracle occurs and I can celebrate our film in person, but hey, that's how it goes sometimes, I guess," Zegler continued. "Thanks for all the shock and outrage — I'm disappointed, too. But that's okay. So proud of our movie.

It would seem Disney made a miracle actually happen after the Academy swiftly included the young actress as a presenter for the upcoming show following fan outrage.

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"West Side Story" would go head to with "The Power of the Dog," "Nightmare Alley," "Licorice Pizza," "King Richard," "Belfast," "Don't Look Up," "CODA," "Dune," and "Drive My Car "in the Best Picture category.

Additionally, the movie received nominations for other categories, including Best Director, Best Supporting Actress, Best Cinematography, Best Production Design, Best Costume Design, and Best Sound.

Getting a ticket is a relatively straightforward process. Each candidate and presenter is granted a pair of tickets, while the remaining tickets are distributed to the movie production companies.

Even though Ziegler was not nominated for Best Actress despite her riveting performance in the film, her failure to receive an invite was surprising. Most fans anticipated her to receive an invite from the company's allowed portion.

Regardless, the actress pleaded with fans to "respect the process" and not blow the problem out of proportion to detract from the "West Side Story's" accomplishments. She also thanked fans for their outpouring of support in protesting her lack of invitation to the Oscars—an action that definitely yielded excellent results in her favor.

While Ziegler did not receive an Oscar nomination, she did receive a Golden Globe win for her role as Maria in the film earlier this year. The significant triumph has helped the actress advance in her career, gaining her critical praise and other honors that will undoubtedly allow her to acquire additional roles in the future.

Meanwhile, Zegler is preparing to play Snow White in a new live-action remake of the iconic animated picture for Disney. The film is now in production at Pinewood Studios in the United Kingdom and will star Gal Gadot (Wonder Woman) as The Evil Queen and Andrew Burnap as Jonathan.

Watch out for Rachel Zegler at The Academy Awards this sunday, March 27.