Branding experts have come forward to express their fears for Disney’s upcoming live-action remake of “Snow White” due to past comments made by the film’s star Rachel Zegler.
Last year, the 22-year-old actress was interviewed about the role, admitting that she “hated” the original 1937 movie and thought the storyline was “weird.” Zegler also said she thought the Prince character was a “stalker” and that her version of the character was “…not going to be saved by the prince and she’s not going to be dreaming about true love.”
Recently, clips of the interviews have resurfaced on social media, which has caused quite a bit of backlash for Zegler. In turn, it’s been reported that executives might be planning to have “crisis talks” in an attempt to find ways to reduce the negative response from fans over Rachel’s stance on the movie.
Speaking to DailyMail.com, branding expert Carla Speight said:
“Whilst it’s been clear that the original Disney Princess films hold old values, Disney have fallen for the trap of going to the opposite extreme to inflict strong and loaded messaging on the viewers – believing that’s empowerment.
There was a time when Disney actors were media trained and were thoughtful about the impact of their words, whilst sticking to key messaging about the films, but it seems with this total rewrite of Snow White, picturing her as a “boss girl” has gone to the heads of their stars.
Disney will need to be careful with how they have portrayed Snow White and what they do and don’t allow their actors to say about it going forwards. They simply cannot repeat the same mistakes and allow their actors to be so vocal in their own personal opinions during promotions.
‘It can have a huge impact on ticket sales, especially with the amount of negative backlash so early in the promo trail.”
PR expert Nick Ede told DailyMail.com that perhaps Rachel “isn’t the best person to promote the film” – despite playing the main character.
After TikTok and Twitter blew up with a negative response, Rachel responded to the backlash and tweeted on Friday, August 11: “I hope the world becomes kinder.”
A few hours later, she added: “I love you very much. Forever and ever. Remember to be kind. Treat each other with patience and empathy. Remember that you are loved unconditionally, no matter your mistakes, no matter your misunderstandings. You deserve it. You deserve love. You deserve to live without fear.”
When one fan replied and asked: “Are you also just like extremely exhausted all the time” Rachel responded and said: “I am so exhausted. I think it’s over for me tbh.”
What are your thoughts on Zegler’s comments of the original “Snow White” film and do you believe they could negatively affect the live-action remake’s ability to perform at the box-office? Let us know in the comments!
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