Disney’s live-action Snow White movie is a box office and a critical failure, and the fallout has sparked intense criticism of its lead actress, Rachel Zegler. Jonah Platt, the son of producer Marc Platt, publicly called out Zegler in a since-deleted Instagram comment, blaming her behavior for the film’s poor performance. Jonah responded to a commenter who criticized his father for reportedly flying to New York to confront Zegler about her divisive political statements during the movie’s promotion, a story that was reported in Variety.
Defending his father’s actions, Jonah wrote:
“You really want to do this? Yeah, my dad, the producer of enormous piece of Disney IP with hundreds of millions of dollars on the line, had to leave his family to fly across the country to reprimand his 20-year-old employee for dragging her personal politics into the middle of promoting the movie for which she signed a multi-million dollar contract to get paid and do publicity for.”
Jonah didn’t hold back in pointing out how Zegler’s actions impacted the movie’s success:
“This is called adult responsibility and accountability. And her actions clearly hurt the film’s box office. Free speech does not mean you’re allowed to say whatever you want in your private employment without repercussions. Tens of thousands of people worked on that film and she hijacked the conversation for her own immature desires at the risk of all the colleagues and crew and blue-collar workers who depend on that movie to be successful. Narcissism is not something to be coddled or encouraged.”
See Also The Unbearable Smugness of Rachel Zegler & Her Loathing for ‘Snow White’
Zegler has been a lightning rod for controversy ever since Disney announced her casting as Snow White. Critics questioned why Disney chose a Colombian and Polish actress for a character traditionally depicted as a fair-skinned Caucasian in both the original 1937 animated film and the original Grimm Brothers’ fairy tale, as well as countless other adaptations. Zegler only fueled the backlash by calling the original movie “dated” and “weird,” joking about bleaching her skin for the role, and alienating fans of the beloved classic.
Flashback: Disney Hires “Problematic” Actress of Color to Play Snow White
While Zegler’s political comments and rude behavior undeniably hurt Snow White, the real blame lies with Disney itself. The studio knowingly cast an actress of color, and one with a history of making divisive public statements, seemingly overlooking how these decisions might affect their $200 million remake. Instead of choosing someone who could embody Snow White’s timeless appeal, Disney opted for Zegler despite her controversial tendencies—and it backfired bigly. Did they really think the movie was going to be a success despite these decisions? Have they learned nothing?
And it wasn’t just the casting. The film’s attempts to modernize the story were ultimately unappealing. Changes to Snow White’s character, such as turning her into a leader of a rebellion, were criticized for straying too far from the original’s innocent and childlike portrayal, and the changes to the drawfs, or the seven bandits, were clearly last minute decisions after Peter Dinklage tried to shame the studio for even thinking about including dwarfs at all. The script was a hodgepodge patchwork rife with studio interference. This entire production was a mess.
In the end, Zegler’s immaturity and self-centeredness certainly played a role in Snow White’s failure, but Disney should bear the brunt of the responsibility because they are the ones who put her in that position to begin with. They gambled on an actress who had a history of being “problematic,” hated the source material, delighted in the race-swapped nature of her casing, and whose actions ultimately alienated fans and ended up overshadowing the film itself. Platt isn’t necessarily wrong, but Disney set this film up for disaster from the start. The required social graces should have been enforced from the very beginning of the production, not after the movie is already out and bombing.
Hopefully we’ve managed to find the silver lining to all this.
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English (US) · 