Rachel Zegler’s comments about the upcoming live-action Snow White remake could have “a huge impact on ticket sales,” branding experts warn.
The 22-year-old actress has received a lot of backlash after admitting she “hated” the original 1937 film and called the storyline “weird” while calling the Prince character a “stalker.”
The big-budget Disney film is slated to release in March 2024, and now executives are predicted to “hold crisis talks” to severely mitigate damage following the negative backlash to Rachel’s stance.
The backlash came after several videos of Rachel speaking negatively about the original movie in several interviews resurfaced online last year, where she said of her version of the character, “She won’t be saved by the Prince and she won’t talk about it.” to dream.” real love.’
In addition to being labeled a “phony feminist,” some critics accused Rachel of “gaslighting,” and a marketing consultant has warned that Disney should be “careful about how they portrayed Snow White.”
Rachel Zegler’s comments about upcoming Snow White remake could have ‘huge impact on ticket sales’, brand experts warn
Transformation: The 22-year-old actress plays the Disney princess in the upcoming live action remake
Disney classic: During a 2022 interview, Rachel admitted she “hated” the original 1937 film
Speaking to DailyMail.com, branding expert Carla Speight said, “While it’s clear that the original Disney Princess movies have old values, Disney has fallen into the trap of going to the other extreme to deliver strong and fraught messages to the public. imposing on viewers, that is empowerment.
There was a time when Disney actors were media-trained and thought carefully about the impact of their words while sticking to the key messages about the movies, but it seems that with this total rewrite of Snow White, portraying her as a “boss girl” gone to the heads of their stars.
Disney will have to be careful about how they’ve portrayed Snow White and what they do and don’t allow their actors to say about it in the future. They just can’t repeat the same mistakes and allow their actors to be so outspoken in their own personal opinions during promotions.
‘It can have a huge impact on ticket sales, especially with the amount of negative reactions so early in the promotion process.’
Carla continued, “They need to get the main message and strong selling point into a briefing for the film’s cast and make sure they stick to it. If they don’t, disaster is about to happen and resistance will continue to grow.
“It might be a good idea to ask Rachel what she meant and emphasize that it was her own personal opinion, not a contempt for women,” she advised.
“They need to emphasize the important message that it’s okay to be who you want to be. After all, Disney famously told us that they are the place where “dreams come true” and never really defined what those dreams should be. Neither do their actors.’
PR expert Nick Ede agrees, telling DailyMail.com that Rachel might “not be the best person to promote the movie” — despite playing the main character.
Not looking good: The brunette star was accused of being a ‘fake feminist’ after her 2022 comments resurfaced
Dynamic duo: Rachel stars alongside Gal Gadot who will take on the role of the Evil Queen
Rachel is a big-name star who plays one of the world’s most famous fairytale characters, immortalized by Disney, but instead of playing the lead role of Halle Bailey from The Little Mermaid and embracing her role, Rachel has actively chosen to to spoil the story and express the new. direction she took Snow White,” Nick claimed.
“This is by no means a wrong move and Snow White and other stories, if they were written today, would have very different nuances and stories, but the fact that she is actively negative about the source material and the old Disney movie and fairy tale makes her looking too eager to show off the new version and showing little or no respect for the previous version and other iterations.
“I’m sure Disney executives must be having crisis talks and thinking their new Snow White might not be the best person to promote the movie and make sure it’s a success,” predicted Nick.
“The movie will be out in 2024 and with the negative narrative surrounding it now, they will have a hard time creating the magical and positive hype that they ultimately wanted to get Rachel to appear on the red carpet.
“The negative press can tempt people to see what all the fuss is about, but unlike the recent Barbie movie, which contains brilliant feminist and empowering messages that we only discovered upon viewing, it feels like the cat is out of the bag.” left and we already have an opinion on the movie thanks to Rachel’s story.’
Speaking alongside her co-star Gal Gadot at the D23 Expo last September, Rachel promised fans that her version of Snow White “will not be saved by the Prince,” saying “she won’t dream of true love.” ‘
“She dreams of becoming the leader she knows she can be and the leader her late father told her she could be if she was fearless, honest, courageous and faithful,” she told Variety.
Back then: In the original Disney movie, Snow White befriended seven dwarves, including Grumpy and Dopey
In a separate red carpet interview at the same event, she said, “The original cartoon came out in 1937, and that’s obvious. There is a lot of attention for her love story with a man who literally stalks her. Foreign! Foreign! So we didn’t do that this time.
“We have a different approach than what I’m sure a lot of people will assume is a love story just because we cast a guy in the movie,” Rachel continued, referring to Andrew Burnap.
“All of Andrew’s scenes can be cut, who knows? It’s Hollywood, baby!’ she joked, before admitting in a separate interview that she was “terrified” when she got to ride Snow White at Disney World.
‘I was afraid of the original version. I think I saw him once and then never picked it up again. I’m so serious,” she claimed.
“I watched it once, and then I went on the ride at Disney World, which was called Snow White’s Scary Adventures. Doesn’t sound like something a small child would enjoy. I was terrified of it, never to see Snow White again.’
After TikTok and Twitter exploded with negative backlash, Rachel seemingly responded to the backlash, tweeting on Friday, August 11, “I hope the world gets kinder.”
A few hours later, she added, “I love you very much. Forever and ever. Don’t forget to be nice. Treat each other with patience and empathy.
“Remember that you are loved unconditionally, regardless of your mistakes, regardless of your misunderstandings. You deserve it. You deserve love. You deserve to live without fear.”
When one fan replied and asked, “Are you also extremely exhausted all the time?” Rachel responded and said, “I’m so exhausted. I think it’s over for me, tbh.”
DailyMail.com has reached out to representatives for both Rachel and Disney for comment.