In a new interview, \

  • Gal Gadot suggested that political pressure on celebrities to speak out against Israel contributed to Disney’s Snow White underperforming at the box office, though she acknowledged other factors played a role.

  • The film, starring Gadot and Rachel Zegler, earned $87 million domestically compared to higher-performing Disney remakes; Zegler faced criticism for her pro-Palestine stance during promotion.

  • Gadot emphasized she enjoyed working with Zegler, said her “conscience is clean” regarding support for Israel, and expressed hope for peace and safety for all people.

  • ThePowerOfGeek@lemmy.worldEnglish
    46·
    5 days ago

    This is complete bullshit. Zegler’s one or two pro-Palestine comments made barely any difference to how the movie was received. And Gadot saying this smacks of of deflection and Israel persecution complex. By far the bigger factors were: nobody wanted to see it (and it was clearly a shallow money-grab by Disney), the whole dwarf portrayal fiasco, and Zegler being generally mouthy and unlikeable.

    • ZoteTheMighty@lemmy.zipEnglish
      17·
      4 days ago

      Gal Gadot is probably mostly talking about herself. She’s Israeli and has been pro-Israel for a long time.

    • AmidFuror@fedia.io
      91·
      5 days ago

      Was there not a backlash to Snow White being portrayed by a person of color? Prior to everyone knowing it was also a bad movie, I have to think that would have had an impact. Especially because a major part of Disney’s market is appealing to families in flyover states.

      • ThePowerOfGeek@lemmy.worldEnglish
        8·
        5 days ago

        Good point. That was another factor. There were a lot of scandals (some legit, some silly) the with that movie. But Disney supposedly pushing some sort of anti-Israel agenda was not one of them.

      • Zorque@lemmy.worldEnglish
        4·
        4 days ago

        There’s always a backlash when there’s someone non-white (and often non-male) in a leading role in a movie these days. Often they really only get traction when the movie sucks, though.

        • FreeAZ@sopuli.xyzEnglish
          71·
          4 days ago

          I agree that typically that backlash is stupid and just racist, but even in the original folktale the entire reason she is called “Snow White” was because she was supposed to have “skin as white as snow”. It is weird that they chose a non-white actress in this case.

          • Zorque@lemmy.worldEnglish
            2·
            3 days ago

            She also had a sister named Rose Red.

            I feel like there’s already been significant changes from the source material, so changing such a minor factor as her skin color is probably not the faux pas racists think it is.