Danica Patrick held nothing back when it came to making her thoughts known when it came to Rachel Zegler’s Snow White remake.
The 43-year-old former race car driver and model took to Instagram to share a video criticizing the film, complete with a pointed caption that read: “Bye bye.”
Patrick’s post came amid mounting backlash against the Disney classic’s reboot. The movie, which had a staggering $214 million budget, opened to a much lower $ 42.2 million domestically.
Rachel Zegler, the movie’s protagonist, was also recently criticized by the son of the movie’s producer Marc Platt, who called her “immature” and “narcissistic” due to her comments in the lead up to the movie’s debut.
Danica Patrick “trolls” Rachel Zegler after Snow White’s poor performance at the box office
The live-action movie faced criticism from its very inception.
The mere proposition of remaking a beloved classic was met with skepticism by a segment of viewers who believe the recent batch of Disney reboots—such as The Lion King and The Little Mermaid—have not lived up to the quality of their original versions.
The movie’s decision to use CGI dwarfs instead of real-life ones was also negatively received, with netizens arguing the computer-generated characters look “unappealing” and “uncanny.”
However, no aspect of the movie has received as much backlash as its leading actress, Rachel Zegler.
While at first negativity surrounding her was mainly due to Disney’s decision to cast an actress of Latin American descent as the animated princess with skin “white as snow,” Zegler’s behavior in interviews was received as “combative” and “distasteful.”
For instance, an interview months prior to the movie’s release had her dismiss the original 1937 animated classic as “weird,” stating that the story was ultimately about a man stalking a woman, and that her new version would not be about romance, but leadership.
The actress multiple controversies prior to release were cited as being a detrimental factor to the movie’s appeal
Zegler then followed that remark by joking that her co-star, Andrew Burnap, could be cut entirely from the film. Upon release, viewers found out that the actor, who was thought to be playing the part of The Prince, was downgraded to a bandit.
The actress’ social media presence has also contributed to increasing the animosity between her and audiences. Prior to the movie’s debut, the actress uploaded a story in which she said, “May Trump supporters and Trump voters and Trump himself never know peace.”
While the actress apologized for her words in early January, rumors of behind-the-scenes tensions between her and her co-star, Gal Gadot, started swirling up.
The two actresses were allegedly at odds with each other due to, in part, their differing stances on the Palestine-Israel conflict.
Hollywood insiders, on the other hand, believe the backlash against the movie goes beyond Zegler and instead reflects a larger trend.
“Audiences are tired of being lectured. They want escapism, not a revisionist history lesson,” one anonymous source told The Hollywood Reporter.
“Move on.” Patrick’s comments sparked a debate in her comment section
