By Grace Gilson
You don’t want to mess around with Academy Award-nominated producer Marc Platt.
When the Pikesville-born-and-bred movie titan heard that Rachel Zegler, one of the stars of his live-action “Snow White,” tweeted “free palestine” last year after sharing the trailer for her latest movie, Platt flew to New York to personally talk to Zegler, according to recent media reports.
Reportedly, more than 9 million have read the tweet so far, according to Variety.
The content of the conversation between Platt and Zegler is unknown, but the tweet stayed up — and caused more fallout. Gal Gadot, Zegler’s Israeli co-star in “Snow White,” subsequently received death threats, prompting Disney to hire additional security for her, according to Variety.
Months later, after November’s presidential election, Zegler, 23, posted “F— Donald Trump” and wished that his supporters “never know peace.” That triggered another conversation with Platt; Disney hired a social media advisor who would approve her posts until the movie’s premiere this earlier month.
Platt, 67, is a 1975 graduate of Pikesville High School. Among his best-known works are “La La Land,” “Wicked,” “Bridge of Spies” and “The Trial of the Chicago 7.”
The Zegler matter was far from Platt’s first encounter with the Middle East conflict. His wife is Julie Platt, chair of the Jewish Federations of North America, which has raised hundreds of millions for Israel following Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack, which launched the war in Gaza. (Their son is Emmy Award-winning actor Ben Platt, 31.)
“Snow White” opened last weekend to a box office of $43 million domestically, which fell far short of expectations. The film had a production budget of $270 million and a marketing budget of $100 million.
Gadot, 39, was recently honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk Hall of Fame. The ceremony was disrupted by anti-Israel protesters.
Grace Gilson wrote this article for the JTA global Jewish news source. Jmore staff contributed to the report.
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