After a petition to disinvite her, Gal Gadot’s absence at the Venice Film Festival triggered widespread chatter online.
The Italian city had rolled out the red carpet and welcomed stars like Julia Roberts, George Clooney, and Andrew Garfield to the days-long festival.
But Gal skipped the event altogether in light of the controversy.
“Victory for humanity,” one commented on her absence, while others said, “I stand with Gal.”
Gal Gadot’s absence at the Venice Film Festival triggered widespread chatter online
Image credits: Getty / Craig T Fruchtman
Israeli actress Gal and her In the Hand of Dante co-star Gerard Butler were both noticeably missing from the prestigious film festival that concluded last week.
They were both named in an open letter that urged the Biennale, the festival’s parent body, to disinvite them before the festival began.
Image credits: La Biennale Di Venezia
Ahead of the film festival, several activists hoped to shift the spotlight to the ongoing humanitarian crisis in the Middle East.
Over 1,500 people, including industry figures and filmmakers, signed an open letter from the group V4P to bring attention to the conflict.
Gal and co-star Gerard Butler were both named in a petition signed by 1,500 people to have them disinvited
Image credits: Instagram / fallontonight
The letter condemned the Middle Eastern crisis and asked organizers to withdraw invitations to Gerard and Gal over their political stance on the subject.
“We have been asked to turn down invitations to artists, we will not do that – if they want to be at the festival, they will be here,” the festival’s artistic director, Alberto Barbera, said in a press conference last month.
Image credits: La Biennale Di Venezia
Although Alberto confirmed that the stars were not disinvited, neither Gal nor Gerard were present at the festival.
“GOOD RIDDANCE!” one commented online, while another wrote, “Ban her from ever working in a film again, please.”
“Keep her off our screens. She can’t even act,” said another.
Although they weren’t disinvited, both Gal and Gerard were noticeably absent from the Venice Film Festival
Image credits: Instagram / gal_gadot
Others said, “I’m on Gal’s side.”
“WTF is going on. Leave her alone. Where’s all this hate come from?” one fan said.
“The only thing she should be banned is for bad acting, but it turns out that there is a demand for that too and you can’t argue with her success,” another commented.
Artist Julian Schnabel, who directed both Gal and Gerard in the thriller In the Hand of Dante, addressed the calls to boycott actors due to the ongoing crisis.
“There’s no reason to boycott artists,” Julian said during a news conference at the film festival.
Image credits: Instagram / gerardbutler
“I selected those actors for their merits as actors and they did an extraordinary job in the film. That’s about it. As far as [the conflict], I think we should talk about the movie, rather than this issue,” he said.
Gal recently spoke about the backlash she has been receiving, especially after she and her Snow White co-star Rachel Zegler took opposing stances on the ongoing crisis.
Director Julian Schnabel addressed the calls to boycott the two stars who acted in his recent film
Image credits: Instagram / gal_gadot
During an interview on the talk show The A Talks, Gal was asked about the movie being a major flop.
“I was sure that this movie was going to be a huge success,” she said last month.
She noted there is “a lot of pressure on celebrities to speak” about the conflict, and this affected the movie’s performance.
Image credits: Getty / Rich Polk
“You can always explain and try to give people in the world a context about what’s happening and what the reality is here, but in the end, people decide for themselves,” she continued.
“I was disappointed that the movie was greatly affected by that and didn’t do well at the box office,” she added.
The Israeli actress spoke about how her political stance affected the success of Snow White
Image credits: Instagram / gal_gadot
The actress later clarified that even though people “criticized [her] in a very personal, almost visceral way” for her political stance, this wasn’t the only reason the film flopped.
“Of course, the film didn’t fail solely because of external pressures. There are many factors that determine why a film succeeds or fails, and success is never guaranteed,” she wrote in an Instagram Story.
Disney’s Snow White suffered a loss of about $115 million following its release earlier this year.
Fans had mixed reactions to the ongoing controversy surrounding Gal
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