Josh Gad says films are being ‘bombastically dumbed down’
Actor said modern films felt like they were going ‘a hundred miles an hour in every single scene’
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Josh Gad has said that the underestimation of viewers has led to films being “dumbed down”.
In a new interview with The Independent, the Frozen star discussed his enduring love of the classic films from his childhood.
“You look at a movie like Jaws, and the shark isn’t on the screen for more than 20 minutes,” Gad said.
“I think we’ve got bombastically dumbed down in terms of what we think an audience can handle in terms of telling a story slowly, not feeling like you have to go a hundred miles an hour in every single scene.”
Elsewhere in the interview, Gad discussed appearing in Disney’s first “exclusively gay moment” in the 2017 live-action Beauty and the Beast remake and the controversy that surrounded it.
The actor’s character LeFou was briefly seen dancing with another man in one scene, leading critics to say that the film did not deserve praise for such a minor snippet of LGBTQ+ representation.
“We didn’t go far enough to warrant accolades,” Gad agreed. “We didn’t go far enough to say, ‘Look how brave we are.’ My regret in what happened is that it became ‘Disney’s first explicitly gay moment’ and it was never intended to be that.
“Frankly, I don’t think we did justice to what a real gay character in a Disney film should be… If we’re going to pat ourselves on the back, then damn it we should have gone further with that.”
Gad is currently starring opposite Isla Fisher in Wolf Like Me, which is now available on Prime Video.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments