Ben Platt on “Difficult” ‘Dear Evan Hansen’ Film Experience: It Showed Internet Can Be “Horrific” - Hollywood Reporter

Ben Platt is opening up astir dealing with the societal media backlash to past year’s movie adaptation of Dear Evan Hansen.

During an interrogation with The New York Times that published online Monday, the histrion said helium felt “really grateful” for his clip spent playing the rubric relation successful the Broadway accumulation of the philharmonic that made him a star. However, helium besides said it was hard to woody with antagonistic effect to the movie version of the aforesaid name, released by Universal Pictures successful September 2021.

“It was decidedly a disappointing experience, and difficult, and it decidedly opened my eyes to the net and however horrific it tin be,” Platt said. “You’d think, aft doing Dear Evan Hansen onstage for 4 years, I would person already known that.”

He continued, “I effort my champion to absorption connected radical who archer maine it was moving to them and they truly felt seen by it. It is precise casual for the bully to get drowned retired by the bad.”

Platt originated the role of precocious schoolhouse elder Evan Hansen successful a Washington, D.C., accumulation of the philharmonic successful the summertime of 2015 earlier it yet opened connected Broadway successful December 2016. Dear Evan Hansen, focusing connected a prevarication that has large consequences, was a Broadway sensation and won six Tony Awards, including champion histrion for Platt.

However, the merchandise for manager Stephen Chbosky’s movie adaptation did not spell arsenic smoothly, contempt Platt reprising his relation alongside a star-studded formed that included Kaitlyn Dever, Amandla Stenberg, Julianne Moore and Amy Adams. The movie holds a 29 percent captious standing connected Rotten Tomatoes and collected $15 cardinal astatine the home container office.

The film’s trailer was wide mocked connected societal media, with users noting, among different complaints, that Platt, past 27, appeared to beryllium excessively aged to play a precocious schoolhouse student. In May 2021, the histrion responded by taking to Twitter to telephone retired “randos being jerks astir age.”

In his interrogation with the Times, Platt besides spoke astir having since deleted his Twitter account. “I find that Twitter is astir exclusively for tearing radical down,” the histrion said. “I wasn’t getting thing positive, and it’s been truly bully to beryllium away.”