Mean Girls’ star Avantika’s role in live-action Tangled movie sparks online controversy
The DisInsider reportedly broke the news of a live-action Tangled film being in development in February 2020. However, there were no official statements to support these claims—just rumors. By selecting their ideal cast members for the film that initially pulled Zachary Levi and Mandy Moore to voice the title roles in the 2010 animated Oscar nominee, fans let off steam.
Rumours that Florence Pugh, the front-runner for the role of Rapunzel, was joining the film fueled the fire. However, these long-standing flying hypotheses have never been supported by facts. With the recent live-action reimaginations of Peter Pan, The Little Mermaid, Lilo & Stitch, and even the impending Moana film, Disney has been especially on the lookout for these kinds of projects.
Disney continues to press forward with the plan despite the harsh open criticism directed at these live-action adaptations of beloved classics. Tangled is one such project that people are eagerly anticipating for some reason. However, this soon turned into an explosive topic of debate when fans learned through the internet rumour that Mean Girls star Avantika may have been screen-testing as Rapunzel with Milo Manheim as Flynn Rider.
Earlier this week, J-14 contributed to the debate by naming Milo Manheim as Flynn Rider and Avantika as Rapunzel as their preferred fan casting for the future film. Several TikTok debates also got out of hand as netizens couldn’t believe Disney’s “race-swapping” move.
Eventually, the hateful comments spread to Avantika’s Instagram account due to a fan casting for an unconfirmed project.
