Ben Platt has a few words for critics who say he’s aged out of the starring role of Dear Evan Hansen after the first trailer dropped this week for the upcoming Universal Pictures adaptation of the hit musical. The 27-year-old Tony winner was the first to play Hansen’s role when it debuted on Broadway in 2016, but some fans of the musical thought he was an odd choice to portray the teenage character on the big screen when it hits theaters in September.
Platt addressed the criticism in a since-deleted tweet captured by Us Weekly. “Thank u from the bottom of my [heart] for the outpouring of trailer love yesterday. The film required me to revisit areas of personal pain, so seeing ppl excited & moved makes it so deeply worth it,” he wrote. “PS to the randos beings jerks about age, read this great article and/or watch grease.”
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Platt then linked to a new joint interview with director Stephen Chbosky for Vanity Fair, in which they opened up about transforming the heartfelt musical into a film, also starring Amy Adams, Julianne Moore and Kaitlyn Dever. “You just have to hear him sing the songs,” Chbosky told the outlet of bringing Platt back to play the teen. “His understanding of the character is so complete and so profound. I couldn’t imagine anybody else playing it. It’s his part. I felt very strongly about it. And to me, it was never even a consideration.”
Platt also addressed seemingly aging out of the role in the article. “I think everybody obviously had in their minds that I wasn’t going to stay teen-adjacent forever,” he said. “The need to get it done was a little urgent. Then of course the pandemic happened, and I kind of assumed that was that — it would be a no-go, and by the time the pandemic was over, I’d have outgrown it.”
Despite Platt being in his late 20s now, Platt said the creators of the film were “hell-bent” on getting him back as the titular character, so he did his best to do him justice. “On the one hand, it was much easier than performing in the show because obviously I wasn’t having to recreate the entire piece [every night],” Platt added. “But physically it was very much the same experience. I’d lost about 15 pounds and did a very specific diet, grew my hair out, and was shaving to make sure that I didn’t look like I had five o’clock shadow all the time, you know. I was just stripping myself into being a teenager for the last time. For what is hopefully the last time.” Dear Evan Hansen debuts in theaters on September 24.
