The second trailer for Disney's Jungle Cruise was just released but like the first, Jack Whitehall's controversial gay character, McGregor, was featured only minimally. Ever since the first trailer dropped last year at D23, excitement has been building for Jungle Cruise, Disney's next live-action film. Jungle Cruise is notable for several reasons, one of which is the fact that it's not a remake or sequel to a classic Disney film. Instead, it's based on the beloved attraction found at both Disneyland and Walt Disney World.
Starring Emily Blunt as Lily and Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson as Frank, the film is set in the early 20th century and tells the story of a woman (Blunt) who enlists the help of a riverboat captain (Johnson) to sail down the Amazon and track down a mystical flower that is said to have healing properties. Considering Jungle Cruise's star power and scope, there's been quite a bit of speculation that Disney is attempting to re-create the success of another ride-based film franchise, Pirates of the Caribbean.
Both trailers feature a number of callbacks to the original ride, and the tone of the movie seems to be taking a self-deprecating action-comedy route, which keeps the tone of the pun-filled Disney attraction, as well as harkens back to similar genre classics like The Mummy and Romancing The Stone. However, while the trailer is entertaining, there's one major aspect of the film that's missing - Jack Whitehall's character McGregor Houghton, who is set to be the first major gay character in a Disney film.
There was a sizable amount of controversy when Whitehall's casting and character details were first announced. Some conservatives groups expressed disappointment at Disney including an LGBTQ+ character in their films, while others on the progressive side of the spectrum argued that McGregor should be played by a gay actor. Adding fuel to the fire were reports that Whitehall's character, McGregor (who is the brother of Emily Blunt's character Lily) is "hugely effete" and "very camp," which raised concerns that Disney's first major gay character would be a walking stereotype. It's still hard to know whether or not those descriptions are accurate, since Whitehall appears to be deliberately being kept out of the Jungle Cruise trailers.
Although Jack Whitehall has appeared in many behind the scenes photos with Blunt and Johnson and is also featured on promotional material like posters, McGregor had no lines in the first trailer, and his onscreen appearances were easy to miss. His lack of screentime heightened speculation that the character is being swept under the rug to minimize backlash. The trend has continued with the release of the second trailer. He does get a line this time (although it's easy to miss upon first viewing, and will likely require a rewind to catch that it is, in fact, McGregor speaking), but McGregor is still something of an enigma in the Jungle Cruise trailers.
Given that Disney's gay moments have been so minuscule in the past that they're easily edited out of foreign releases to pass international film standards, making McGregor a prominent character in Jungle Cruise is a big step for Disney, so his absence from the trailers seems to be sending mixed messages about how much Disney wants to showcase a groundbreaking character. Unless he takes a more central role in another trailer, fans will have to wait until July to see McGregor Houghton in action in Disney's Jungle Cruise.
