Disney Pressed American Magazine to Delete Star Director’s Quote Criticizing China: Report

The Disney-owned studio Searchlight pressured the American magazine Filmmaker to remove a quote from its profile of Chinese director Chloé Zhao because it was critical of China’s authoritarian regime, according to a Hollywood Reporter article published Friday.

Speaking with Filmmaker about the inspiration behind her first feature film, Songs My Brother Taught Me, Zhao said that she identified with the main character — a Native American teenager looking to flee South Dakota’s Pine Ridge Indian Reservation — because she hoped to escape the dictatorial grip of the Chinese Communist Party when she was a child.

“It goes back...