Celebrity4 min(s) read
The director of the 2005 Disney film Ice Princess has paid tribute to both of its stars after Hayden Panettiere's death on Sunday left neither of the film's two leads alive.
Panettiere was 36. Michelle Trachtenberg died last year at 39. Between them, they starred in a film that a generation of kids grew up watching on DVD and Disney Channel reruns. Both are now gone.
Tim Fywell, the British director who helmed Ice Princess as his first Hollywood feature, told Variety it was 'really upsetting' to hear the news.
"I remember a brave, sparky, dedicated young actress who lit up the set in rehearsals and then the screen with her vibrant talent," Fywell said of Panettiere.
He described her as a 'plucky and determined perfectionist' who spent hours practising her skating on set and was 'utterly focused on getting every acting take spot-on and truthful'.
Of Trachtenberg, he said she was 'fun and kooky' with 'brilliant sad-funny comic timing'.
"Michelle Trachtenberg, Hayden's co-star in the movie, and she were an amazing pair," he said.
He described the two as having 'very distinct personalities' but being a joy to work with across what he admitted was 'often a tough and technically complicated shoot'.
His final line is the one that is going to stay with people.
"I remember them both with huge affection, how they were 20-odd years ago, at that relatively uncomplicated time of their lives, two shining talents, gone far too soon."
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Trachtenberg played Casey Carlyle, a brainy teenager who turns down a Harvard scholarship to become a professional figure skater. Panettiere played Gen Harwood, the skater who shows her the ropes and helps her improve using a computer programme. Kim Cattrall and Joan Cusack played their mothers.
The film came out in March 2005. It made $27 million at the box office against a $27 million budget, which was not great by Disney standards. But it became one of those films that lived forever on home video and streaming, quietly becoming a formative movie for millions of young girls who watched it over and over.
After Panettiere's death was announced, searches for Ice Princess shot to the top of trending charts as people realised both leads were now dead.
Cattrall, who played Panettiere's on-screen mother in Ice Princess, posted: "Rest in peace sweet Hayden. Gone far too soon."
Viola Davis, who worked with Panettiere on The Architect and Custody, wrote a longer tribute describing her as 'an old, wise soul with such a deep heart'.
"I saw this beautiful Phoenix rising from the ashes," Davis said. "Your tests became your testimony, and your testimony became your legacy."
Selma Blair commented under Panettiere's final Instagram post: "I love you. Don't be gone. Please."
Emma Roberts, her Scream 4 co-star, wrote: "Rest in peace my sweet friend."
Jenna Ortega, who worked with her on Scream VI, called it 'a devastating loss'. Masi Oka, her Heroes co-star, said she was 'way wiser beyond her years and now gone too soon'.
Bethany Joy Lenz, who knew Panettiere from Guiding Light when Panettiere was nine or ten years old, posted the longest and most personal tribute. She described a wild little blonde running through studio hallways laughing between rehearsals, and admitted the two had always planned to catch up properly but never quite made it happen.
"I don't understand how this is real," she wrote. "Everything seemed to be turning around. She was coming BACK to life, wasn't she?"
The Greenville County Coroner's Office is still investigating Panettiere's cause of death. Dispatch audio referenced an 'overdose' and 'cardiac arrest'. No official cause has been released. Police say there are no signs of foul play.
She had been dealing with severe back problems and nerve damage in the months before her death. She was 36. She would have turned 37 on Thursday. She leaves behind her daughter Kaya, who is 11.
Trachtenberg died in October 2025 at her home in Los Angeles. She was 39.
Both of them were teenagers when they made Ice Princess together. The film came out 21 years ago. The director still remembers them at that 'relatively uncomplicated time of their lives'.
Neither of them made it to 40.
Read more of VT's coverage: Police reveal new details | 911 call audio | Panettiere on giving up custody | Brother's cause of death revealed
