Disney Responds To Peter Dinklage's Criticisms Of The Snow White Remake
In January 2022, actor Peter Dinklage joined an episode of the "WTF With Marc Maron" podcast, where he made his feelings known regarding an upcoming live adaptation of fairytale classic "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs." Per The Guardian, Dinklage was promoting his new movie "Cyrano" when the subject of double standards in the movie industry came up. "I was a little taken aback by [the fact] they were very proud to cast a Latina actress as Snow White," Dinklage began, "but you're still telling the story of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs."
Per Buzzfeed, the "Game of Thrones" star has a form of dwarfism called achondroplasia. He argued that choosing to tell this particular story — "of seven dwarves living in the cave" — showed that Disney isn't as progressive as they'd like us believe. As Dinklage railed to The Guardian, "What the f*** are you doing, man? Have I done nothing to advance the cause from my soapbox? I guess I'm not loud enough." In his opinion, Disney's decision to cast a Latina actress in the lead might be progressive, but the company is still playing into stereotypes with regard to the dwarf characters. Now, Disney has responded to Dinklage's concerns with a statement of their own.
Disney clarified their position on the upcoming project
Following negative comments from actor Peter Dinklage about Disney's decision to retell the story of "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs," the studio clarified its original position. "To avoid reinforcing stereotypes from the original animated film, we are taking a different approach with these seven characters and have been consulting with members of the dwarfism community," Disney's statement read, per the Hollywood Reporter. "We look forward to sharing more as the film heads into production after a lengthy development period." Additionally, the outlet reported that the upcoming film has cultural consultants on hand, just as with other recent live-action reboots "Aladdin" and "Mulan." "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" has been in the works for three years, and Disney has been working out how to re-imagine the dwarf characters from the beginning. According to the Hollywood Reporter, the film will also star Gal Gadot as the Evil Queen and Andrew Burnap as the male lead.
This isn't the first time that a film adaptation of "Snow White" has been criticized for its handling of the dwarf characters. Per The Guardian, "Snow White and the Huntsman" received backlash when it cast actors of average height as dwarves, and digitally transmuted their faces onto smaller bodies. At the time, pressure group Little People of America called for better casting practices across the board, and noted that small actors should get the opportunity to portray roles that "were written to be played by short people."