Peter Dinklage is pushing back against Disney studios for filming a live-action remake of “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.”
Dinklage, 52, who was born with a form of dwarfism called achondroplasia, said on Monday’s episode of the WTF with Marc Maron podcast that despite Disney’s “progressive” idea to cast Rachel Zegler as Snow White, the remake still tells a “backward” story.
“Literally no offense to anyone, but I was a little taken aback," he said. "They were very proud to cast a Latina actress as Snow White. But you’re still telling the story of ‘Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.’ Take a step back and look at what you’re doing there, you know? It makes no sense to me."
Dinklage, the “Game of Thrones” star who has won four Emmys, a Golden Globe and a SAG Award, added: “Have I done nothing to advance the cause from my soapbox? I guess I’m not loud enough.”
A spokesperson for Disney responded in a statement Tuesday that Disney has been consulting with members of the dwarfism community to prepare for the movie.
“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,” the statement said. “We look forward to sharing more as the film heads into production after a lengthy development period.”
Dinklage told Maron later in their interview that he’d be excited if the 1937 Hollywood fairy tale could somehow be retold in a less offensive way.
Zegler, 20, who won a Golden Globe this month for her performance as Maria in “West Side Story,” was cast as Snow White in June.
The movie, which will be directed by Marc Webb and stars Gal Gadot as the Evil Queen, will be Disney’s latest in a growing number of live-action reboots, including “Mulan,” “Maleficent,” “Cinderella,” “The Jungle Book,” “Aladdin” and “Dumbo.”
