Disney Responds to Peter Dinklage's Criticism of Their Live-Action SNOW WHITE AND THE SEVEN DWARFS

This week, Emmy-winning actor Peter Dinklage spoke his mind about the upcoming live-action Disney remake of their 1937 animated classic film, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. The actor pointed out that while Disney is proud of their stories becoming more racially diverse, they are ignoring the fact that this film tells a weird story about seven men with dwarfism who he’s afraid will be portrayed in a backward way.

Here’s the full quote from Dinklage, who was asked his opinion on the film when he appeared on Marc Maron’s WTF podcast on Monday:

“Literally no offense to anyone, but I was a little taken aback when 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. It makes no sense to me. You’re progressive in one way, but then you’re still making that fucking backward story about seven dwarfs living in a cave together? What the fuck are you doing, man? Have I done nothing to advance the cause from my soapbox? I guess I’m not loud enough.”

Disney attempted to set the record straight with the following statement to THR:

“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. We look forward to sharing more as the film heads into production after a lengthy development period.”

The report goes on to add that the film is still years from release, and Snow White will have cultural consultants, just like other live-action films such as Aladdin and Mulan. The film has been in development for three years, and the studio has been reimagining the dwarf characters since the earliest stages.

West Side Story star Rachel Zegler will star in the film as Snow White, alongside Tony Award winner Andrew Burnap and Wonder Woman star Gal Gadot as the Evil Queen. Marc Webb is directing the retelling.