Peter Dinklage is not happy about Disney’s decision to adapt Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs again. The Game of Thrones actor called the studio hypocritical for casting a Latina actress but still telling a story with a “f—ing backwards” depiction of dwarfs. The new movie will star West Side Story actress Rachel Zegler as Snow White and Gal Gadot as the Evil Queen.
“There’s a lot of hypocrisy going on,” Dinklage said in the latest episode of Marc Maron’s WTF Podcast, via Variety. “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.”
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Dinklage believes the production is only “progressive in one way,” while still a “f—ing backwards story about seven dwarfs living in a cave together, what the f— are you doing, man?” The Cyrano star wondered if he had done enough to “advance the cause” from his own “soap box.”
“I guess I’m not loud enough,” he continued. “I don’t know which studio that is, but they were so proud of it. All love and respect to the actress and all the people who thought they were doing the right thing. But I’m just like, what are you doing?”
Disney has since responded to the actor’s comments, telling The Hollywood Reporter that it plans to find a different way to depict the seven dwarfs characters. “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 studio said. “We look forward to sharing more as the film heads into production after a lengthy development period.”
Disney has not said how the dwarfs will be depicted in the new Snow White movie. Dinklage told Maron he would only be excited about retelling the story if it were a “f—ed up, cool or progressive spin on it.” Of course, that might be difficult for Disney to do if it wants the movie to appeal to fans of the 1937 animated classic.
The new Snow White and Seven Dwarfs movie will star Zegler as Snow White and Gadot as the Evil Queen. Marc Webb (The Amazing Spider-Man) is directing, while Marc Platt is producing. Songwriting team Benji Pasek and Justin Paul (La La Land, Dear Evan Hansen) are writing new songs. Tony-nominated actor Andrew Burnap was recently cast in a new male role that will require him to sing.
Disney’s original Snow White was the first American full-length animated feature film and is loosely adapted from the Brothers Grimm fairy tale. It was added to the U.S. Library of Congress’s National Film Registry in 1989 and is available to stream on Disney+. The film inspired attractions at both Disneyland and Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom.
As for Dinklage, he stars in Joe Wright’s new musical adaptation of Cyrano de Bergerac, simply titled Cyrano. The movie had a one-week theatrical run to qualify for the 2022 Oscars, but will not hit theaters nationwide until Jan. 28. The movie also stars Haley Bennett, Kelvin Harrison Jr., and Ben Mendelsohn.
