Peter Dinklage isn’t happy about Disney’s forthcoming live-action remake of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs,. During a recent visit on Marc Maron’s WTF Podcast, the Game of Thrones star voiced his frustrations with the remake, calling Snow White a “fucking backwards story about dwarfs.”
While Disney has yet to announce their plans for the dwarfs in the film, many fans were excited to find out that West Side Story breakout Rachel Zegler — who is part Colombian — had been cast as the lead princess. For some, casting a person of color in the role marked a major step for inclusivity. But to Dinklage, the story remains deeply flawed and marginalizing at its core.
“There’s a lot of hypocrisy going on,” Dinklage said. “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. 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.”
The actor, who has a common type of dwarfism called achondroplasia, continued:
“You’re progressive in one way but then you’re still making that fucking backwards 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?… 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?”
Update: Disney has issued a response to Dinklage’s remarks. In a statement to The Hollywood Reporter, the company wrote, “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 Snow White remake will be directed by Marc Webb and also stars Gal Gadot as the Evil Queen. Listen to the full episode of WTF With Marc Maron below.
Last year, Dinklage appeared opposite Rosamund Pike in the Netflix crime thriller I Care a Lot. He’s set to reunite with his Game of Thrones co-star Jason Momoa in a forthcoming vampire comedy called Good Bad & Undead.
