Consulting with dwarfism community: Disney after Peter Dinklage slams studio for ‘Snow White’ remake

By PTI

LOS ANGELES: Hollywood studio Disney has responded to “Game of Thrones” star Peter Dinklage’s criticism of its upcoming live-action remake of the classic animated movie “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs”.

Dinklage, best known for playing Tyrion Lannister in HBO show “Game of Thrones”, recently came down heavily on Disney for its decision to remake the movie, which he called “backward”.

In its response to the actor, Disney said it was going to “avoid reinforcing stereotypes from the original animated film”.

“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,” a Disney spokesperson said in a statement to The Hollywood Reporter.

To be directed by Marc Webb, the rebooted version will feature Rachel Zegler of the “West Side Story” fame opposite Gal Gadot, who will essay the role of the Evil Queen.

It was during an interview on Marc Maron’s “WTF” podcast when Dinklage offered his views on the remake of “Snow White”.

“Literally no offence 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’,” Dinklage, 52, said.

“Take a step back and look at what you’re doing there. It makes no sense to me,” he added.

Dinklage, who was born with a common form of dwarfism called achondroplasia, particularly criticised the studio for trying to present a “backward” story of “seven dwarfs living in a cave together”.

“You’re progressive in one way, but then you’re still making that f***ing backward story about seven dwarfs living in a cave together, what the f**k are you doing, man? Have I done nothing to advance the cause from my soap box? I guess I’m not loud enough. 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?” he added.

The original movie, titled ‘Snow White and the Seven Dwarves’, was based on the Grimm Brothers fairytale and released in 1937.

It was Disney’s first animated feature film and presented the story of a princess who is fed a poisoned apple by her stepmother, the queen and then falls into a deep sleep that can be broken only by a kiss from the prince.

Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, the songwriting duo behind ‘La La Land’, ‘The Greatest Showman’ and ‘Dear Evan Hansen’, will write new music for the film, which is expected to go in to production in 2022.