Disney Responds to Peter Dinklage’s Criticism about Snow White and Dwarfism Community

It’s no mystery that Peter Dinklage’s turn as Tyrion Lannister has opened doors for actors with dwarfism, and even Dinklage himself has found himself cast in roles purely for his acting ability. Dinklage has recently made headlines after some criticism for Disney’s upcoming Snow White film, and Disney has decided to respond.

For context, this is what Dinklage told Marc Maron’s WTF podcast (via THR) about Snow White:

“There’s a lot of hypocrisy going on… 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 f-cking backwards story about seven dwarfs living in a cave together, what the f-ck are you doing man? Have I done nothing to advance the cause from my soap box?”

To that, Disney responded (via ComicBook):

“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.”

We don’t know how Disney will manage to make a less-offensive take on the Seven Dwarves, but there have been different approaches over the years. From having them played by actual little people in Willow, we have films with mythical dwarves being played by regular-sized actors like in Lord of the Rings or Snow White and the Huntsman.

Maybe the new movie can actually address the issue head-on, but the writers will have to be very careful around the topic—especially since this is a Disney film.

The Snow White reboot is set to come out in 2023, but you can catch Dinklage in the film Cyrano which comes out Feb. 25.