Peter Dinklage is calling out Disney for the double standard in its plans for a live-action remake of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. The film is set to feature West Side Story breakout star Rachel Zegler as the fairytale princess and Gal Gadot as the Evil Queen.
When the Marc Webb-helmed adaptation was announced, Zegler’s casting was touted as a step in the right direction in diversifying Disney’s classic characters, as the 20-year-old actress is of Colombian descent. The decision to cast Zegler as Snow White came two years after R&B singer Halle Bailey was selected to play Ariel in a remake of The Little Mermaid, a similar effort by Disney to include more diverse representation on screen.
Dinklage, however, does not think the upcoming film is as progressive as it claims to be.
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“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,” Dinklage said in a recent interview on Marc Maron’s WTF podcast. “Take a step back and look at what you’re doing there. It makes no sense to me.”
The Game of Thrones actor, who was on the podcast to promote his new film Cyrano, got heated as he went on. “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?” he said. “Have I done nothing to advance the cause from my soap box? I guess I’m not loud enough.”
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs was Disney’s first animated feature film, released in 1937. It remains one of the studio’s most iconic movies, but that doesn’t mean that elements of it aren’t outdated or offensive. Dinklage’s comments are part of a broader societal conversation about how to adapt and update decades-old stories to meet modern standards. For Dinklage, the issue was how self-congratulatory the people involved with the project seemed to be while ignoring the implications of how the original story portrays little people.
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 the people who thought they were doing the right thing. But I’m just like, what are you doing?”
None of this is to say that Dinklage thinks a Snow White remake is an inherently bad idea, as long as it’s done correctly and addresses the problems with the source material. “If you tell the story of Snow White with the most fucked up, cool, or progressive spin on it? Let’s do it,” he told Maron. “All in.”
On Tuesday afternoon, Disney responded to Dinklage in a statement provided to The Hollywood Reporter. “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 statement read. “We look forward to sharing more as the film heads into production after a lengthy development period.”
