Disney's live-action Snow White remake has been dominating headlines after a controversial creative decision was revealed by a handful of set photos. While the decision to cast Rachel Zegler as the title character had drawn the expected, and unfortunate, ire of some people on social media, it's the movie's exclusion of the Seven Dwarfs which is proving to be a problem.
Those images showed a group of diverse male and female actors accompanying Snow White, with only one little person among their ranks. Cries of Disney being "woke" and "politically correct" followed, but for true fans of the original 1937 movie, the group's absence comes as a major let-down.
Doc, Grumpy, Happy, Sleepy, Bashful, Sneezy, and Dopey are an iconic part of this story, and replacing them with a group of regular bandits...well, it doesn't quite feel right.
Game of Thrones star Peter Dinklage was perhaps the movie's biggest detractor, praising Disney for casting a Latina actress as Snow White before questioning the decision to make the "f***ing backward story of seven dwarves living in the cave." To that, the studio responded by saying the group were being reimagined.
During a recent interview (via SFFGazette.com), former WWE Superstar Dylan Postl/Hornswoggle (Leprechaun: Origins) took aim at Dinklage for actually hurting his fellow little person actors with those remarks.
As we're sure you'll remember, Hornswoggle had a memorable run in WWE, but was often front and centre in clichéd and outdated segments where his stature was the butt of the joke. However, he still became a hugely popular star and is obviously not someone who shies away from being a little person. That might explain why he's so upset about the ramifications of Dinklage's remarks.
"There are actors, dwarf actors, that live that dream to be in a major motion picture such as this Disney remake, and now, because Peter Dinklage said what he said last year, now it's taken away, because of 'progression,'" Postl explains. "It's not right, because there [aren't] roles made for actors of my stature."
"Roles that aren't ever really given. I can't go out for the Harrison Ford or George Clooney roles because that's not for me. These dwarf roles are for people of my stature, and now it's taken away. I don't feel that's right, and not only that, but now, think about the additional stunt actors, or body doubles, now you're talking multiple actors of my stature that don't get these major roles."
"All of these dwarfs took care of Snow White," he continues. "They weren't these cave-dwelling monsters that people speak of. They all had seven different characteristics for seven different actors from my community."
It's a valid counterargument and the continued backlash surrounding Disney's decision to move away from the Seven Dwarfs could doom Marc Webb's reboot before we've even seen a trailer. What we do know is that it's far to late to change anything now, so time will tell whether these changes work.
Also starring Gal Gadot as the Evil Queen, Snow White is currently set to arrive in theaters on March 22, 2024.