Snow White controversy explained: Peter Dinklage criticises Disney's live-action film

Disney’s most recent live-action film in production about Snow White has come under fire after Game of Thrones actor Peter Dinklage criticised the same. After Disney announced that their next live-action film will be an adaptation of the popular animated classic film Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Dinklage expressed his opinion about the idea on the WTF podcast and called it a “fu***** backwards” take on dwarfs.

Peter Dinklage's statement about the live-action adaptation of the Disney film:

Dinklage called the whole thing was hypocritical. He said, “There’s a lot of hypocrisy going on. 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. Take a step back and look at what you’re doing there. It makes no sense to me”

He then added, “You’re progressive in one way but then you’re still making that fu***** backwards story about seven dwarfs living in a cave together, what the fu** are you doing, man? Have I done nothing to advance the cause from my soapbox? 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?”

Disney’s response to Peter Dinklage's criticism about Snow White live-action film:

A day after Dinklage made this comment, a statement was released by Disney. In it, their spokesperson stated: “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 film, which is an adaptation of the 1937 animated classic, stars Rachel Zegler in the titular role while Gal Gadot is set to portray the role of Queen Grimhilde. Tony award-winning actor Andrew Burnap is also a part of the cast. According to a report in The Hollywood Reporter, the film will have cultural consultants just as it did for Aladdin and Mulan. 

The makers, who have had this project in the development stage for over three years now, also considered portraying the seven dwarfs in CGI or as animated characters. Oscar-nominated producer Marc Platt, who worked on The Little Mermaid for the studio, will be producing this project.