The 2024 live-action “Snow White” film appears to have taken the advice of Peter Dinklage, making significant changes to the characterization of the cohort previously known as “the Seven Dwarfs.”
In recent on-set photos which leaked last week, the racially and gender-diverse cast can be seen consisting of mostly able-bodied, fully grown individuals, with the exception of one person with dwarfism.
The photos were snapped on the Bedfordshire, England, film set, and sparked plenty of online hate from those who continue to decry “wokeness.”
“Unbelievable. #GoWokeGoBroke,” wrote one Twitter user.
“Looks like the Woke don’t care much for dwarves. And… they have a girl dwarf now,” another person tweeted.
Also caught in the photos were alleged stand-ins for actors Rachel Zegler and Andrew Burnap, who were cast in the lead roles, as well as Zegler herself, who is of Colombian descent.
A Disney spokesperson reportedly told The Independent that the images “are not official film photos,” but they did not deny that they were from the actual production.
With the newly leaked photos, it appears that Disney took the words of actor Peter Dinklage to heart.
In January of last year, Dinklage went on Marc Maron’s “WTF” podcast and had some strong feelings about the movie being made.
“No offense to anyone, but I was a little taken aback when they were very proud to cast a Latina actress as Snow White,” the “Game of Thrones” star said.
“It makes no sense to me. You’re progressive in one way and you’re still making that f—ing backwards story about seven dwarfs living in a cave together, what the f— are you doing, man? Have I done nothing to advance the cause from my soapbox? I guess I’m not loud enough,” he added.
Disney later responded to his comments, releasing a statement that said, “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.”
Despite some of the backlash online, others appear to be applauding the studio’s decision.
“If you are calling to boycott Disney and Hollywood, or hoping for them to lose money because they decided to tell a make-believe story using characters that look different than the original make-believe story from 1812 (211 years ago), then you are trying to generate outrage and divide people,” liberal author Brian Krassenstein wrote on Twitter Saturday morning.
“Disney is doing the opposite,” he added. “They are making a movie that should appeal to everyone and that represents society, not some 211-year-old German fairy tale. Focus on more important issues!”
