Disney on Tuesday responded to recent harsh criticisms made by Peter Dinklage about the upcoming live-action remake of Snow White.
The Emmy-winning Game of Thrones star was a guest on Monday’s episode of Marc Maron’s WTF podcast, where he blasted the announced film based on the 1937 animated classic.
After noting the casting of West Side Story breakout Rachel Zegler, Dinklage told Maron: “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 fucking backward story about seven dwarfs living in a cave together? What the fuck are you doing, man? Have I done nothing to advance the cause from my soapbox? I guess I’m not loud enough.” Dinklage is not involved with the Disney project.
Disney attempted to set the record straight following the remarks.
“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,” a Disney spokesperson said in a statement to The Hollywood Reporter.
Still years from release, Snow White will have cultural consultants, just like other live-action films such as Aladdin and Mulan. The film has been in development for three years; the studio has been reimagining the dwarf characters since the earliest stages.
Joining Zegler in the live-action feature are Tony Award winner Andrew Burnap and Wonder Woman star Gal Gadot as the Evil Queen. Marc Webb is directing the retelling. Marc Platt, the Oscar-nominated producer who worked on the live-action rendition of The Little Mermaid for the studio, is producing.
This article was originally published by The Hollywood Reporter.