Brad Williams responds to Peter Dinklage’s comments about theSnow Whiteremake. Dinklage is a celebrated actor best known for his television role as Tyrion Lannister inGame of Thrones. He also has dwarfism, a condition which gives him a short stature. As arguably the most notable actor with dwarfism working today,Dinklage is vocal about their treatment and representation in Hollywood. Williams is a comedian and actor inthe upcoming filmSpinal Tap IIand, like Dinklage, has dwarfism.
Speaking withYMHStudios, Williams addressed Dinklage’s comments about the newSnow Whitemovie. He opposed Dinklage’sSnow Whitecomments, saying he’s “not a fan of him for this.” The comedian said thathe wishes actual people with dwarfism had gotten the opportunity to take the roles, rather than Disney using CGI for the dwarf characters. He elaborated that “some of us would like to have the opportunity to deal with that” because “there’s not that many roles.” Check out the full quote from Williams below:
CGI. They CGIed dwarves. There we are. Aren’t those good looking little people? The reason for it, now, there’s some misconception or some debate about what the actual reason is, but I believe, I believe the reason is literally Peter Dinklage was on the Marc Maron podcast. He is really good, and I’m not a fan of him for this. But he pretty much said, because Maron brought up that they’re doing a live-action version of Snow White, and Dinklage kind of went like ‘oh, I hope they’re not doing the dwarf thing again. Like we have to deal with that.’ And I’m sitting here like ‘well, some of us would like to deal with that, Dink!’ Some of us would like to have that opportunity to deal with that. Because there’s not that many roles. Like he’s been amazingly successful and I love that he takes roles that aren’t written for dwarves. When he hosted SNL, they never made one dwarf joke. And I found out from some friends that were cast members that that was one of the rules. He came in and said no dwarf jokes. So I’m saying, Lorne, if you’re listening, I could host, you can make all the dwarf jokes you want. Let fly. Let’s go.
If you want to make it a little more woke, okay. Make different gendered dwarves. Make dwarves of different races, fine. Give people more opportunities. I’m all for that, but I’m not for just being like ‘nah.’ Because there’s not that many roles. If you look throughout the history of Hollywood, the game is usually the same. The game is whatever race you are, whatever minority you are, you start getting roles by taking the stereotypical roles, and then you slowly assimilate yourself.
What This Meant For Snow White
Disney Went Back And Forth On Their Dwarf Decision
Williams' reaction is in response to a 2022 interview that Dinklage had with Maron. Speaking on Maron’sWTFpodcast, Dinklage spoke about how surprised he was to learn that Disney was remakingSnow White. He said he was “taken aback” and that it “makes no sense” to redo this story. He evencalledSnow Whitea “f–king backward story about seven dwarfs living in a cave together,“noting that Disney was progressive in one regard by casting a Latina to play the titular princess, but was still regressive. Dinklage’s full quote can be found below:
Literally no offense to anything, but I was sort of taken aback. They were very proud to cast a Latino 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 you’re still making that fucking backward story about seven dwarfs living in a cave together. Have I done nothing to advance the cause from my soapbox? I guess I’m not loud enough.
Dinklage’s statement prompted a debate about what Disney should do about the dwarf characters inSnow White. Initial images showed that the studio was transforming them into “magical creatures,” most of whom were played by average-height actors. This was subject to its own host of criticisms, andDisney ended up pivoting back todwarfs but decided to CGI animate theSnow Whitecharacters. As Williams points out, this took away opportunities from actual actors with dwarfism, who could have gotten a major career opportunity by being in a Disney film.
Our Take On The Snow White Decision
The End Product Was Not Well Received
The decision to make CGI dwarfs didn’t work well for theSnow Whiteremake. They ended up being one of the more criticized elements of the mixed-reviewed film. In herSnow Whitereview,ScreenRant’s Rachel Labonte wrote, “the CGI-created dwarfs have earned plenty of scorn already, and I wish I could say they aren’t really that bad on the big screen, but it only gives the whole movie an artificial sheen.” This is just one of the many critiques towards Disney’s choice, which in trying to be politically correct, took away opportunities.
