Given how much success Disney has had with the live-action remakes of its classic animated movies over the last decade, it stood to reason that eventually it would turn its gaze to 1937’s Snow White and the Seven Dwarves, the studio’s first full-length animated feature film. However, yesterday Game of Thrones star Peter Dinklage expressed concerns about the Mouse House tackling a Snow White remake, namely over the title seven men that help out the princess protagonist. Now Disney has issued a response to his comments.
For those who missed it, during his recent appearance on WTF with Marc Maron, Peter Dinklage talked about how even with the “progressive” casting choice of West Side Story’s Rachel Zegler, a Latina actress, playing the live-action Snow White, Disney is still telling a “fucking backward story about seven dwarfs living in a cave together.” Here’s what Disney had to say about the actor’s 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.
Peter Dinklage did acknowledge that he’d be interested in a version of the Snow White story with “the most fucked up, cool, progressive spin on it,” and while you can be sure Disney won’t describe its remake in that exact way, evidently the studio is taking steps to ensure that the Seven Dwarfs are handled in an appropriate way. In its writeup on Disney’s statement, THR shared that in the three years since the live-action Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs started development, Disney “has been reimagining the dwarf characters since the earliest stages.” The studio also brought on “cultural consultants” for its Aladdin and Mulan remakes.
We’ll have to wait until after the live-action Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs remake comes out to learn how Peter Dinklage thought about how those seven characters were handled. No doubt much of that will hinge on whether this is one of Disney’s more “traditional” remakes, like Beauty and the Beast and The Jungle Book, or if we’re getting something more akin to Dumbo or Mulan, where major creative liberties are taken with the original story. At the bare minimum, I wouldn’t be surprised if the seven dwarfs in this version aren’t named Doc, Grumpy, Sleepy, Happy, Bashful, Sneezy and Dopey.
One way the live-action Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs film adaptation will distinguish itself from its animated predecessor is with Tony-winngng actor Andrew Burnap being cast as new male lead character; i.e. he’s not playing The Prince or The Huntsman. The Snow White remake will also star Gal Gadot as The Evil Queen, while behind the scenes, The Amazing Spider-Man’s Marc Webb is directing. An official filming start date hasn’t been announced yet, but like Disney indicated in its statement, production’s kicking off soon.
As soon as any significant details about the live-action Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs remake arrive, including when it will be released to the public, we’ll let you know. Those of you now itching to rewatch the original just need to have a Disney+ subscription.
