"What the f--- are you doing man?"
update 12:30pm PT 1/25/22
Disney responded to Dinklage's criticism in a statement to The Hollywood Reporter.
"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," said the Mouse House.
"We look forward to sharing more as the film heads into production after a lengthy development period."
original story below
Peter Dinklage has slammed the upcoming remake of Snow White.
Speaking to Marc Maron on his WTF podcast on Monday, the actor criticized Disney's decision to reboot the classic fairytale, accusing the studio of hypocrisy by casting a Latina actress in order to look progressive, yet continuing to tell the the "f---ing backwards" story.
As both men discussed wokeism in comedy, the Game of Thrones star insisted "There's a lot of hypocrisy going on I gotta say, from somebody who's a little bit unique," before taking aim at the latest live-action adaptation, which will see Rachel Zegler take on the lead role.
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View Story"It's really progressive to cast a — literally no offense to anyone — but I was a little taken aback by [when] they were very proud to cast a Latino actress as Snow White," he said.
"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 f---ing backwards story about seven dwarfs living in a cave together... what the f--- are you doing man?"
The Disney retelling of the Brothers Grimm fairytale has been criticized by some as ableist in the past, depicting the seven dwarfs as inferior to other characters in the story, one of whom is literally named "Dopey".
"Have I done nothing to advance the cause from my soap box?" Dinklage continued. "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?'"
The Emmy-winner clearly has no issue with casting a LatinX actress as a character named for the color of her skin, but others online did; when the casting was first announced in June, trolls reacted with racist comments, prompting the actress to tweet: "Yes, I am Snow White. No, I am not bleaching my skin for the role," a post she later deleted.
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View StoryDinklage went on to reveal he himself had been the target of misguided backlash, when he was cast as the "Filipino" actor Hervé Villechaize — who of course, was not Filipino at all.
"'How dare he play a Filipino?'" he recalled. "They were so liberal minded — and I am as liberal as anybody — but they were so convinced, because how he looked, that he was Filipino."
"If that's not racism, what is? Because he's not, he was a Frenchman, and his physical condition made him look very cherubic. And I guess, someone from the Far East."
"But they got very angry: 'how dare you do that?'" Dinklage said the trolls demanded, even though they clearly knew nothing about the man on whom "My Dinner with Hervé" is based.
"They just assumed," he said. "And here I am hanging out with his brother, Patrick Villechaize, who was just laughing at all of it. Who was born and raised in France with the guy."
Dinklage continued: "If you tell the story of Snow White at its most f---ed up, cool, progressive spin on it? Let's do it. All in. But I just don't know..."
Maron suggested Disney knew it could cash in — again — on the story by appearing to be progressive by casting a Latina, but had screwed over the "dwarf community".
"Is there one? I don't know," Dinklage replied. "It's such a minority that it causes a real like: 'Who the f-- cares?'"