“Game of Thrones” star Peter Dinklage is not pleased that Disney is attempting a remake of “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.” However, other members of the dwarf community have been thrilled to see the potential for lucrative acting jobs available to their community specifically. And a few of them are denouncing Dinklage’s rant, saying it’s harming their job prospects.
According to Daily Mail, these actors are pleading for Disney, which recently said they were taking a “different approach” to the characters, to make sure the roles make it in the movie.
“It makes me so sick to my stomach to think that there are seven roles for dwarfs that can’t get normal acting roles, or very few and far between roles, and now they are gone because of this guy,” WWE star and “Muppets Most Wanted” actor Dylan Postl told the publication.
“Peter Dinklage is the biggest dwarf actor probably of all time but it doesn’t make him king dwarf. When he was cast as a little person role in ‘Lord of the Rings’ or in a ‘Game of Thrones’ or in ‘Elf’ or this that or the other thing… those checks cashed just fine. He had no issue then. But now he wants to be progressive? Come on man.”
As one of the lead actors on “Game of Thrones,” Dinklage was making more than $1 million per episode playing a dwarf on the series. Now Postl is saying it’s not fair to deprive other dwarf actors of the same privilege.
“I don’t know if Peter Dinklage is still acting or if he is done now but I don’t know… it’s pretty selfish. People came before him. If it is his mindset that he wants to be the only one then you gotta grow up man,” Postl continued.
“It’s not helping our community it’s taking jobs away from our community that are very few and far between as it is,” he said. “We are in a society and a time of woke and progression and I get that, to an extent, but this is a fairytale.”
Dinklage made waves when he slammed the “Snow White” remake on an episode of Marc Maron’s WTF podcast.
“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 f***ing backward 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.”
Shortly after Dinklage’s comments went viral, Disney responded by saying they weren’t going the traditional route. However, it’s unclear what they have in mind, as their statement didn’t definitively say dwarfs wouldn’t appear in the remake.
“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,” the company said in a statement, according to Variety. “We look forward to sharing more as the film heads into production after a lengthy development period.”
Postl insists that he and some fellow dwarf actors would be thrilled to have the roles, and that Dinklage was wrong to say what he said.
“To be in a remake of one of the biggest fairytales, biggest Disney stories of all time, would be enormous,” the WWE star told Daily Mail. “I know me and six other little people who would love this role. Disney – call me. This would be a dream role for me. I am begging for one.”