Disney had previously cast “seven people of various sizes, genders and ethnicities.”
The live action Snow White trailer has confirmed a huge Disney U-turn over the casting of the seven dwarfs after their initial choice had received significant backlash.
Disney have chopped and changed their perception of the famous seven dwarfs set to appear on screen in the reboot of the hugely popular fairy tale written by the Brothers Grimm.
Initially the film studio had planned to replace the dwarfs with mystical creatures after saying they had consulted with the dwarfism community back in January 2022.
However, this soon changed, as in July 2023 Disney announced the remake would feature dwarfs, however played by regular people of varying gender and ethnicity, inciting a tidal wave of backlash from both sides of the argument.
Now, in the latest sneak peak of the film, it has been confirmed that Disney have made yet another U-turn in casting nobody at all as the seven dwarfs, instead opting for CGI to create the characters.
In a teaser trailer released today, Snow White, played by Rachel Zegler, can be seen surrounded by the seven computer generated dwarfs.
This huge change has stirred plenty more backlash on social media, as Disney continue to be criticised for their casting decisions.
One user said: “I don’t understand why the dwarfs are CGI and Snow White is live action. It just doesn’t look like it mixes all that well based on this trailer. I need to see more but I think I’d prefer full CGI.”
Another person wrote: “Seven Dwarfs in the new #SnowWhite look like some CGI abominations. Funny, cause there is already a very creative live-action Snow White adaptation, “Mirror Mirror” by Tarsem.”
One user said: “Someone spoke out about how nowadays dwarfs are only getting cast in dwarf roles and not just generic roles, and Disney saw that and cut 6/7 dwarfs from snow white and then just CGI’d them.”
The person the tweet refers to is likely Peter Dinklage, famous actor with dwarfism, who has been very vocal about the film and its depiction of the seven dwarfs.
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Appearing on comedian Marc Maron’s WTF Podcast in 2022 to discuss his latest film Cyrano, the Game of Thrones actor dubbed Disney’s casting choices as “f***ing backwards” after they cast a Latina actress as Snow White.
He added: “You’re still making that f***ing backwards story about seven dwarfs living in a cave together.”
The reboot of the classic tale will include lots of elements from the original, however the plot line as been altered to suit modern audiences.
Rachel Zegler who plays Snow White has said that the character will not be saved by the prince as the original tale recounts.
She said: “[Snow White’s] not gonna be dreaming about true love. She’s dreaming about becoming the leader she knows she can be and the leader that her late father told her that she could be if she was fearless, fair, brave and true.
“And so it’s just a really incredible story for young people everywhere to see themselves in.”
Zegler was heavily criticised last year after old comments she made about the film emerged on line describing the film as weird and creepy.
She said: “The original cartoon came out in 1937, and very evidently so. There’s a big focus on her love story with a guy who literally stalks her. Weird! Weird! So we didn’t do that this time.”
The remake of Snow White is being directed by Marc Webb and has already been pushed back a year after the SAG-AFTRA strikes.
The classis reboot is slated to release on 20 March 2025.
However, some people think the film might just be too socially contentious in the modern age as one person on social media simply wrote: “maybe snow white and the 7 dwarfs is a story best left in the past, y’know?”
