First Set Photos For Disney’s Live-Action ‘Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs’ Remake Are As Disastrous As Expected
Spencer Baculi
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Though Disney is likely looking for a hit to help repair their cinematic reputation in the wake of their recent output, recently leaked set photos from their upcoming Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs suggest that the live-action remake is well on its way to being yet another box office disaster.
Ventus (Jesse McCartney) takes notice of seven strange individuals in Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep (2009), Square Enix
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Obtained by UK production company Click News And Media and shared by local news outlet The Daily Mail on July 14th, the photos provide audiences with their first glimpses at the eponymous Disney Princess’ seven iconic companions.
(Though Snow White and Jonathan, the Robin-Hood-esque character replacement for The Prince, can be also be seen in the photos, they are being portrayed by stand-ins rather than their respective actors, Shazam! Fury of the Gods star Rachel Zegler and Under The Banner of Heaven actor Andrew Burnap).
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Depicting the film’s core set of protagonists walking through a field, the most noticeable aspect of these behind-the-scenes shots is the fact that the so-called ‘Seven Dwarfs’ are anything but.
Rather, they are now suitably diverse in appearance, with their heights running the gamut from a singular ‘actual little person’ – that being Pirates of the Caribbean franchise star Martin Klebba – to various ‘average-sized human.’
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Further, this visual diversity also extends to the group’s immutable traits, such as their skin color and gender.
Rather than being a uniform group of white male dwarfs – a shared attribute informed by their origin in German folkore – Snow White’s saviors now also include black men and women.
Though the cast list for the group of merry forest dwellers has yet to be fully revealed, Disney has thus far confirmed that the aforementioned Klebba will be playing Grumpy, while actress Dujonna Gift will make her cinematic debut as one of the black female newcomers, Maple.
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Notably, these changes to the original fairy tale source material were prompted by the public criticism leveled towards the film’s production by X-Men: Days of Future Past star Peter Dinklage.
Sharing his thoughts with the titular host of the WTF with Marc Maron podcast in January 2022, the actor explained, “Well, you know, it’s really progressive to cast a— literally no offense to anyone, but I was a little taken aback by — they’re very proud to cast a Latina actress as Snow White. But you’re still telling the story of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs so…”
“Take a step back and look at what you’re doing there,” he continued. “It makes no sense to me. Because you’re progressive in one way but you’re still making that f–ling backward story of the Seven Dwarfs living in a cave. What the f–k are you doing, man?”
Bolivar Trask (Peter Dinklage) unveils his plans for the Sentinel Program in X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014), Marvel Entertainment
“Have I done nothing to advance the cause from my soapbox?” the actor then questioned. “I guess I’m not loud enough.”
“I don’t know what studio that is,” Dinklage ultimately asserted, “but they were so proud of that. And all love and respect to the actress and to the people who thought they were doing the right thing, but I’m just like, ‘What are you doing?’”
Responding directly to the actor’s complaints just a day after the episode was published, Disney informed both Dinklage and the public via statement issued to The Hollywood Reporter that in order “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.”
Ventus (Jesse McCartney) asks the Seven Dwarfs for help in Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep (2009), Square Enix
Disney’s Snow White is currently set to whistle its way into theaters on March 22nd, 2024.
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