The TLC stars spoke out about the upcoming Disney live-action remake.
In the latest episode of their podcast Raising Heights, Little People, Big World stars Zach and Tori Roloff shared their opinions about Disney’s upcoming live-action remake, Snow White.
Zach and Tori discussed how the film will reimagine the seven dwarves. Instead of seven dwarves portrayed by seven actors with dwarfism, Snow White will encounter seven magical creatures—with one played by a person with dwarfism.
“That’s jobs for them that were taken away,” Zach pointed out. “That’s opportunity for them to get on a Disney resume.”
“So they’re being progressive by updating Snow White. Be progressive by updating the dwarves,” Zach said of the Rachel Zegler-led film. “You could tell the story of the seven dwarves without putting them in a cave, without making it all magical and a bunch of hermits out in the wilderness mining.”
On the March 14 podcast episode, Zach explained that little people “being on camera is very powerful” when showing and promoting diversity. “Even if it’s not shown in the best way, we can correct that, we can adjust, we move forward,” he said. “It’s still a very powerful thing.”
The father-of-three added: “Even though some people might say, ‘You’re not being portrayed the right way,’ there are still parts of the population that will simply look at you and be like, ‘You are on TV. You’re awesome. That’s so cool. I respect you.'”
In January 2022, actor Peter Dinklage, who has dwarfism, spoke out against the live-action remake of Snow White during an appearance on Marc Maron’s WTF podcast.
“Literally no offense to anything, but I was sort of taken aback,” Dinklage said about the Zegler-led film. “They were very proud to cast a Latino 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.”
The Game of Thrones actor continued: “You’re progressive in one way, but you’re still making that [F-bomb] backward story about seven dwarfs living in a cave together…Have I done nothing to advance the cause from my soapbox? I guess I’m not loud enough.”
In response to Dinklage’s comments, Disney released a statement via Good Morning America. “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.”
Disney revealed its updated concept, along with photos, in July 2023. Currently, the release date for the live-action Snow White remake is March 21, 2025.
