“Take a step back and look at what you’re doing there. It makes no sense to me,” he said, about an hour into the 80-minute episode. “You’re progressive in one way and you’re still making that fucking backward story about seven dwarfs living in a cave together, what the fuck are you doing, man?”
Dinklage stressed that he meant “literally no offense to anyone” and sent “all love and respect to the actress and to the people who thought they were doing the right thing.” But his frustration was palpable.
“Have I done nothing to advance the cause from my soapbox?” he continued. “I guess I’m not loud enough.”
He added that he would enthusiastically support a more sensitive retelling of the 85-year-old film with a “cool, progressive spin on it” but wasn’t otherwise convinced.
Dinklage’s comments picked up steam online, and Disney responded to his concerns in a statement reported by Variety and other outlets on Tuesday.
“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,” a spokesperson said. “We look forward to sharing more as the film heads into production after a lengthy development period.”