14 DAY TRIAL // The current number 1 at the US box office, “Snow White and the Huntsman,” is in a world of trouble with little people all across the country for the producers' decision to use normal-sized actors to play the 8 Dwarfs. They're even planning to stage a protest to make themselves heard.
As we also noted in our review of the film, the 8 Dwarfs who help Snow White get back her throne and remove the Evil Queen from it, are played by some of the best and most famous British actors now working in the industry.
Their limbs and bodies and voices were digitally altered or, in some scenes, their faces were superimposed in post-production over the bodies of little people paid as extras.
The advocacy group Little People of America, as well as some famous actors, believe that this was similar to putting someone in blackface in front of the camera, because these roles should not have gone to normal-sized actors.
“We believe the entertainment industry, in particular, should cast little people in the full breadth of possible roles,” Leah Smith, vice president of Little People of America, says in a statement for the NY Post.
“This means casting little people in roles that were written specifically for little people or roles that would be open to an average-height person or to a person of short stature,” Smith adds.
Danny Woodburn, famous for his roles on “Seinfeld” and in the other Snow White movie that came out this year, “Mirror Mirror,” says using normal-sized actors instead of little people for the Dwarfs is nothing short of discrimination.
“If they were casting little people as the doctor on 'ER' or the lawyer on 'The Good Wife,' if it worked both ways, then I wouldn’t have a beef with this. But it doesn't work that way,” he says, as cited by the aforementioned media outlet.
“These guys are all fabulous actors. The argument will always be that they’re taking creative license... That kind of manipulation for the sake of art doesn’t sit well with me,” Woodburn adds.
Contacted for comment, a rep for Universal says casting of the dwarfs took into account only acting abilities and not the height of the potential candidates and, as such, there is no discrimination to speak of.
Even so, the Beacher's Madhouse troupe, made entirely of little people, is organizing a 100-strong march to Universal's offices to protest the move, TMZ reports.