Set photos from Disney’s upcoming live-action remake of “Snow White and the Seven Dwarves” revealed that the entertainment company has prioritized diversity in casting its characters.
Multiple photos released from the production depicted a stunt double as Snow White, who will be played by Hispanic actress Rachel Zegler, and images of the characters who used to be called the “seven dwarves,” and are now referred to as “magical creatures.”
These photos, obtained by British outlet The Daily Mail, indicated that the new “magical creatures” are quite different from the animated dwarves of the original Disney movie. They are multi-racial, multi-gender and differ in height.
Disney had announced they were re-envisioning the dwarves as “magical creatures” to “avoid reinforcing stereotypes” after criticism of the original depictions by “Game of Thrones” actor Peter Dinklage, who has dwarfism.
In addition to the exclusive photos, the outlet reported on the state of the production. It noted that the images were taken as the film’s crew was shooting scenes in Bedfordshire, U.K. on Thursday.
The photos featured Snow White, played by someone standing in for Zegler, wearing her classic blue and yellow dress with a red cloak, while walking through a field with her fairy tale companions.
The casting of Zegler had already generated controversy, as the actress of Colombian and Polish descent was cast to play a character who was originally written as a German princess with notably fair skin.
She told Vanity Fair in October: “People are making jokes about ours being the PC ‘Snow White’, where it’s like, yeah, it is – because it needed that.
Of the new seven “magical creatures” pictured, only one appears to have dwarfism, while the others seem to be fully sized men and women of multiple races.
