There are many issues of misrepresentation in Hollywood of people and cultures, alike. Between race, gender, and even mental illnesses, we’ve seen far too many instances where a character in a movie who is part of these various minorities is used as a token piece or inaccurately depicted.
One example of this misrepresentation is with the dwarfism—or little people—community, in which film, television, and stage actor, Peter Dinklage, is not afraid to voice his opinion about, who has a form of dwarfism called, achondroplasia.
In 2018, Dinklage starred in the HBO film, My Dinner with Herve, which sees Dinklage portray the late Hollywood actor from the 1970s and 80s, Herve Villechaize, who struggled with depression and was victim to prejudice and marginalization for having dwarfism.
Peter spoke to Entertainment Weekly in 2018 about how he felt playing Herve and his views on dwarfism depiction in Hollywood.
“Why humiliate yourself for something you love doing?” Dinklage said while talking about how he declined a role playing an elf for a Christmas commercial in his early acting days. “I didn’t want to be miserable doing what I loved. To be fair, Hervé lived in a very different time than I lived in. Hopefully, in 20 or 30 years we will be more enlightened as a society, especially from the time we’re living in right now, which doesn’t feel all that enlightened.
“There are people who break molds,” he continued, “break stereotypes, and in a strange way I feel like Hervé did that. He didn’t take any prisoners. He knew who he was and embraced it fully.”
Herve committed suicide in 1993. He starred in various movies and TV shows, such as Fantasy Island, the 1974 installment of the 007 movie series The Man with the Golden Gun, and Forbidden Zone in 1980.
Peter went on to talk about how the opportunities and qualities of roles available now for dwarf actors compare to when Herve was alive and acting.
“I try to be optimistic about it. I never really set out to change the parameters of casting. I just like good writing,” he said. “But yes, I’d like to think more opportunities are out there, but cynically it’s hard to speak to it without sounding like I’m not being critical of somebody else’s choices. I just know what I want in my career and I respect the choices of actors who are my size, or not, make.
“And I understand bills have to be paid,” he continued. “But it does perpetuate things. Not to get too political about it, but it’s a stereotype that still exists. Dwarf tossing still exists. There are still people of my size dressing up as elves at Christmas time. And if everybody continues to do that, then it won’t stop. But my daughter doesn’t think I’m a mythical creature. Unicorns don’t exist, but I do. It’s tricky, what we put out there, to perpetuate for future generations.”
Dinklage voiced his opinion on the matter last year, as well, regarding Disney’s announcement of making a live-action Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. He spoke on the WTF With Marc Maron podcast in January 2022.
“Literally no offense to anyone, but I was a little taken aback,” he said on the podcast. “They were very proud to cast a Latina 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, you know? It makes no sense to me.
“You’re progressive in one way and you’re still making that f—ing backward story about seven dwarfs living in a cave together, what the f–k are you doing, man?”
He expressed his frustration while recognizing that not everyone of his, or of similar conditions, may feel the same. Regardless, he thinks the movie could still be made if it had some “cool, progressive spin on it”.
Disney later responded in light of his criticism, saying, “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. We look forward to sharing more as the film heads into production after a lengthy development period.”
Sources:
https://www.npr.org/2022/01/26/1075761231/peter-dinklage-disney
https://ew.com/tv/2018/08/29/peter-dinklage-herve-villechaize-hbo/
