Dinklage didn’t pull up the ladder with his mild criticism of Snow White, if that’s what you mean. Unless he has some kind of requirement that no other short actors can be cast near him, he’s not the one making the call on hiring decisions.
Disney pulled and pulls up the ladder every time they cast. After Dinklage’s criticism, they decided to consult with the dwarfism community, and then decided to remodel the dwarves into animated creatures with voice actors, based on the feedback they received. Ok, that does indeed remove these roles for actors with dwarfism…
But Disney also provided no other roles to little people as replacement, except the ones based on old stereotypes. Disney has the power to cast anyone in roles, as they tried to demonstrate with Snow White, but they choose not to.
And even if they did keep the original dwarf concept, there’s no guarantee they’d hire people with lived experience as little people anyway. Just like when Gary Oldman starred in Tiptoes. Most disabled characters in TV and movies aren’t actually played or written by people with first-hand experience.
Most disabled characters aren’t played by people with first hand experiences because there are not many disabled people in the acting pool to choose from. That is simply not the case with the dwarfism talent pool.
That’s not what the research says. Study shows lack of opportunity for disabled actors. The full PDF report, co-authored by actor Danny Woodburn who is best known for his role on Seinfeld, is linked in that article.
Tl;dr Actors with disabilities “were repeatedly subjected to negative stigma and preconceived biases by casting agents and producers” and less than 2% of actors cast had disabilities.
“There are so many talented performers available who are often overlooked and are not being considered for roles, so our goal with this initiative is to help bridge that gap.”
Dinklage isn’t some fucking dwarf saint. He pulled the ladder up for other dwarf actors after his major success.
Dinklage didn’t pull up the ladder with his mild criticism of Snow White, if that’s what you mean. Unless he has some kind of requirement that no other short actors can be cast near him, he’s not the one making the call on hiring decisions.
Disney pulled and pulls up the ladder every time they cast. After Dinklage’s criticism, they decided to consult with the dwarfism community, and then decided to remodel the dwarves into animated creatures with voice actors, based on the feedback they received. Ok, that does indeed remove these roles for actors with dwarfism…
But Disney also provided no other roles to little people as replacement, except the ones based on old stereotypes. Disney has the power to cast anyone in roles, as they tried to demonstrate with Snow White, but they choose not to.
And even if they did keep the original dwarf concept, there’s no guarantee they’d hire people with lived experience as little people anyway. Just like when Gary Oldman starred in Tiptoes. Most disabled characters in TV and movies aren’t actually played or written by people with first-hand experience.
Most disabled characters aren’t played by people with first hand experiences because there are not many disabled people in the acting pool to choose from. That is simply not the case with the dwarfism talent pool.
That’s not what the research says. Study shows lack of opportunity for disabled actors. The full PDF report, co-authored by actor Danny Woodburn who is best known for his role on Seinfeld, is linked in that article.
Tl;dr Actors with disabilities “were repeatedly subjected to negative stigma and preconceived biases by casting agents and producers” and less than 2% of actors cast had disabilities.
Even the Executive VP of talent and casting at CBS Entertainment agrees: