Martin Klebba, who appears in Disney’s upcoming live-action ‘Snow White’ has shared his thoughts amid the ongoing debate surrounding the film’s release.

Klebba previously appeared in two other adaptations of ‘Snow White’ including the 2012 film ‘Mirror Mirror’ starring Julia Roberts and Lily Collins. He voices Grumpy in the 2025 remake.

Speaking with ‘The Hollywood Reporter,’ Klebba addressed the controversy surrounding the project, which has led to the decision not to invite press onto the red carpet for its Saturday premiere. As a result, he says, the celebration has felt less exciting for those involved in the film, which stars Rachel Zegler as Snow White and Gal Gadot as the Evil Queen.

“It’s not really going to be a red carpet event,” Klebba explains, though he remains proud of the movie and eager for audiences to see it. “It’s happening at the El Capitan [Theatre], which is cool. But it’s basically just a pre-party, then we watch the movie, and that’s it. There won’t be this whole big spectacle of, ‘Disney’s first-ever film brought to life.’ Because of all the controversy, they’re trying to avoid potential backlash from different groups.”

Klebba assumes the premiere adjustments come from “the controversy with Rachel,” which has not been confirmed.

In 2022, Rachel Zegler mentioned that she wasn’t a fan of the 1937 animated classic due to an outdated story and themes.

‘Snow White’ (2025) also faced controversy in 2022 when actor Peter Dinklage criticized Disney for revisiting “that backward story about seven dwarfs living in a cave together.” Klebba then explained that Disney had already planned to use motion-capture animation for the seven miners prior Dinklage’s comments.

“I don’t usually get involved in politics, but I thought, ‘Dwarfs aren’t going to disappear just because some people don’t want to acknowledge them. We’re still here, walking around. So I didn’t really understand the argument for not including the dwarfs. The story has been around forever, and it’s a classic,” Klebba said.

He continued: “If they’re already creating animated animals, it makes sense to design the miners the way they envisioned. This way, they all have a uniform look. And honestly, finding seven little-person actors to fill those roles isn’t easy.”

Having now worked on three Disney-related film projects including ‘Pirates of the Caribbean,’ Klebba now has his sights set on Marvel, specifically as Puck, a superhero with dwarfism from the ‘Alpha Flight’ comics.

“I’ve been waiting for someone to write something like that for Marvel,” Klebba says. “Instead of always casting guys like Chris Pratt—handsome leading men—why not bring in someone different? Let’s see more variety in these films.”

MORE NEWS