Davis wades into dispute over Snow White

Warwick Davis: "My colleague Peter Dinklage (pictured) won an Emmy for his performance in Game of Thrones". Photo / Matt Sayles

Harry Potter star Warwick Davis has criticised movie bosses for failing to cast smaller actors to play the seven dwarves in new movie Snow White and the Huntsman, calling the snub "inexcusable''.

Campaigners at The Little People of America organisation have this week voiced their anger after actors including Ian McShane, Bob Hoskins, Ray Winstone and Nick Frost were cast as the famous fairytale characters and digitally altered to appear shorter.

Los Angeles-based dwarf theatre group Beacher's Madhouse threatened to stage a "100-midget march'' to the offices of Universal Pictures in protest against "injustice and prejudice''.

British actor Davis has now spoken out about the dispute and urged movie bosses not to cut smaller actors out of their castings.

"Considering the vast experience of many short actors working in the film industry today, I think it inexcusable that in casting for Snow White & the Huntsman, producers did not utilise this pool of talent,'' he tells E! Online.

"My colleague Peter Dinklage won an Emmy for his performance in Game of Thrones, proving that short actors need roles that will not only challenge them, but allow them to express themselves as actors in their own right.

"It is not acceptable to 'black up' as a white actor, so why should it be acceptable to 'shrink' an actor to play a dwarf?''

A spokesman for the Universal Pictures studio called the move "a casting decision, not a body-type decision,'' adding, "They (the actors playing the dwarves) came with pedigrees and recognisability.''

- AAP