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Wonka fans have had a first glimpse of Wonka as an Oompa Loompa, and it’s left some people absolutely baffled.
Among them is 37-year-old former WWE superstar Hornswoggle, real name Dylan Postl, who has insisted the studio has taken an obvious character in the Charlie and the Chocolate Factory prequel away from an actor with dwarfism by focusing on getting a big name in the role.
He exclusively told Metro.co.uk: ‘That one blows my mind more than anything. Now you’re using CGI money – not only doing that but also changing a person completely and then taking roles from the dwarf community to give it to a person of normal stature.
‘And I get it, it’s star power – a hundred percent, I understand that. But I don’t get why. I guarantee there are plenty other characters in that Wonka film that Hugh Grant could have played, if they wanted the star power of that.
‘I just don’t understand why that happened.’
Hornswoggle – who spent a decade with WWE until his release in 2016 – doesn’t blame ‘normal sized’ actors for taking such roles, as he insisted the issue is with the studios and casting teams.
The Muppets Most Wanted and Leprechaun Origins star has also been critical of Game of Thrones actor Peter Dinklage after his vocal opposition to Disney’s live action remake of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs forced the studio to reconsider.
‘[It] completely cancelled all of Disney’s plans for that, and they cast normal sized actors, and now that’s what we have. It’s mindblowing to me, because dwarf roles, roles for the dwarf community, are very few and far between,’ he said.
‘So to have seven roles, and then seven stunt doubles or extras for those roles, you’re now taking all of those possible roles away from an already few and far between community of dwarf actors.’
Hornswoggle would have ‘absolutely loved’ the chance to play one of the dwarfs in the movie, especially because he ‘can’t go for the George Clooney or Matt Damon roles’.
‘This would be huge for a dwarf actor, and now those roles are just taken away because one person spoke up,’ he added. ‘Why did we take the voice of one person of the community?
‘Peter Dinklage has done a tonne for little person actors, he’s really blown it all out of the water, every role he’s gotten, whether it be in Elf or Game of Thrones or anything he’s done.
‘The issue that I have is when he had those roles that were written for a dwarf, he had no problem taking them. He had no problem taking those roles. Those cheques cleared just fine!’
Indeed, the film industry doesn’t give many opportunities to dwarf actors outside of stereotypical parts, and while Hornswoggle is ‘fully ok’ with being a comedy character, a shift in attitude would be fascinating.
‘It’s never been that a dwarf character has that role [in a rom-com] so it would be very interesting to see how it’s received and how it’s taken,’ he said, pointing out there’s a difference between not creating new roles, and recasting already established characters.
‘I’m not one to quote-unquote try to stand on that soapbox. I think it could work, I think it could be something fun and different, but I’m not one to push for it by any means,’ he explained.
‘Nothing needs to happen in this world. It’s whatever the vision of the studios is, in reality. But, to completely change a story from what it’s been in the past to try to not be targeted is ridiculous to me.’
Although the former Cruiserweight Champion has dipped his toe into acting, he’s yet to fully enter that world – but now as he feels the impact of his wrestling career, Hollywood is becoming more appealing.
‘With how my body’s feeling, and my age, Father Time is knocking heavily on the door – I would love to, I would love to make that transition. If it’s not full time, it’s not full time. Dip my feet when I can, that would be awesome,’ he smiled.
‘Whether it be a dwarf role or a non-dwarf role, I am up for literally anything. I just wanna try it. It’s a bucket list thing of mine still. I’ve done a couple in the past and they were absolutely amazing times. Let’s see if I can do more?’
Keep up with Hornswoggle on the Going Postl podcast. Check out the free version on YouTube.
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