Upcoming Wonka film receiving backlash for Hugh Grant casting
British actor High Grant is a cast member for the upcoming Wonka film as an Oompa-Loompa and people with dwarfism are not happy about it. They’ve criticized the Wonka movie as taking work away from them. As dwarfism is a rare condition in the acting industry, George Coppen, an actor with dwarfism spoke up in an interview with BBC saying that the role should have been given to an actor with dwarfism.
Image Credit: Warner Bros. Pictures
“A lot of actors [with dwarfism] feel like we are being pushed out of the industry we love,” said Coppen. “A lot of people, myself included, argue that dwarfs should be offered everyday roles in dramas and soaps, but we aren’t getting offered those roles. One door is being closed but they have forgotten to open the next one.”
Who plays the Oompa-Loompas in Wonka?
In the last two movies that were based on Roald Dahl’s book Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, the Oompa-Loompas that were casted were played by actors with dwarfism.
Image Credit: Allstar/Warner Bros.
The interview published on July 26 comes a couple of weeks after the Wonka trailer was released making Wonka already getting negative press five months before its scheduled premiere. In the Wonka trailer, a sneak peek of Grant Hugh as an Oompa-Loompa is revealed which stars Timothée Chalamet as Willy Wonka. After watching the trailer, Coppen told BBC, “They’ve enlarged his head so his head looks bigger. [I thought] what the hell have you done to him?”
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Published by HOLR Magazine.