What do we make of Hugh Grant's Oompa Loompa in Wonka?

Danny Woodburn is an actor with dwarfism who has spent his long career fighting for roles that aren't stereotypes.

While he's seen progress, he's frustrated that Hollywood still casts regular sized actors to play little people — like Hugh Grant playing an Oompa Loompa in the new movie Wonka.

He joins Commotion host Elamin Abdelmahmoud to talk about Hollywood's complicated history of casting little people.

For the full discussion, listen and follow the Commotion with Elamin Abdelmahmoud podcast, on your favourite podcast player.

LISTEN | Today's episode on YouTube:

"Here's the thing. I don't want to jump on the bandwagon of slamming Hugh Grant or slamming anybody with regard to this film," Woodburn says.

"The argument always comes back that acting is acting and anybody should be allowed to play any role. However, we have to look at this in a much more open lens and look at the entire disability community.

"The disability community makes up 20 to 25 per cent of the population, and yet on screen we generally are present 2 per cent of the time. And so when you look at that disparity, you have to understand that there's a system in place that is exclusionary," Woodburn says.

'We've been left out of the conversation'

Woodburn has been talking about this issue since 1999, when he learned that the casting department for The Lord of the Rings did not want to see any little people for the roles of the dwarves and hobbits. Since then, he's seen movements unfold in an effort to diversify Hollywood, but he hasn't seen as much momentum directed toward including people with disabilities in the industry.

"Going back to the 2016 Academy Awards, the movement was #OscarsSoWhite…. We talked about the idea of diversity, and for several years after that idea of diversity was not only exclusionary of people with disability, but intentionally exclusionary."

At the time, Woodburn says he tried to raise these concerns with the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and other relevant organizations, but was told that they weren't ready to have that conversation.

"When I say 'intentionally exclusionary,' it was, 'Yes, we don't want to talk about disability right now. We're just going to focus on this.' And so when we look at 2016, I'm just talking a few years ago, you can't help but wonder why we're not getting these opportunities, and then go, 'Oh, here's why. We've been left out of the conversation.'"

'This is where authentic representation comes in'

With the release of Warner Brothers' new movie, Wonka, actor Hugh Grant has been vocal during the press tour about his experience bringing his Oompa Loompa to life. According to Metro, he found it uncomfortable to perform with the motion capture technology that would later be used to animate his character, and he was frustrated that his character's dance moves were not his own, but were done by animators.

WATCH | Hugh Grant as an Oompa Loompa in Wonka:

Woodburn says these comments remind him of why authentic representation is important across the entertainment industry.

"From discussions I've had with fellow leaders in the disability community as well as the little people community, some of the folks that I know in this industry, we discuss the look [of Wonka's Oompa Loompa]," Woodburn says.

"The body structure looks very much like those of the ones from the '60s, and that particular group of people back then, from my recollection and from my perception, and from many other people with dwarfism, look [like] those were all people with dwarfism who had achondroplasia. And so the model for the body became essentially someone with achondroplasia. That's the way it looks to each of us that has looked at Hugh Grant's CGI version.

"I can understand why he's disappointed because at the end of the day, he didn't have final say in his actual performance. His representation might not be something he wanted to do. And this is where authentic representation comes in, because a little person might say, 'Well, I don't want it to look like that. I don't want my dancing to look quite like that because it feels humiliating, it feels degrading.'"

Ultimately, Woodburn says he wants to see more actors with disabilities playing all sorts of roles, not just fantastical fictional characters.

"We're being replaced for work. We're being replaced in society, effectively, because what we see on screen is what we want to mirror in society. When I think about kids watching a program, the philosophy is if you can't see it, you can't be it."

You can listen to the full discussion from today's show on CBC Listen or on our podcast, Commotion with Elamin Abdelmahmoud, available wherever you get your podcasts.

Interview with Danny Woodburn produced by Jess Low.