Warner Bros. has issued an apology to the disability community for the way that it has portrayed physical disabilities in its new fantasy-comedy film “The Witches.”
The criticism came about when photos of Anne Hathaway’s character surfaced online showing her having three webbed fingers on each hand. This condition is known as ectrodactyly, which affects nearly 1 in 90,000 births.
On Monday, Paralympic swimmer Amy Marren called out the film for their depiction of the characters’ limb on Twitter, saying: “It’s not unusual for surgeons to try and build hands like this for children/adults with certain limb differences. It’s upsetting to something that makes a person different being represented as something scary.”
In a statement to NBC News, Warner Bros. said that they were “deeply saddened to learn that our depiction of fictional characters in The Witches could upset people with disabilities,” and that they “regret any offense caused.”
“The Witches” is based on the 1983 novel by Roald Dahl. In the book, the witches are depicted as having “square feet with no toes” and “claws instead of fingernails,” which is why the filmmakers chose to depict the characters in the film with the disorder.
“In adapting the original story, we worked with designers and artists to come up with a new interpretation of the cat-like claws that are described in the book. It was never the intention for viewers to feel that the fantastical, non-human creatures were meant to represent them.”
The film was released on HBO Max last month and became the ninth-most watched digital movie release of 2020.
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