 Peter Dinklage as Trumpkin , a cynical red dwarf . Dinklage was Adamson and Johnson 's first choice , having seen him in The Station Agent . He accepted because " often , you get the hero and the villain and not much in between . Trumpkin is in between . He is not a lovable Snow White dwarf . Audiences appreciate these cynical characters . It helps parents and adults to go along with the journey . " Dinklage 's prosthetics took three hours to apply , and restricted his performance to his eyes . Even his frown was built into the make @-@ up . On his first day of filming , he was bitten by sand flies and fell into a river . " We were lucky that he returned after his first day ! " recalled Johnson . 
