Ian McShane has signed on to play one of the dwarfs in Universal's Snow White and the Huntsman.

The Rupert Sanders-directed pic is a revisionist take on the fairy tale and features Snow White (Kristen Stewart) as a princess who escapes her evil stepmother (Charlize Theron) with the help of a huntsman (Chris Hemsworth) who was to have killed her but now trains the princess to survive and fight back.

Ian McShane will play Caesar, the leader of the dwarfs. Universal is in the process of casting the rest of his crew.

The film will begin production in August.