While the glittering alumni of "Game of Thrones," the fantasy series that became a cultural phenomenon, star in gossip columns and pick roles in Hollywood - Peter Dinklage refuses to compromise on the standards he has set for himself, and is willing to pay the price.
"Being famous nowadays means that complete strangers, people who photograph their lives on smartphones, are pushed to smile as if they broke into your front door," says the 52-year-old actor, who for eight seasons played Tyrion Lannister, a clever and cunning anti-hero. , And the only Game of Thrones star to win Emmy for his role, four times in total for being a supporting actor in a drama - more than any other actor in the category's history.
"Everywhere I go, there will be someone pulling out a cell phone in the middle of the street and following me with a camera. People have always stared at me because of my body dimensions. "And if they notice someone short, they feel it's their advantage over them, that they're bigger. I feel deep sorrow for these people."
Let's understand - you do not like to be famous?
"I do not for a moment say that I hate being famous, because advertising allows me quite a bit. If, for example, I want to book a place in a restaurant and there is no table available, my wife will always tell me 'use your fucking name.' I hate to do it, but then I Calling a restaurant, which is actually nice sometimes.On the other hand, one should also be prepared in case it does not work as you thought.
"That's why it's important to have support from home to deal with advertising. When I was young I was less orderly and responsible, and I'm glad I reached my status when I'm a little more established and mature. From my personal history, I know exactly what it means to be impoverished and nothing in hand.
"Ultimately, like most people, I find my comfort in love. My wife is the most important person in my life, and she helps leave me with my feet on the ground. That's what everyone needs, in the end, and all the noises around can go to hell. "At some point in life you just have to accept who you are. Do some meditation, go through each day on your own."
Dinklage explains what the most extraordinary thing happened to him, and that too is related, of course, to the character most identified with him.
"I see fans who have tattooed my face, that is, Tyrion, on their bodies, and I am amazed. I have come across such tattoos several times already, and it is very strange. I remember when Game of Thrones just came up, I went for a walk with my dogs in New York, "And when they sniffed other dogs I started small talk with their owner. I asked someone what her dog was called, and she said with an embarrassed look 'Tyrion'. At that moment I realized we probably have a hit in hand."
Do you feel that your visibility and success contribute to a wider representation in the entertainment industry?
"You mean actors the size of a body like me? I hope so. I believe it all starts with a good script, because who said I should only play characters with a physical description that matches how I look? I hope to correct and break conventions about roles an actor can get, because the simplistic approach is limiting If there is no particular complexity in the character - to me it does not speak.
"I'm very proud of Game of Thrones, which has given me a platform to promote smaller projects that are important to me. But even after it's gone down, I'm not exactly getting the most coveted offers on the market and the most sought-after scripts in town. .
"Our society only changes when we really set a definite goal. For example, to have a woman president one day, or more women in senior positions in Hollywood. It's the kind of thing that starts at the top and seeps from there to the whole population. That's how real change is created. We always aim high."
even though
Dinklage's new cinematic role is none other than Cyrano de Bergerac, the protagonist of the late 19th - century French playwright Edmund Rustan, and as the name of the 17th - century Parisian writer who lived in Moliere's day.
The play has received dozens of adaptations on stage and on screen, and Cyrano was played by, among others, the Puerto Rican Jose Ferrer, who won an Oscar in 1950 for his role;
Frenchman Gerard Depardieu, who was nominated for an Oscar in 1990;
Steve Martin in a modern comedy adaptation of the movie "Roxanne", alongside Daryl Hanna from the eighties;
And with me Tiran in our adaptation of the Cameri Theater in 2013.
Sirano is a soldier whose skills are expressed not only in mastering his sword, but mainly in his language and musings that he knows how to produce, no question does not help him when he is ashamed of romantic matters.
Cyrano secretly finds himself mediating in the courtship of a handsome soldier named Christian (Calvin Harrison Jr., "The Swearing Trial from Chicago") after Roxanne (Haley Bennett, "The Red Sea Dive Site"), a beautiful intellectual fascinated by the love letters she receives - without knowing who wrote it Them is Sirano, who in turn becomes a soda man and is unable to reveal to her his true feelings towards her.
The new "Cyrano" is a musical version directed by Joe Wright ("Pride and Prejudice"), which many expected to be screwed into the season of ceremonies that has just ended - at least with Dinklage's first Oscar nomination.
But the result was a single nomination for the statuette for costume design and two nominations for the Golden Globe, in the musical category and for Dinklage.
"It's a beautiful piece, but not a role I ever intended for myself, because a good-looking man was usually cast in it - and put a prosthesis on his nose, to seemingly ugly it," Dinklage explains at the end of a Los Angeles film screening.
He relaxes in a chair, wearing a sweatshirt and black pants, and to his right his wife, screenwriter Erica Schmidt, who is the one who reworked the old play in favor of a stage production in which her husband managed to star in small theaters in New York and Connecticut.
"Erica stripped the story to its absolute basis, and on the way got rid of this matter of the nose. Suddenly the idea fascinated me. It's not that a character at my height was a physical substitute for a prosthesis, but it's just a role I played in theater - and we went on with it. "Making the character even more accessible. Maybe 120 years ago watching an actor with a big nose was something unfamiliar and intriguing, but nowadays it's not necessarily the quickest way to reach the audience's heart."
Was it a challenge, for you, to play Cyrano?
"I loved the role, because not many times I get to see a figure of a short man fighting in the army and is highly valued. All the scenery and costumes around helped me feel what it was like to live in that time, and that's a great excitement.
"On top of that, there is also the musical element that breaks the monotony of the long monologues about love. Maybe at the time, when watching five-hour performances, the lyrics worked, but today our time is limited and there is not much patience. So the songs move the plot much faster. We can "To listen to love songs all day, but to hear a friend talk about his love life? Less. To my delight, I had less text to memorize like that."
In "Sirano."
"Not a role I ever intended for myself," Photo: EP
Dinklage referred to his inexperience in singing: "Although I played a pirate in a music production in high school, I never sang in movies. Most of the actors did not, really. I did not come to convince that I was a singer, but an actor who sang from the soul and brought himself. I will never hear Like the lead singer of the indie-rock band National, Matt Bringer (the band members wrote and composed the soundtrack of the film, usually), which is perhaps one of my favorite musical voices today.
I did some imitation of him in the performance in the film.
"In the shower we all sound like Aretha Franklin, Stevie Wonder or Freddie Mercury, but we really are not, and when you understand that this is the case - it's very liberating."
End of the game
Dinklage, who is 1.34 m tall, was born in June 1969 in New Jersey with the genetic defect achondroplasia, which is expressed in upper and lower limbs.
He has previously talked about the difficulties he experienced as a teenager and the reactions he received from the environment, as well as his insistence on developing a acting career that would not rely on stereotypical roles based solely on his body dimensions.
He made headlines around this issue two months ago, when he came out against Disney Studios' live-action version of "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs," which is currently being filmed in London starring Rachel Zagler ("The Story of the Suburbs") and Gal Gadot as the evil witch queen.
"I was surprised when the creators were very proud of a representative cast of an actress of Latin descent as Snow White, and feel they did the right thing in it. But still, you bring Snow White's story again, take a step back and see what you're actually doing here. It does not make sense to me. "In a sense, but fucking take a huge step back in the silly legend about seven dwarfs living together in a cave? What the hell are you doing?", He said in an interview with comedian Mark Maroon in a podcast.
"Did I not do anything to advance the agenda I was preaching? My voice did not seem to sound enough ... Fulfilled if a really advanced version were announced, with a cool spin, but I do not know what is going on there. There is a lot of hypocrisy and people do not "You take enough risks. Only when you take the risk are you reaping the rewards."
In response, Disney noted that "we are taking a different approach to the film, to avoid reinforcing the stereotypes from the original animated film," and promised to provide more details about the production in the future "after a lengthy development period."
Dinklage began his acting career after six years working for a data processing company in the early 1990s.
His first film was the black comedy "Noise, take pictures!"
From 1995, alongside Steve Bushmi.
"I remember there were a lot of cool people around me, and I did not understand what 'cut' was, so I stayed within the character even when the director stopped. Everyone thought I was a methodical actor assimilated into the character," he recalled humorously, "I came from theater "Cinema, and I did not understand why all of a sudden everyone disperses. On the face of it, it sounds condescending, but I was just confused."
With his wife, Erica Schmidt.
"The most important thing in my life", Photo: EP
Over the years he has starred in, among other things, the films "Narnia Stories: Prince Caspian", "X-Men: The Future That Was" and Adam Sandler's comedy "Pixels" - but it was undoubtedly his role in "Game of Thrones" that changed his life.
"When I won our last Emmy ceremony with the series, it was heartbreaking. I ended a chapter in my life then. A lot happened in the nine years of filming: my two children went to school in Ireland, where we filmed, and there were staff members who got married or separated, formed families. "The strange side of the profession. The circus leaves the city and life goes on, it's a bizarre feeling."
After "Game of Thrones" were you afraid you would not get a new project?
"No, because the market today is full of jobs, doing a lot of TV. If you're an actor and still haven't got a role in the series, you might want to stop playing. I'm sorry, that's a terrible thing to say, but there are so many opportunities right now in terms of TV, all services "The streaming and all the different platforms. It's a great thing for all of us."
Quantity is not necessarily quality.
"Quantity is definitely growing, but I'm really not sure the quality is either. It's noticeable with each passing year and the market expands.
"Like the rest of us, I'm also often disappointed with our current world. I'm older today, and recently, for example, I spoke to a young man, who asked me to use the title 'they' when I approached him. It is grammatically incorrect to say 'they' about a person, because 'they' is plural.
"I feel like my dad's generation, but this is the future, and we have to adapt. There's always something new, and it's great. I'm curious to see what happens to my children, how the world will be for them. I think first we need to consider the environment, otherwise We will not have a world to talk about. "
After such a rich career, do you have any insights into your profession?
"We, the actors, are not worth anything if we can not lean on each other. We can not do anything ourselves, no matter how long we stand in front of the mirror and recite monologues. We depend on writers and directors to hold our hand, because we are really chubby babies who say They have where to go, when to eat and what to wear, and then also drive them back home. Meeting actors in a production is like meeting friends at summer camp. Sometimes staying in touch, most of the time not.
"We, the actors, need the creative and talented people who make us better and get us on track. I get to work with young directors recently, and strangely enough they inspire me just like the veteran and experienced directors. As you get older, if you are lucky you work with great creators. "That's how you enjoy seeing the vision through their eyes. Then all that's left is to sit back and enjoy the journey."
dcaspi@goldenglobes.org
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