Charles Dance may have a numerous classic roles over a career spanning five decades, but his fame has reached a whole new scale after playing Tywin Lannister on Game Of Thrones.
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‘It’s a phenomenon and it’s shown all over the world,’ Charles tells Metro.co.uk. ‘You travel a lot in this job, and here I am in Belgium – a whole load of troops came into this hotel I was staying in Brussels before, and they said: “Oh! Game Of Thrones!”
‘I had a selfie with about ten Belgian soldiers. I’ve become the forces sweetheart.’
His latest fame surge follows a career built upon villainous characters, ranging from commanders in 2014’s The Imitation Game to the comical antagonist in 1993’s Last Action Hero opposite Arnold Schwarzenegger.
These appearances however have been superseded by the actor’s reign across five seasons of HBO’s fantasy drama, which has left Dance adjusting to the modern token of celebrity adulation.
’Because of the show’s success and the power of television, it’s much more powerful than film, it doesn’t matter where I go whether it’s here, Spain or Italy, there’s bound to be people who are fans of Game Of Thrones.
‘It’s the age of the selfies so out comes the mobile phone: “Can I have a picture?” Most of the time, yes, and then there are times when I think, “Oh fuck it no, this is so boring.”
‘They pay the wages though, so it’s better to be charming,’ Charles adds.
Despite loathing the selfie, he’s mostly happy to oblige to fan requests – as long as he isn’t in the supermarket.
‘It’s incredibly boring and so predictable. It really is. That’s what people do now [though], so as long as I’m in the right mood. If I’m standing in the checkout at Waitrose and somebody wants a bloody selfie, I’ll politely tell them to fuck off.
‘There are times when you get people who are really offended if you say no, as if it’s obligatory. “What do you mean no, I’m your greatest fan!” Well, that’s very kind of you, I appreciate that, but I’d rather you didn’t take a selfie!’
While Dance’s gravelly, commanding voice has made him a classic on-screen villain for decades, his pipes may have found their true calling narrating wildlife horrors on Savage Kingdom.
The series, currently in its second run as Savage Kingdom: Uprising, sees him bring the cruel hierarchy of the natural world to life, offering a slightly more dramatic spin in comparison to David Attenborough’s work.
‘They’re fantastic, they’re not your ordinary wildlife shows,’ Charles says. ‘It’s called Savage Kingdom because it doesn’t turn away from the brutality of animals having to survive. There’s some pretty gruesome things in this series, I can tell you.
‘The guys who shoot these films, they go out in the bush for two or three weeks and they find a leopard or a pride of lions, and they follow them and sleep out in their land cruisers overnight. They just manage to capture some extraordinary footage.
‘We’ve given all these animal characters names – the way they’re done, it adds a kind of drama. They’re not just straight documentaries, they introduce you to these animal characters and you get to know them. It shows you what animals have to do to survive.’
When he isn’t bringing theatrical gravitas to the animal kingdom, he’s probably busy answering questions on whether he would return to the world of George RR Martin in one of the show’s many planned spin-offs.
‘If it was in the same calibre, yes,’ Charles says. ‘Because Game Of Thrones really was as good as it gets. It’s a fantastic series.
‘I look back on it fondly. Occasionally you have long days in the cold, the horse doesn’t behave properly, or the armour sticks in the back of your neck, but we’re not down in the mines digging for coal, we’re actors.
‘We’re pretending for everything, and we’re very lucky to be able to do that.’
Savage Kingdom: Uprising airs on Nat Geo Wild Sundays at 8pm.
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