Tyrion Lannister. Peter Dinklage. Can one differentiate much? Probably not. The American actor has touched one and all with his flamboyant yet sensitive portrayal of a character that’s become one of the most loved on screen. Game of Thrones has gifted us a world that we don’t want to leave. It’s quite imaginable then how the actors must feel at the end of the finish line. The filming for the show’s final season has concluded recently. And all theactors have had something or the other to say to the obvious questions- How’s it gonna end? What happens to your character? How was the experience?
In a recent interview with Vulture, Peter Dinklage talked about his latest TV movie My Dinner with Hervé, the end of his association with Game of Thrones, and his journey as an actor. Talking about his final time on set for Game of Thrones, he said,“It’s always anticlimactic for the character’s last day. Nothing is shot chronologically, so you don’t get some big mountaintop scene or anything. It’s just, “That’s a wrap on Peter Dinklage.” But as anticlimactic as it was, my last day was also beautifully bittersweet. A lot of people whom I love were on set that day. Even if they weren’t working, they came to set, which was beautiful. I tried to do the same thing when other [Game of Thrones] actors were wrapping out.”
When it came to saying goodbye to the show and the fellow actors, Peter admitted,“It was hard. I won’t say their name or their character’s name, but one of the young people on the show wrapped this past season and everybody was a wreck. This person had grown up on the show, you know? They were a child and now they were an adult. And then they’re done. It’s like we were witnessing this person saying goodbye to their childhood. I know Game of Thrones is just a TV show, la-di-da, but it was our life.”
On a personal level, he said it was hard to separate the TV show from his life. He elaborated,“It was my life, far away inIreland (A big part of the show was shot in Northern Ireland). People think I’ll miss the TV show- yes, of course, I’ll miss it, but I also lived in a foreign country for many years and developed deep roots. That’s a big part of me, and suddenly it’s just like,Yep, that’s over. Back home now. Wait, what? Really?Youkeep in touch, or lose touch, with the group of people you were very close with. It’s strange. I wonder how healthy that is. Probably it’s unhealthy.”
Tyrion Lannisterhas been a-man-for-all-seasons. We have admired all his traits; his wits, his will to live, his bright presence, his growth into a mature yet non-serious status. But how does Peter Dinklage see Tyrion’s trajectory?“He certainly developed a deeper sense of responsibility over the course of the show. He was a pretty irresponsible character, to begin with. He used his position as the outcast of his family like an adolescent would. He pushed it in their [the Lannisters’] faces. The beauty of Tyrion is that he grew out of that mode in a couple of seasons and developed a strong sense of responsibility. Not morality, because he always had that, but what to do with his intelligence.”
Dinklage’s new television filmMy Dinner with Herve is based on the life of French-born actor and painter, Hervé Villechaize. While talking about the film, Peter talked about the butterfly effect of fame. How being constantly in social touch with the fans can chip away the magic of believability in a character!
But how has a show like Game of Thrones affected his acting? Has his approach changed over time?“Yes. One of the best things I can say about being on a TV show is that it makes you a better actor. It takes away the preciousness; it makes you see acting as work. You’re getting up, you’re delivering, you’re telling a story, you’re a piece of a whole, and it’s not about some self-involved process. It’s about being prepared, saying your lines, and stripping away all the bullshit artifice. It’s like acting as carpentry- Put that beam up; put that nail in. I love that approach.”
On his feelings about where is Tyrion at the end of the series, he exclaimed,“I feel very, very- I’m trying to find the right word. I think he was given a very good conclusion. No matter what that is- death can be a great way out.” Perhaps that tells us to leave our guts open to a grim fate for our giant of Lannister.
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