Peter Dinklage just won his third Emmy for his portrayal of Tyrion Lannister on HBO’s hit ‘Game of Thrones’ but he has a far different role in a far less bombastic project to promote– the end of the world drama ‘I Think We’re Alone Now’. In the film, Dinklage portrays Del, who may very well be the last man on Earth, and he is quite content with that.
The movie, directed by Reed Morano, is largely devoid of dialogue with Dinklage relying on subtle facial expressions and body language. “I’m so happy this movie doesn’t have a voice-over,” he said. “Just leave it to the viewer; that’s what Reed’s gift is. And that’s what film should be.” He added, “Del was a really complicated character for me, with very little dialogue.” During the film’s opening section, viewers watch Del prepare himself a meal and enjoy a glass of wine. He has also developed a routine of cleaning out neighboring homes and burying the dead.
Morano added:
“It’s cool that you can keep people riveted just watching this guy do his thing… Peter is one of those rare actors who’s just fascinating to watch. His facial expressions do so, so much. I find him magnetizing on screen, and when I look at him, I feel these emotions.”
Del’s peaceful solitude is disrupted by the arrival of Grace, played by Elle Fanning, another mysterious survivor who decides she wants to stick around.
Dinklage described their interaction, saying:
“We’ve certainly had our fill of both good and bad movies and TV shows about the apocalypse and how writers often see it: There’s zombies or something scientific, and there’s always a team of scientists trying to solve it or superheroes trying to fix it. What would happen if there were two people who didn’t have any answers, and one of them didn’t want any answers? I thought that was really interesting.”
Morano added, “It is meant to be his own little paradise — and it becomes her paradise too. It’s meant to be a happy place; that’s how they feel about it. So I was visualizing it through the lens of how they’d see it.”
Filming this movie in between seasons of ‘Game of Thrones’ proved to be a refreshing change of pace for Dinklage.
“You have to trust your director, and your director has to trust you and give you the freedom that you’re giving them to express themselves and try new things. It’s not always like that. It makes it much more naturalistic.… It keeps you on your toes, and [there’s] not a lot of time sitting around between takes.”
He further differentiated the projects, saying:
“The joy of TV is you have that slow burn — the luxury of really not playing the arc too quickly. But it’s 90 minutes versus 80 hours — it’s quite different, in terms of what I do, what [I] reveal and what [I] don’t. You have to follow a long-term narrative [on TV], and that has its own set of complications that, when you’re doing 90 minutes, you’re free of — which I like.”
‘I Think We’re Alone Now’ can be seen in theaters now. He will next be seen back on HBO, but not on ‘Game of Thrones’, at least not yet. He will portray ‘Fantasy Island’ star Hervé Villechaize in the original biopic ‘My Dinner With Hervé’. ‘Game of Thrones’ returns next year for its final season.
Source: Entertainment Weekly
