How love-struck Game of Thrones star Peter Dinklage embraces his inner rock star in Cyrano

Game Of Thrones star Peter Dinklage reveals why he’s rocking out in Cyrano as a lover and fighter and how Aussie Ben Mendelsohn became his “new favourite person”

As we tiptoe out of the pandemic, Peter Dinklage reckons we have two options: we can “go watch some Bergman films in a dark room,” or we can “bring on the sappy”.

To clarify, the Game of Thrones star insists that “Bergman is one of my favourite directors” – it’s just that the Swedish master’s films are infamously bleak. In contrast, Dinklage’s new movie Cyrano is a big, beautiful musical about love and human connection.

And if that’s sappy … “Embrace the sappy, I say!” Dinklage grins.

Where Dinklage’s Tyrion Lannister drank, bonked and schemed his way across Westeros, the soldier and poet Cyrano de Bergerac duels with quick wit and even quicker sword through theatre, garrison and battlefield.

“He’s this wonderfully complex person who has courage in some ways, and tremendous fears in other departments,” Dinklage says of Cyrano, who hides his affections for the luminous Roxanne behind the facade of another man.

Did we mention Dinklage sings in the film? Not just any songs, but original music by cult indie band The National.

Peter Dinklage as the love-struck title character in Cyrano.

“Gotta be a rock star at some point!” he laughs. “It’s every actor’s dream to sing with rock guys. Rock musicians get to be actors occasionally – David Bowie was an incredible actor, Tom Waits, the same. It’s a little harder for actors to cross over into the rock star realm; we’re made fun of. But you gotta give it your best shot.”

Before Cyrano became a joyous cinematic experience in the hands of Atonement director Joe Wright, it was a new stage adaptation by playwright and director Erica Schmidt, who just so happens to be Dinklage’s wife. Dinklage watched closely as she wrote, determined no one else would claim the role.

“I held on like a pit-bull,” he says. “There was one public reading while I was out of town, where they had another actor play the part, and I died a little inside. Perhaps the actor wasn’t available when it was time to do the full production. I’m not gonna ask, it would lead to more heartbreak! But look at where we are now. It all worked out.”

While the famous hook is Cyrano’s big nose, in Schmidt’s retelling it’s his stature that makes him feel unworthy of Roxanne’s love. Schmidt has said that her husband “knew Cyrano before he played him”. The 52-year-old actor agrees.

Peter Dinklage and wife Erica Schmidt attend the UK Premiere of Cyrano in London in December. Picture: Tristan Fewings/Getty Images for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures & Universal Pictures

“Oh, of course. My knees buckle in the face of love, it has my whole life. Nobody understands what it is. They try endlessly to describe the heartbreak of not having it returned. How can you feel something so strongly and the other person not feel that way?

“That can lead to stalking, which you gotta watch out for … But Cyrano’s not a stalker, he chooses to use the profile of another man – which is so relevant today. Everybody online is creating false profiles, or at least bending the truth to put the best possible representation of themselves out to any potential partners.

“What is the real version of us? How do people who love us see us? How do we see ourselves in the face of love? All those questions are brought up by this classic story.”

Haley Bennett also reprises her off-Broadway role as Roxanne. The chemistry she and Dinklage have built across stage and screen is wonderful, even when Roxanne crushes Cyrano’s heart by declaring her love for another man.

“It’s a big bit of heartbreak there, and we can all relate to that. I certainly can,” Dinklage admits. “When I was young I made many mistakes, set myself up for some falls, but that’s part of growing up. You get up and try again.”

Kelvin Harrison Jr., Haley Bennett and Peter Dinklage at the UK Premiere of Cyrano in December. Picture: Tristan Fewings/Getty Images for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures & Universal Pictures

Like Cyrano, he has struggled to say those three little words.

“It’s a big risk to tell someone you love them. Some people wait too long and some say it too soon. Both can scare someone off.”

Filming took place on the island of Sicily in October 2020. Decamping from New York to Italy as both places emerged from devastating first Covid waves was a bittersweet experience for Dinklage. “Everybody’s had a surreal experience these last couple of years, haven’t we? But it was time to get back to work. Movie sets are some of the safest places during this time; we’re basically this tribe of minstrels that wander into town and stick to ourselves. The feeling on set reverberated with everybody being so happy to be back.”

Not only did Dinklage bring a stray puppy home from Sicily, he claims to have also stowed away his “new favourite person” in his suitcase – Australian co-star Ben Mendelsohn.

Our Mendo is magnificently primped, powdered and bewigged as De Guiche, a dastardly duke with designs on offing Cyrano and keeping Roxanne for himself.

Peter Dinklage’s “new favourite person” Ben Mendelsohn as the foppish De Guiche in Cyrano.

“The greatest actor … ever,” says Dinklage. “When I was told Ben was gonna be in the movie, I did several backflips. I’m not just saying that because you’re Australian. Ever since I saw him in (2012 crime thriller) Killing Them Softly, I knew I needed to work with that man.

“Now he’s my new favourite person. Every weekend he’d come and have dinner at our house in Sicily and we would unwind about the week and howl at the moon together.”

While a romantic musical may not seem the obvious follow up to Game Of Thrones, when the series wrapped in mid-2018 Dinklage knew the last thing he wanted was more of the same.

“When you play a character like Tyrion who locks into people’s hearts and minds, they want more of that. But what you can’t do is give them more, because you’ve already done that.

“That was the greatest experience of my life, and it wasn’t just a show, it was 10 years of my life because I spent half the year every year in Ireland. My daughter went to school there, we made friends there. When that is suddenly no more, it’s a strange feeling … But it’s time to move on.”

Cyrano is now screening in cinemas