Keck's Exclusives: Peter Dinklage — "Fantasy Island's" New Tattoo
Nov 14, 2011
by William Keck


Emmy-winning "Game of Thrones" star Peter Dinklage is preparing to slip into the little white suit worn by "Fantasy Island" sidekick Tattoo in a big-screen biopic of French-born Filipino actor Hervé Villechaize.

"He was an amazing painter and did a lot of charity work with children but had tremendous heartbreak," says Peter of the actor, who committed suicide in 1993 — almost a decade after being fired from "Fantasy Island" over a financial dispute.



Peter, who at 4'5" has a few inches on the 3'11" Hervé, is excited to utter Tattoo's trademark line, "The plane! The plane!"

He says his fantasy would be for one of his favorite Latin actors to take over for the late Ricardo Montalbán as Mr. Roarke. "Antonio Banderas should do it!"



I caught up with Antonio at the Hamilton Awards presented by L.A. Confidential magazine, and while flattered by the suggestion, he says, "I was always in such awe of Ricardo. He played my father in Spy Kids 2 and became a friend. I just don't think I could do it."

Oh, well, I hear Erik Estrada's available...

http://www.tvguide.com/News/Dinklage-Fantasy-Island-1039695.aspx

Peter Dinklage & Jamie Dornan To Star in HBO Movie about Hervé Villechaize from Sacha Gervasi
by Nellie Andreeva
May 9, 2017


Emmy-winning "Game of Thrones" star Peter Dinklage is expanding his relationship with HBO to the longform side. HBO Films has given the green light to My Dinner with Hervé, a Sacha Gervasi movie starring Dinklage and Fifty Shades of Grey‘s Jamie Dornan and executive produced by Dinklage, Gervasi and Steven Zaillian.

Written by Gervasi based on a story by him and Sean Macaulay and directed by Gervasi, My Dinner with Hervé centers on an unlikely friendship that evolves over one wild night in L.A. between a struggling journalist, Danny Tate (Dornan), and actor Hervé Villechaize (Dinkage), the world’s most famous gun-toting dwarf, resulting in life-changing consequences for both.

Executive producing with Gervasi, Zaillian and Dinklage are Richard Middleton, Ross Katz and Jessica de Rothschild, with Garrett Basch and David Ginsberg co-executive producing.





Like with HBO’s Emmy-winning The Normal Heart, My Dinner with Hervé has been a passion project which had spent years in feature development.

Gervasi, who also is a journalist, conducted the last interview with Villechaize — best known for his roles as evil henchman Nick Nack in the 1974 James Bond film, The Man with the Golden Gun, and as Mr. Roarke’s assistant, Tattoo, in the TV series "Fantasy Island", shortly before Villechaize committed suicide in 1993 at the age of 50.

“Hervé wasn’t just a pop culture icon; he was one of the most charming, cultured and dangerous people I’ve ever met,” Gervasi said in an interview years ago. “His is the story of a unique misfit trying to find his place in the world.”

http://deadline.com/2017/05/peter-dinklage-jamie-dornan-star-hbo-movie-my-dinner-with-herve-villechaize-sacha-gervasi-steven-zaillian-1202087780/

I think it's a bad idea. Except for the height Peter Dinklage doesn't look anything like Herve Villechaize, I just don't see it.

Ed.

HBO's My Dinner with Hervé Casts 3
by Denise Petski
June 23, 2017


Mireille Enos (The Catch, The Killing) is set for a key role opposite Peter Dinklage and Jamie Dornan in My Dinner with Hervé, Sacha Gervasi’s HBO movie.

Also joining the cast are Oona Chaplin (Taboo) and Harriet Walter (The Crown).



Enos will play Kathy Self, Villechaize’s longtime girlfriend.

Chaplin will portray Danny Tate’s girlfriend Katie, and Walter will play Baskin, Danny’s newspaper editor.

http://deadline.com/2017/06/my-dinner-with-herve-mireille-enos-cast-hbo-movie-peter-dinklage-1202119355/

First Photo of Peter Dinklage as Hervé Villechaize in HBO Movie
by Denise Petski
June 23, 2017


HBO Films has released a first-look photo from My Dinner with Hervé, a Sacha Gervasi movie starring "Game of Thrones‘" Peter Dinklage and Fifty Shades of Grey‘s Jamie Dornan.

The pic features Dinklage as Hervé Villechaize and Dornan as journalist Danny Tate circa 1993.

http://deadline.com/2017/06/my-dinner-with-herve-first-look-photo-peter-dinklage-herve-villechaize-hbo-movie-game-of-thrones-1202119179/

What's her fantasy, boss?

Why is he being played by a midget?

How dare they discriminate against normal sized actors.

Where's my attorney!

First Photo of Peter Dinklage as Hervé Villechaize in HBO Movie
by Denise Petski
June 23, 2017


HBO Films has released a first-look photo from My Dinner with Hervé, a Sacha Gervasi movie starring "Game of Thrones‘" Peter Dinklage and Fifty Shades of Grey‘s Jamie Dornan.

The pic features Dinklage as Hervé Villechaize and Dornan as journalist Danny Tate circa 1993.

http://deadline.com/2017/06/my-dinner-with-herve-first-look-photo-peter-dinklage-herve-villechaize-hbo-movie-game-of-thrones-1202119179/

Peter looks just like Herve!

David Strathairn Cast in HBO Movie "My Dinner with Hervé"
by Denise Petski
June 27, 2017


David Strathairn has been cast opposite Peter Dinklage in "My Dinner with Hervé", Sacha Gervasi’s HBO movie.

He will play Marty Rothstein, Hervé’s longtime agent.

http://deadline.com/2017/06/my-dinner-with-herve-david-strathairn-cast-hbo-movie-peter-dinklage-1202120954/

Andy García to Play Ricardo Montalbán in HBO Movie "My Dinner with Hervé"
by Denise Petski
July 5, 2017


Andy García has been cast opposite Peter Dinklage in My Dinner with Hervé, Sacha Gervasi’s HBO movie.

He will play Ricardo Montalbán, Herve Villechaize’s "Fantasy Island" co-star.

http://deadline.com/2017/07/my-dinner-with-herve-andy-garcia-cast-hbo-movie-1202124104/

Mark Povinelli & Helena Mattsson Join Cast of HBO Movie "My Dinner with Hervé"
by Denise Petski
July 28, 2017


Mark Povinelli and Helena Mattsson have been cast opposite Peter Dinklage in My Dinner with Hervé, Sacha Gervasi’s HBO movie.

Povinelli and Mattsson will play actors Billy Barty and Britt Ekland.

http://deadline.com/2017/07/my-dinner-with-herve-mark-povinelli-helena-mattsson-cast-hbo-movie-1202138063/

S2WfK1hsuRA

Peter Dinklage disputes My Dinner with Hervé "whitewashing" controversy: "Hervé wasn’t Filipino" (https://ew.com/tv/2018/08/29/peter-dinklage-herve-villechaize-hbo/)

"He was French, and of German and English descent," says the Game of Thrones star, who received some backlash (http://colorwebmag.com/2017/06/28/racially-insensitive-casting-peter-dinklage-as-herve-villechiaze-hbos-my-dinner-with-herve/) last year over his casting to play the Fantasy Island star in the HBO movie My Dinner with Hervé (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S2WfK1hsuRA) from those saying that he shouldn't play a person who is half-Asian. Dinklage says Wikipedia falsely stated that Villechaize was half-Filipino and half-white. "There’s this term 'whitewashing,'" Dinklage tells Entertainment Weekly. "I completely understand that. But Hervé wasn’t Filipino. Dwarfism manifests physically in many different ways. I have a very different type of dwarfism than Hervé had. I’ve met his brother and other members of his family. He was French, and of German and English descent. So it’s strange these people are saying he’s Filipino. They kind of don’t have any information. I don’t want to step on anybody’s toes or sense of justice because I feel the exact same way when there’s some weird racial profile. But these people think they’re doing the right thing politically and morally and it’s actually getting flipped because what they’re doing is judging and assuming what he is ethnically based on his looks alone. He has a very unique face and people have to be very careful about this stuff. This (movie) isn’t Breakfast at Tiffany’s (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I._Y._Yunioshi). Personally, I would never do that, and I haven’t done that, because he wasn’t. People are jumping to conclusions based on a man’s appearance alone and that saddens me."

Peter Dinklage is great in My Dinner With Hervé, but Hervé Villechaize isn't the focus of his HBO movie (https://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2018/10/peter-dinklage-jamie-dornan-my-dinner-with-herve-h.html)

"My Dinner With Hervé isn’t a completely fantastic film, but that’s absolutely no fault of Dinklage’s," says Amy Glynn. "He’s marvelous. It’s just that the film suffers from the same thing that seems to have plagued Villechaize’s life: being somehow incidental to his own story." As the title suggests, the film is the story of the director who met with the Fantasy Island star. "And I guess that’s fine," says Glynn, "but it leaves Dinklage’s sensitive, intriguing, wounded, dissipated and self-sabotaging portrayal of Villechaize as object, not subject."

ALSO:

Hervé Villechaize is too often on the margins of his own story in My Dinner With Hervé (https://variety.com/2018/tv/reviews/my-dinner-with-herve-review-peter-dinklage-hbo-1202973788/)
Playing Villechaize was Dinklage's greatest acting challenge (https://www.indiewire.com/2018/10/peter-dinklage-my-dinner-with-herve-jamie-dornan-hbo-interview-1202013216/)
Dinklage had been working on playing Villechaize for more than 14 years (http://www.laist.com/2018/10/18/why_peter_dinklage_and_sacha_gervasi_stayed_loyal_to_my_dinner_with_herve_for_14_years.php)