(The Thicketis in some theaters now, and will eventually stream on Tubi.)
The term itself is definitely a setup for disaster.
He sent it to me.
“I never took a crack at a Western,” Peter Dinklage says. “I always wanted to.“Tubi Films
I never took a crack at a Western.
I always wanted to.
And it took a while.
They all take a long time.
Covid shut us down for a while.
Its hard to raise the financing if youre not in a superhero costume.
Its not a cynical thing its just the reality of what it is.
Its such a crapshoot, and the market is changing now and theaters are closing.
Its a riskier environment.
Its more risk-averse,actually.
But I found this company, Tubi, and they came to the rescue.
We have our beds, our kitchens filled with food, and our devices to watch.
Nobody had that in the old West.
They just had to survive day to day.
It sounds weird, but I like the idea of, who would I be 150 years ago?
I have my modern ways of surviving, in terms of people and what I get thrown at me.
What would he have to do?
Hed have to have a really tough skin, and know how to figure out an exit strategy.
I love that hes not, like, a wordsmith.
He just knows what needs to be done.
In a torture scene like that, you cant really go Method, because then youre just fucked.
Its not a healthy environment to be Method.
Ive been accused by people close to me that I am Method.
Thats a good parallel.
Im working with Pacino right now, and Im in L.A.
I heard they filmed them separately!
It was too good to be true.
I remember that was a huge rumor.[Laughs.
]I think if I was De Niro, Id wanna work with Pacino and vice versa.
I dont think theres any old beef between those guys.
Its cool because its a storm at a moment when its really calm.
And its the two central forces that are combating each other.
In this case, she doesnt know who I am, but I know who she is.
We have a commonality, like all great villains and heroes.
If thats what I am, a hero, I dont know.
Its the Batman syndrome.
They know how to dabble in the dark arts as well.
Or do you just have to treat it like any other scene?Juliette is phenomenal.
So its much easier.
We only did a few takes.
We didnt have time to do more.
I love doing just a few takes and moving on.
I know some great directors who do a lot of takes.
My favorite, Stanley Kubrick, used to do that.
Theres a method to that as well.
]I know, man.
Harvey Keitel, hes a great actor.
He must have put everybody through it.
Its all gonna work out.
AndI loveEyes Wide Shut.
As you said, James Hetfield really does have a face for Westerns.
It feels so right to have him wield a gun in that setting.Hes big, hes tall.
Hes an authority figure in terms of his physical stature and his grizzled voice, the whole thing.
Talk about a lifetime of experience that he brings to the table.
And he was so nice, and its fun to pepper it with non-actors sometimes.
How does that dynamic work?
Did you find yourself coaching him?Theres no coaching!
He was probably bored on set, cause theres a lot of sitting around.
So Im sure he was bored, but he seemed to really engage everybody.
He was super-nice, super-kind, and super patient.
David Bowie and Tom Waits are two of my favorite musician actors.
I just thought Hetfield would be great in this world.
When you were on Kimmel the other day, you were still introduced with a mention ofGame of Thrones.
I love that character.
I raised two kids part time over in Ireland.
Theres no shame in that.
And it was eight seasons.
So thats 80 hours of me!
Everybody globally, everybody got 80 hours of Dinklage … Its bound to follow me around.
The good thing about that show was the actors had quite a bit of time off between seasons.
It was like half the year withThrones, half the year off.
So I think it was really time.
But creatively, it was a good time for everybody to move on from it.
Its been five years, and youve kept very busy.
And also producing stuff Im not acting in.
Im lucky enough to be able to say no to certain things that just dont sit right with me.
Thats a very privileged position to be in.
And Im fortunate enough to be able to do that.
But for me personally, thats what Im trying to do.
And thats whatGame of Thrones,really both financially and artistically, allowed me to be able to say.
Whatever I did with it as a performance, I cant speak to.
And I think that maybe, hopefully, perhaps reconfigured the way people saw someone like me.
For the actors Ive spoken to recently, it continues to be a weird time for the business.
Theres a lot of anxiety, even among big names.
Im getting older now.
I cant steer the collective social zeitgeist of what people like.
And yeah, Im nervous, but my profession has always been [like this].
I never know when my next job is coming or where its coming from.
But we have gigs where its really scary because you never know when the next gig is coming.
And laugh or dwell in the misery of others.[Laughs.
]I dont get creeped out by CGI or AI or anything like that.
I mean, Im older, Im sort of a Luddite, but we created these things.
Just like we created a hammer.
you’re free to either build a house with a hammer or kill somebody with a hammer.
Its what you choose to do with the tools.
I dont see any sort ofBlade Runnerfuture where the machines are going to take over, likeTerminator-style.
We just need to use them wisely.
There is also this trend where films are not getting released for a tax write-off.
Its such a great movie.
I saw a rough cut of it.
I absolutely loved it.
Its so original, even though its a spin on an old Eighties cult movie.
Its so much fun and its over-the-top violence.
Everybody thats seen it, like the festival in Austin, Texas, all freaked out for it.
Its out of my hands.
Its with the companies and what they choose to do with it.
But I guess you just gotta move on.
Hopefully it will be released.
Because its really fun, people really like it.
Because thats my favorite stuff, to sit in the chair and transform into somebody else, practically.
AndToxic Avengeris a lot of that.
Your body eventually acclimates, but yeah, you need that stuff or your whole face just cracks open.
But yeah, I just love the prosthetic stuff over anything else.
CGI is great for backdrops and dragons, but its hard to CGI a dog.
You know what a dog looks like.
So I guess theyre not moving on.No, but thats the thing.
Again, just my opinion.
I like the finale!
You dont have to agree with me.
How about if I said like, Yeah, I agree.
I hated the finale.
The whole last season was horrible?
I mean, that would sit much worse than if I said I loved it, which I did.
I mean, I think it means youre doing something right.
Its like an old Irish way of looking at the world.
Theres something wrong if everythings OK.[Laughs.]
I couldnt believe that reaction.Yeah, no.
By the way,that was all filmed after Trump was elected.
We were on set in Spain when Trump was elected.
We were saying those lines and I was like, Holy smokes.
But still, I assume youd like to express your support for democracy.[Laughs.
]Yes, indeed.
Whether it works or not, the idea of it is still very strong and should be respected.
