An interesting twist occurred during a recent interview in New York with Emmy-winning actor Peter Dinklage. He suddenly switched roles with this writer as we were concluding our interview and asked a question I wasn’t prepared to answer.
“Can I ask you a question? I am very sorry,” he asked apologetically. “What do you think of as a person, as Filipino about this? That because of how Hervé looked, people assumed he was Filipino?”
This writer was caught off-guard and had no ready answer. Peter brought up the controversial topic because there was an unsubstantiated accusation of “whitewashing” about his casting as Hervé Villechaize, a famous actor during the ‘70s and the early ‘80s, whose life story is the subject of the new HBO drama My Dinner with Hervé starring himself and British actor Jamie Dornan, yes, Mr. Christian Grey. (There’s a reason why this writer brought up Jamie’s best-known part and it has to do with one of the themes tackled in this tragic biopic.)
Social media trolls unjustly accused HBO and Peter of “whitewashing” because they thought Hervé was Filipino based on his looks and his accent. For the record, Hervé was born in Paris to non-Filipino parents.
Peter and HBO have previously addressed the issue and this writer had no intention of bringing it up to avoid upsetting anyone but the actor was still obviously hurt by the accusation. “One person called it ‘yellow face’ which I think is the most offensive term I have ever heard,” he said, recalling some of the most vicious attacks he received.
The role-reversal mirrored a pivotal plot point in the movie when Hervé pulled a surprise on Jamie’s journalist character Danny Tate and turned the supposedly 30-minute “fun” interview into an all-night revelation of Hervé’s life and career. The story is based on writer/director Sacha Gervasi’s real-life encounter with Hervé just days before he took his own life 25 years ago.
The interview with Hervé was never published the way Sacha intended it to be. He ended his brief career as a journalist and decided to become a screenwriter. Hervé’s story became the first screenplay he wrote and it has been his lifelong mission to bring Hervé’s colorful albeit tragic life story to the screen.
“I made a promise to that crazy (expletive). On the last week of his life, I was his friend. He was like, ‘I am going to tell you a story. I am going to be honest. It may be warts-and-all but it’s going to be honest, it’s going to be true.’ And I made him that promise,” he recalled. “There’s no way I would have continued for 25 years on this story. This is, by the way, the ‘suicidal dwarf project,’ as I was told, is the most uncommercial movie in the history of Hollywood.”
No one wanted to make the movie until Peter made a commitment to do the project. So the unfair accusation leveled at him was simply hurtful. He and Sacha have been working on getting the movie made since 2003 when it was still intended to be a short film!
Peter considers the time span in getting the film made a blessing. “It was a blessing. It wasn’t ready; it wasn’t time. I was too young; he wasn’t ready to give it to the world,” he recalled.
“I was only 21 then, so they had to wait for me!” Jamie jokingly added.
Jamie portrays the fictionalized version of Sacha in the film. In real life, Hervé and Sacha spent three days together. The movie condensed the encounter to a single night.
Jamie’s participation in the film came much later. “Months later,” Jamie continued to joke. “I was just taken instantly by the world of madness, the journey that these two guys went together and it felt like a departure from what I had done and have been doing at the time.”
Hervé’s story has a particular resonance to both Jamie and Peter because it not only tells the real story of one man beyond the glamour of Hollywood but it also tackles one of the biggest fears of any actor — losing fame and being pigeonholed by a certain character they portrayed.
One of the saddest sequences in the movie occurs towards the end and anyone, actor or not, will feel the pain felt by Hervé beyond the smile he unconvincingly throws to a fan who wanted him to exclaim, “De plane! De plane!” — his famous line from the hit series Fantasy Island.
“Being on a TV show, 95 percent of it is because it’s a place of love so you can’t be too bothered by it,” Peter, who is famous the world over for his role as Tyrion Lannister in the award-winning HBO series Game of Thrones, replied when asked for his thoughts on fans that can’t seem to distinguish actors from the famous role they portrayed. “They do mean well. Even if you are in a bad mood, you just got to take a moment. But you know when it crosses the line into some sort of crazy zone.”
For Jamie, being identified as Christian Grey is one of his biggest peeves.
“I think it’s a blessing and a curse. It’s a weird thing if a lot of people know you for something — it means that whatever that thing is, had some sort of a cultural impact or entertained people,” he said. “But then there’s a flipside to that coin, you know, people finding it hard to get over that.”
He recalled a funny incident back home as he was preparing to travel to do press for this movie. He was talking to someone he knows from his kid’s school who was asking what his plans were for the weekend.
Below is the exact conversation he had.
“I am going to New York for a promotion,” he recalled telling the mother.
“You’ve done another 50 Shades?” the mother asked.
“No, I do other f---king movies!” Jamie forcefully replied.
“I will probably deal with that my whole life,” he said seemingly in resignation.
My Dinner with Hervé premieres on HBO and HBO GO on Oct. 21, 8 a.m.