Even before the world premiere of Cyrano at the Telluride Film Festival, industry insiders were buzzing about the awards potential of the musical by Joe Wright— particularly for its star, Peter Dinklage.
He is, after all, a record four-time Emmy winner for his work on Game of Thrones, a two-time SAG Award winner, and had a solid career in films like The Station Agent and Elf even before Westeros came calling. And in the stage version of Cyrano, which was written by his wife playwright Erica Schmidt and played Off-Brodway in 2019, Dinklage’s work as Cyrano de Bergerac had already been widely praised. So why wouldn’t the film version elevate that work to another level?
It was another sign of confidence that Dinklage was the first tribute honoree at this year’s Telluride Film Festival, which kicked off Thursday night. Before the world premiere of Cyrano Dinklage took the stage to receive his silver medallion and have a conversation about his career, from his first feature—1995's Living in Oblivion— to The Station Agent and Game of Thrones.
Dinklage was asked about Living in Oblivion in which his character, an actor, yells at a director for using a dwarf in a dream sequence because it’s such a cliche. When asked how he approaches scripts that may use his dwarfism as a way to poke fun at a character, he said “it’s all about the good writing and how it’s addressed.” He added, “I think you have to clear the air to make people comfortable. It’s ok to laugh at me, with me—my rage or the character’s or humor about it. And then we can move forward. Not that I’m some sort of pioneer, but I think it’s important for all of us to have some humor about it and then we can move forward.”
Dinklage also spoke about his time on Game of Thrones as Tyrion Lannister, and how he made sure that the character would not be a fantasy genre cliché. Playing Tyrion for years, he said, he was able to find more and more depth in the character.
“TV is not precious. Actors can be so precious. Actors sometimes are so precious and the moment has to be just right, but I talked a fuck-load on that show, and when you do 10 years on a TV show… that goes out the window,” he said. “But in that, it’s like someone who builds houses, every house is better. You lean into the text. If you’re lucky enough to have good writers, you just trust that. You’re not precious anymore.”
With Game of Thrones in his rear-view mirror, Cyrano could be the film that moves Dinklage from the Emmy conversation to the Oscar conversation. Based on the classic 1897 play, this version changes Cyrano’s physical hangup from a large nose to his height. The story follows Cyrano as he pines after his love Roxanne (Haley Bennett), but is convinced she could never love someone who looked like him. So instead, he helps a handsome man named Christian (Kelvin Harrison Jr.) write love letters to Roxanne.
When Cyrano began after Dinklage’s Q&A, the film swept up its first-ever audience in a romantic tale full of lavish costumes, gorgeous backdrops and spirited musical numbers. It all leads to an emotional and tragic third act of the story (several members of the audience could be heard crying). At the center of it all is Dinklage, who delivers a captivating and emotional performance—sprinkled with easy humor and wit—as a man who feels undeserving of love.
That combination of dramatic chops and comedic timing was a key element of Tyrion on Game of Thrones, and Dinklage proved he possesses plenty of it himself on that stage. “Painters can paint by themselves. Actors can do nothing by themselves,” he said. “We’re dependent on writers and directors to hold our hand. We’re told where to go, when to eat, what to wear. We’re really just big fat babies.”
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