Peter Dinklage will get to play one of his dream roles — as one of the most famous dwarf actors in Hollywood history, Hervé Villechaize, in a new film called “My Dinner with Hervé.”
“Fifty Shades of Grey” actor Jamie Dornan is set to costar as Danny Tate, a struggling journalist based on Sacha Gervasi, who co-wrote the screenplay with Sean Macaulay and is also directing.
The film, which is part autobiography, will follow the two, who form a friendship over a wild night in Los Angeles. The story is based on a famous interview Gervasi conducted with the “Fantasy Island” actor a week before his death. According to HBO, the film will explore how the interaction resulted in “life-changing consequences for both.”
Villechaize was born and raised in France and is best known for playing assistant Tattoo on “Fantasy Island” and henchman Nick Nack in the James Bond film, “The Man with the Golden Gun.” He committed suicide in 1993 at the age of 50.
Gervasi wrote an early version of the script in the 1990s, and the film has been in the works since around 2011 as a follow-up to Gervasi’s critically-acclaimed documentary “Anvil: The Story of Anvil.” Dinklage has been attached for most of that time, working to help develop the script. The actor said in a 2012 New York Times interview that it was one of his dream roles to play Villechaize and that he was fascinated by the story.
“He interviewed Hervé right before he killed himself,” Dinklage said. “Sacha was a journalist, sitting here like we are now. After he killed himself, Sacha realized Hervé’s interview was a suicide note.”
The film is in pre-production and begins shooting in London in June. It finishes shooting in Los Angeles in August.
Dinklage is also set to executive produce, along with Steven Zaillian, Richard Middleton, Ross Katz, Jessica de Rothschild and Gervasi.