Jamie Dornan, the star of the "Fifty Shades" franchise, has joined Peter Dinklage in the Hervé Villechaize biopic. The TV movie, entitled "My Dinner With Hervé," will air on HBO with Dinklage in the titular role and he is also one of the executive producers. HBO has not yet announced its airing schedule.
"My Dinner With Hervé" will explore the friendship between the characters of Danny Tate (Dornan) and Villechaize (Dinklage). It's partly an autobiography written and directed by Sacha Gervasi. His other credit includes the movie "The Terminal" with Tom Hanks.
Who is Hervé Villechaize?
Hervé Villechaize was a French actor most famous for his role as Nick Nack, a James Bond villain in "The Man with a Golden Gun." He was also Tattoo in the TV series "Fantasy Island" with Ricardo Montalban.
Hervé Villechaize had a condition called dwarfism and underwent surgeries to correct his health problem. The actor, who stood at 3 ft. 10 in. only, took his own life 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," the director said, who was able to interview Hervé Villechaize before he died. "His is the story of a unique misfit trying to find his place in the world."
Sacha Gervasi, who used to work as a journalist, was working with Peter Dinklage in coming up with the story on the subject for years.
He wrote an earlier version of the script just before Villechaize committed suicide and it was shopped around and tried to be developed among movie studios. In fact, Gervasi's documentary "“Anvil: The Story of Anvil," was like a supplement to the feature film.
Gervasi has thought of different A-list young actors for the role of Tate before finally choosing Jamie Dornan.
This will be the first time Dinklage and Dornan are working together on a feature production. For his part, Dinklage expressed in a 2012 interview that this was his dream role.
Dornan's TV comeback
The project marks Jamie Dornan's return to TV following the end of his series "The Fall," where he played the serial killer Paul Spector for three years.
Dornan was also part of "Once Upon a Time" in the early seasons.
Meanwhile, Peter Dinklage has been busy wrapping up the latest season of "Game of Thrones." The final two installments are expected to be aired on HBO this summer and next summer. HBO recently announced its plan of developing four spinoffs when the show bows out in 2018. It's still unclear if Dinklage's character, Tyrion Lannister, will be in one of the spinoffs.
