Peter Dinklage (2014)

That was many years ago now, strange enough, time has gone by so quickly it was about 7 years ago, oh boy! I have known David Benioff, he was an acquaintance, and I was a huge fan of his writing, so that really got me inquisitive about the project, that and HBO.

I had one hesitation, because of the fantasy genre, I told him I didn’t want a really long beard and pointy shoes, and they assured me this character and this world wasn’t that. They told me about his complexity, the fact that he wasn’t a hero or a villain, that he was a womanizer and a drinker, and they painted a flawed and beautiful portrait of him, so i signed on.

Yeah, I mean, it’s a little tricky. I’m sort of a private person and people are very well-meaning, but the one thing that sort of gets to you are the cameras/cellphones. People try to be sneaky and try to get your picture without coming up to you or asking, and that’s what kind of gets to me.

I don’t even know why they do that, isn’t the joy of meeting somebody better than taking a picture from down the street? I’ve seen every combination too, some people will even send their kids over to ask for directions, haha! But for the most part people are very nice and I’m not moving out of NY just because of that at this point. It’s just important to me to feel safe and keep my family safe as well.

Sometimes we have to avoid eye contact so we don’t crack up!! It’s funny that sometimes people think with these serious scenes, people think the mood on set is very serious, but sometimes the most serious scenes can produce the most laughter on set.

I miss working with Lena. We didn’t have as much as I’m used to this year. In the second season we had a lot of scenes together.

It’s called not owning a brush. Or a comb. That’s my secret. Just don’t buy a comb.

• Conleth Hill! He’s a dear friend and fortunately I have a lot of scenes with him. And Lena, she’s also a dear friend and all we ever do is laugh together. When the three of us get together it’s a lot of fun.

• I love hummus?

Also, I’m not a cat person but I had a cat for ten years. Because I had a rat in my apartment and I don’t like killing creatures. So I got a cat. I thought my roommate was going to take the cat but he moved out with his girlfriend and left the cat there. So I have this cat.

There was one scene I was doing with Jerome Flynn, who plays Bronn. It was in season 1 I think, when I say something to a crazy woodsman guy. He asks "How do you want to die?" and the line in the script was like, “At the age of 80 with wine in my belly and a girl’s mouth around my cock.” And I said… “Age of 80 and a girl’s cock around my mouth!” I inverted a couple of the words, and when I said that my friend Jerome couldn’t stop laughing, so we had to stop filming for the day.

I just figure that there are already a million mainstream places to check if someone wants to know whether I've read the book series. I'm enjoying this as a place to weigh in on other, more important matters. Like hummus.

It feels very surprising to learn that Game of Thrones fans use the Internet!

I’ve met some people who have dogs named Tyrion. And met a woman who had children named Arya and Sansa!

But for the most part the fans are just super enthusiastic and really helpful to me because they’re just so much more knowledgeable about the material than I am, they’ve read the books, they’ve researched everything, they know all the lineages of these characters, so every time they want to talk it’s really helpful to me. Nothing really stands out as a peculiarity but they’re completely sweet and very good-natured. I don’t know... They like to play dress up!

Croatia’s one of the most beautiful places. We’re in Dubrovnik and we work 6 days a week, so we don’t have a lot of time off. But on our days off we just rent a boat and cruise around the islands. We go swimming, snorkeling... it’s just the most relaxed place in the world to be. I’d love to go back there one day on holiday.

The best part is that at the end of the work day, since it’s very hot there and we’re in these hot costumes -- heavy leather and armor -- some of us rip off our clothes and just jump right into the sea. Well, not all of our clothes. You know what I mean. But it’s invigoratingly cold, and always a joy.

Flying, of COURSE. Totally flying. It would be so much fun. And terrifying.

What about you? Harbor frosting?

I got a phone call from Bryan Singer. My agent wanted to know if it was okay for Bryan to give me a call. I said… um, of course?! The next day he called me and we had a really long conversation about the character. I loved his previous X-Men movies and the comic books were just so super cool.

Great question. I have a huge soft spot in my heart for Atticus Finch. It’s so hard to say something like that, though. I don’t see myself in the role since Gregory Peck did such a good job with it already.

Really? I’m not that old guys!

Hmm, maybe go to Peru as my #1...I heard that’s incredible.

I'm taking suggestions for 2 through 5.

Oh god, people love stories but my memories... that was like five years ago! It wasn’t so much Chris Rock since he was producing the movie so he had a lot of pressure on him. It was more Tracy Morgan who kept the cast entertained.

He just kept repeating that Ernest Borgnine was his father. And for some reason him repeating that to everyone, the craft service, everyone, the more he said it the funnier it got. Tracy Morgan is a lot of fun to be around!

Hmm... I know the worst advice ever given to me was “do it right”. As an actor you don’t really know what to do with that bit of direction.

The best of advice, I love a quote from Steven Soderbergh. I read some advice he gave in an interview: Perseverance + talent= luck. There’s no such thing as pure luck, you just have to persevere and hopefully you have a modicum of talent. I love that quote, I think it really says it all.

I always go back to indie movies, and especially the chance to work with friends of mine like Alex. It’s one of the best working experiences of my career. He’s a true collaborator and I highly recommend people donating to his Kickstarter project for Little Feet.

Let's see...I already mentioned the joys of wearing a full suit of armor in the middle of hot Dubrovnik.

I would have to say being away from my family for such long stretches.

It was great. This was quite a number of years ago as well. I didn’t get to spend too much time with him, just a couple of days. But he was very kind and much quieter than I thought he would be given that I only knew him from Saturday Night Live at that point. This was his first big film I think. But it was a lot of fun.

Sadly I had to beat him up. Well, or at least his stunt man half the time.

Just a splash of milk, no sugar. You don't want to know how I take it in the afternoon, though.