Peter Dinklage Blasts Criticism of His Role As Hervé Villechaize: ‘People Trying To Be Politically Correct Were Politically Wrong’

Actor Peter Dinklage of Game of Thrones fame says criticisms he received from the “politically correct” for playing Hervé Villechaize were horribly misplaced.

Dinklage starred in the 2018 film “My Dinner With Hervé,” where he played the role of Hervé Villechaize, a French actor and painter. Dinklage explained that critics were wrongly outraged that a white man would play the role of someone they thought was Filipino, even though Villechaize was French.

“Everyone started being a little critical,” Dinklage said on the latest episode of Awards Chatter podcast. “I think people have to be very careful — in trying to be politically correct, they were politically wrong. People who were trying to be politically correct judged Hervé because of how he looked. Hervé was not Filipino, he had a form of Dwarfism that gave him a certain outward appearance. Hervé Villechaize was French.”

Dinklage explained the criticism was so misplaced and ironic that he couldn’t help but laugh. “I became close friends with his brother, Patrick Villechaize,” Dinklage said. “Until you sit down with the brother of the man who you’re playing, who is not Filipino, who’s French, and have a laugh about how crazy the world is in assuming because of how someone looks, they judge of what they must be, and here we are making a movie all about judging how you look. But people who thought they were doing the right thing were doing the exact same thing. We had a few laughs about that.”

Dinklage said laughter wasn’t the only reaction he had from the experience. “It also made me quite sad and frustrated about how hypocritical it all is at the same time.”

Listen above via Awards Chatter podcast