Game of Thrones actor Peter Dinklage on falling in love in his twenties: ‘I was a self-saboteur’

‘I was guilty of always falling for someone where it wasn’t reciprocated’

Peter Dinklage has said he was a “self-saboteur” when it came to falling in love in his twenties.

In an interview with The New York Times published on Wednesday (22 December), the actor discussed his forthcoming film Cyrano, the backlash over the finale of Game of Thrones, and his relationships when he was younger.

Dinklage said he was “in love with the idea of love” during those years. He added that “there’s a Wuthering Heights quality to love when one is younger and Romeo and Juliet wasn’t written for 40-year-olds.”

The four-time Emmy winner, who played Tyrion Lannister during Game of Thrones’s eight-season run, continued: “I was guilty of always falling for someone where it wasn’t reciprocated, because keeping it at a distance is more romantic than bringing it up close. “

“You fall for people you know aren’t going to return that, so it’s even more tormented,” Dinklage said. “You’re not interested in the people interested in you.”

Explaining that’s how his “brain worked”, he said: “I was a self-saboteur when I was young.”

After starring in the 2019 Off Broadway premiere of Cyrano — written and directed by his wife Erica Schmidt — 52-year-old Dinklage is set to reprise his role as the titular, lovelorn poet in Joe Wright’s film adaptation of Schmidt’s stage musical.

The film stars Haley Bennett as Cyrano’s love interest Roxanne, and Kelvin Harrison Jr, as the young soldier Christian who has captured Roxanne’s fancy.

Wordsmith Cyrano plays cupid, and expresses his own feelings for Roxanne in long letters supposedly from Christian. The play was originally written in 1897 by Edmond Rostand.

Cyrano will be released in theatres in the US on 31 December 2021. It is scheduled for a theatrical release in the UK on 14 January 2022.