For Peter Dinklage, taking on 'Toxic Avenger' was 'easiest thumbs up'
SAN DIEGO − It's been several years since Peter Dinklage visited the Comic-Con faithful with "Game of Thrones," and he's back with a role very unlike Tyrion Lannister.
In director Macon Blair's unrated remake of "The Toxic Avenger" (in theaters Aug. 29), Dinklage stars as Winston Gooze, a janitor at a chemical factory who's dumped in some toxic waste by villainous goons. He's transformed into a disfigured, underdog do-gooder with a radioactive mop, and "Toxie" quickly becomes a folk hero around town, doling out some serious violence to baddies (but kind of feeling bad for it).
"I really wanted someone who the audience could get really sympathetic with super-quick, so that when the transformation does happen, they're down. They want the best for him and they're on his side," Blair says in an interview with Dinklage ahead of the "Toxic Avenger" panel July 24 at the pop-culture convention Comic-Con. "I felt like Peter would be such a great secret weapon to use in that capacity."
Taking on the role of Winston in the gory and satirical horror comedy was "the easiest thumbs-up probably ever," Dinklage says.
"I'd never done a movie like this before and or a role like this, and the sensibility of the script and knowing what he was going to do with it was everything to me."
Signing on to a film "is a leap of faith every time. You go make a movie somewhere far from your kids, on the other side of the globe. As you get older especially, you've got to make sure it's going to be something that is worth it."
Dinklage is glad to be back at Comic-Con and has good memories of his appearances with "Thrones."
"You've just got to go in with the right attitude. We're here. Embrace the fans who love what we do," Dinklage says. "The things that come here, I've always been a fan of since I was a little kid. So it's a joy.
"I wish I could walk out amongst the crowd in the sort of cosplay community anonymously, because that's where I feel like the real fun is. Just the people watching, the costumes and everything. It's weird being in an actor bubble at a place like this."