Peter Dinklage

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.

I did enjoy my time there! I don’t know what information you know, but I enjoyed it as much as anyone enjoys high school. It’s an amazing place, but i was a conflicted teen (to say the least!).

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.

40 times??!! Thank you but I’m just an actor. There are people out there trying to cure cancer, but I appreciate the love.

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!

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.

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!

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.

• 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.

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.

Peppers and onions. Although I was once at a restaurant in Los Angeles where someone ordered a pizza that didn’t have any cheese on it. It was a gluten-free bread that didn’t have any cheese, so I don’t even know what pizza is anymore.

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

Thanks! Unfortunately, I never know what’s going to be popular and what isn’t. This show was a big gamble for HBO and everyone involved. People usually associate fantasy TV with Xena and Hercules and those sort of things. No offense to them, but they’re a bit lighter around the edges. This show wasn’t that.

What I love isn’t usually a barometer of how popular it will be with audiences. Some things that I was a part of that I loved and thought would be big hits are things that nobody ever saw.

But yeah, mostly it was the Internet’s reaction to Sean Bean getting his head cut off. That’s when I knew we were getting big!

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.

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.

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.

It’s funny, I’m one of those vegetarians that doesn’t go to vegetarian restaurants. I guess you could say I’m a bad vegetarian. Some of those soy products, in abundance, cannot be healthy for you. In moderation, fine. But if you read what you believe about soy then you have to question it.

So let's see....I like chopped salad? If you go to a really good restaurant, the chopped salad is really good.

But yeah, for the most part I’m a pretty bad veg.

I used to eat the fake meats and all that but I’ve stopped doing that.

Good for you!

I decided to become a vegetarian when I was in my teens. At the time I was doing it because of my love for animals, but also for a girl. Of course.

I have continued to stay with it out of my great respect for animals, though. Any form of animal abuse is pretty upsetting to me. As a New Yorker it’s hard to see horse drawn carriages every day, and I hope we can make more progress towards solving that issue.

I’ve got a lion ring that’s pretty cool. And my scar.

Hey everyone - I'm so humbled by this response! I'm still here answering questions so don't worry. We're just getting caught up. I'm trying to pick and choose a range of questions so it's not just the usual stuff for you guys.

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.

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.

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.

Thank you, rabidbunnyrabbit! Maybe I'll get a bunny to go with my cat and my rat.

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.

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

What about you? Harbor frosting?

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

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.

Hi Karyn! We should go out for hummus soon.

I don’t even see it as squeezing them in, honestly. I make room for them.

At this point in my career, it’s always about the scripts. These indie movies are basically only written by one person, which is huge. It’s not a team of writers picking the scripts apart and becoming a convoluted mess like some of the bigger projects.

As an actor, as you know, you’re driven to great storytelling. Alex is a great storyteller and he sets up an environment that is just so much fun. How could you turn down this opportunity? I’m on a TV show that sort of helps to pay the rent so that I have the freedom to tackle these smaller projects. I think it’s almost the duty of an actor to help out with smaller films and tell these stories that are infinitely better than some of the larger films.

You guys are crazy.

I mean that in the nicest possible way.

Well, that’s a great question. I feel like that can go both ways. You can take that as a compliment and think about it like you’ve done a great job with the role, and you’re sort of in people’s conscience as that character.

On the other hand, the joy of this TV show is that you can take time off and do other characters. A couple of years after this hopefully I’ll also do some good work. I know Daniel Radcliffe has been doing a couple of plays in New York right now, and probably in a way attempting to blow his Harry Potter image. If people really can’t disassociate me from Tyrion then I’ll try to take it like, hey, I probably did something right with that role.

Thank you for the kind words. Trying to keep up! Blake is helping sift through the questions. Seem to be lots of questions about whores and slapping (separately).

I have had Anna Karenina sitting on my nightstand at home and it’s been gathering dust for about a year now. That’s the next big, well-known beloved classic that I need to crack open… It’s pretty daunting, though! Who here has gotten through it?

[Trying to keep it to one question per person since his time is short. Thanks! -blake]

A bunch of people have asked for beers. But the first one I saw was from some guy in Chicago named treehugger. It was awhile ago now and impossible to find. But: sure, treehugger. I'll look for you under the trees.

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

This feels like being interviewed by a hundred thousand news anchors at once! But much friendlier anchors...who seem to know their material...

I really appreciate everyone's enthusiasm and questions. I tried to move another engagement to make more time but it's really hard during shoots. I am going to try to answer a few more short ones now.

And remember: If you see me on the street and want a photo, ask! It's just weird when your kid asks for directions.

Also just to answer one conspiracy theory I saw - Blake's not my PR person (he's not even a PR person at all), and he doesn't work for me. He's a techie and he knows about Reddit so he's just helping out. I'm kind of an old luddite when it comes to technology. And I'm also just helping Alex because he's a friend.