Before he won four Emmys for his performance as Tyrion Lannister on Game of Thrones, Peter Dinklage was in a punk band. “We got together, and we just drank too much and played the old CBGB’s,” he said about his time in Whizzy (a terrible and terribly ’90s band name). “We had a following, but our following was, like, progressive rock. It was all guys. For some reason, just dudes came to our shows. I felt a little bit, like, what’s the point of being in a rock band if there’s no ladies?” Something tells me there will be more ladies in attendance when he shows off his musical chops in Cyrano.
Directed by Pride and Prejudice‘s Joe Wright, the musical adaptation of Edmond Rostand’s 1897 play Cyrano de Bergerac (you probably read it in high school) stars Dinklage as the love-struck title character, along with Haley Bennett as Roxane, Kelvin Harrison Jr. as Christian, and Ben Mendelsohn as Count de Guiche. Indie rock legends The National provide the soundtrack, and while Dinklage doesn’t sing in the trailer above, rest assured, he does in the “gonzo” musical of the “greatest love story ever told.”
Here’s the official plot synopsis:
Award-winning director Joe Wright envelops moviegoers in a symphony of emotions with music, romance, and beauty in Cyrano, re-imagining the timeless tale of a heartbreaking love triangle. A man ahead of his time, Cyrano de Bergerac (Peter Dinklage) dazzles whether with ferocious wordplay at a verbal joust or with brilliant swordplay in a duel. But, convinced that his appearance renders him unworthy of the love of a devoted friend, the luminous Roxanne (Haley Bennett), Cyrano has yet to declare his feelings for her — and Roxanne has fallen in love, at first sight, with Christian (Kelvin Harrison, Jr.).
Cyrano opens in select theaters on December 31.
