Before ‘Game of Thrones’ Made Him an Icon, Peter Dinklage’s Crazy Boy Band Gig Earned Him a Scar on the Head

Actor Peter Dinklage, who is popularly known for playing Tyrion Lannister on HBO’s Game of Thrones from 2011-2019, is regarded as one of the finest actors in the industry. Dinklage’s performance as Tyrion Lannister was highly lauded by the critics as well as the audience. It was reported that Peter Dinklage was the only choice for Tyrion Lannister because his humanity covered with sardonic dry wit suited the character.

Dinklage appeared in the recently released Brothers alongside Josh Brolin. Directed by Max Barbakow, the movie follows the story of a reformed criminal trying to get straight but is derailed upon meeting his twin brother. They dodge violence, cops, and an overbearing mother. Along the way, the family must heal their wounds. The actor recently shared about sustaining an injury during his ‘punk-funk rap’ days.

Peter Dinklage recounts the story of his scar sustained during the 1990s

Actor Peter Dinklage appeared on Hot Ones, where he shared with host Sean Evans that before he became an established actor, he was in a ‘punk-funk-rap’ group; Wizzy. The 55-year-old actor added that he did not have any desire to be an actor at the time because he was sure that he was not going to do any silly commercials. He mentioned,

I’m going to do plays downtown for no money in which I’m going to throw up on the audience, and I’m going to be in a punk band. We were Beastie Boys rip-offs, and yeah, we had fun. It was a lot of fun. And it was a couple of years doing it; I got a cool scar on my temple. Head wounds bleed a lot. So I throw up on the audience, and I bleed on the audience. It’s a very visceral experience if you want to see me live.

The actor noted he got a scar when he was kneed in the head during a performance at New York City music club CBGB in the early 1990s.

Dinklage, however, starred in 1995’s Living in Oblivion alongside Steve Buscemi and later in Bullet alongside Tupac Shakur. But his breakthrough performance came with The Station Agent as Finbar McBride and was highly lauded for his performance. During the interview, the actor addressed that it wasn’t easy for him to have roles he desired to play. He goes on to explain,

I was angry—I think too angry for a long time. I just knew that the entertainment business was serving up people who are my size and that to me wasn’t acting. But I surrounded myself with really brilliant people. Not intentionally, but just friendships. I call it the tribe. And we just carried that friendship and working environment sort of one and the same into the future together.

Peter Dinklage added that he was just lucky to find great people who inspired him every day. Recalling his time on GOT, Dinklage shared that Charles Dance, who played his father on-screen, is one of his favorite human beings in real life. He shared that the dialogues their characters had were intense but so brilliant that between every take, Dance would come up to him and touch him on the shoulder, which felt very paternal.

Peter Dinklage talks about working on Brothers

Dinklage alongside Josh Brolin stars in Brothers, and in a recent interview with Collider, the actors were asked if they could go back in time and play a role they’ve played in the past. What would that be? The Game of Thrones actor said,

I had so much fun making our movie Brothers. I love playing Jady. I’m not saying that because we’re here promoting the movie; I just had a lot of fun with him. That’s the most important thing to me in terms of experience and making a movie. I like his sort of loosey-gooeyness fun to play those people who are good but make a lot of mistakes. It’s always fun to play those people who are good but make a lot of mistakes.

Josh Brolin chimed in to say that they had fun improvising in the car, adding that it might be the most fun they had. He also added that a lot of it didn’t end up in the movie, which reminded him of Inherent Vice, in which he starred alongside Joaquin Phoenix. He added that their improvisation was called Tom & Jerry, but the majority of it was never used.

Talking about playing brothers in Brothers, Dinklage added that a Marvel actor randomly called him and said, ‘My friend told me we should play brothers’. They say it’s because of the fact that they have big heads. It seemed like the two actors had a lot of fun while filming and now are excited for the audience to watch the movie, which also stars Glenn Close, Marisa Tomei, and Brendan Fraser.

Brothers is now streaming on Prime Video.