Peter Dinklage sings on The Late Show, as if he needed to be any cooler
The Cyrano star joins The National's Bryce and Aaron Dessner to perform "Your Name"
TV News Peter Dinklage
“The greatest singers aren’t necessarily opera singers, they just have soul,” Peter Dinklage told Stephen Colbert. And then he sang. Citing singular songsmiths like Bob Dylan and Nina Simone as such “soulful singers,” the former Game Of Thrones star was quick to deny he had any soul himself, but, performing the no-doubt show-stopping love song “Your Name” from the upcoming Cyrano, Dinklage sure gave an impressively assured and intense voice to his character’s famously unrequited love.
The film (set for a January premiere) sees Dinklage essaying the legendary role of Cyrano de Bergerac, a physically derided swordsman and soldier with the heart of a poet. Adapted from the stage play written by his wife, the writer and director Erica Schmidt, the Joe Wright-directed film version of Cyrano casts Dinklage as a differently “other” de Bergerac, wooing the lovely Roxanne (Swallow’s Haley Bennett) on behalf of his tongue-tied but strapping pal, Christian (Kelvin Harrison Jr. from The Trial Of The Chicago 7).
Talking musical theater with occasional Broadway crooner Colbert, Dinklage agreed that the fear of a non-professional singer is very real (“If you’re flat, you’re flat,” he commiserated), but that he’s lucky enough to be married to the writer-director. “Why do you think I married her?,” Dinklage noted knowingly in response to Colbert asking if scribe Schmidt is, in fact, Dinklage’s Cyrano. Explaining that he was in good hands with both Schmidt and The National’s Dessner brothers (Aaron and Bryce) taking on the task of turning Edmond Rostand’s poetry into singable verse, Dinklage told Colbert that, as actors, “We sound a lot smarter because of our writers.”
Taking the stage alongside the Dessners and some appropriately lush strings, Dinklage boomed out Cyrano’s lonely lament to his beloved Roxanne in a confident, inimitable baritone. And if we’re to take Dinklage at his word about not being imbued with the soul of a natural singer, his performance, recalling the likes of The Magnetic Fields’ Stephin Merritt or The National’s own Matt Berninger, yet gave credence to the idea that he can sure act the part. (Dinklage denied being a professional to Colbert, but there’s irrefutable proof out there that the actor once fronted a college punk band called Whizzy.) His performance should certainly be sufficient for the legions of Peter Dinklage fans already swooning at the thought of the actor’s lovelorn Cyrano singing his heart out.
16 Comments
He’s not the first celebrity to be in this situation, but he constantly looks like he really needs to wash his hair.
Takes some real guts as a non-singer to put yourself out there like that. And he certainly has enough soul to forgive the missed notes.
Who says he’s not a singer?
I stand corrected!
What no one seems to mention here is that he was under the weather since he was still recovering from a COVID vaccination.
I’ve sung publicly with a bad cold and it sounds as good as it, well, sounds.
Reminds me of my favourite two-word joke:Dwarf shortage.
I’m really looking forward to Cyrano, Joe Wright can be hit-or-miss but the preview looks spectacular.
Yes it really does. I am looking forward to it.
Was he able to sing in a consistent from the beginning of a line to the next? Cuz that’s something he wasn’t able to do in any single scene of Game of Thrones.
But yeah, actors singing is ALWAYS cool.
He proved himself with this one (The link worked for me but says it doesn’t work in the post, so if that’s the case, just look up Peter Dinklage Game of Thrones the Musical on YouTube)
He actually has a very nice voice and plenty of soul. Seems with some more time and training, he could absolutely be a very fine singer. And huge props to him for stepping outside his comfort zone in such a way; takes huge balls.
I’m not a professional, but I’ve had professional vocal training, and I can say, ‘that was very nice’. Yes, he was flat a few times, but it wouldn’t take a lot of training to get him up to form (if he wanted to).
Thank you!
Damn, The National Twins are lookin… old. Am I also get… no… no I’m not.
He genuinely looks like he’s just another member of The National in this clip.