#HERVE VILLECHAIZE FMAN WIUTH THE GOLDEN HOW TO#
#HERVE VILLECHAIZE FMAN WIUTH THE GOLDEN SERIES#

“His father said, ‘Go where the freaks go. “His brother, Patrick, told me that would walk down the street and just be kicked in the head for being different.” After a promising start as a painter-he became the youngest artist to have his work shown in the Museum of Paris-Villechaize changed course at his father’s suggestion. “There was an almost medieval intolerance for people who were different at that time,” said Gervasi of Villechaize’s coming-of-age years in 1950s France. He did not grow taller than 3-foot-10 Villechaize was bullied mercilessly. At a young age, Villechaize was subjected to barbaric treatments including having sheep’s marrow injected into his spine. Upon discovering that his son suffered from proportionate dwarfism, he took Hervé to medical clinics in Minnesota, England, and Germany in hopes of curing the condition. Villechaize’s father had been a doctor in Paris.

Intrigued, Gervasi ended up meeting the actor three times in a five-day span, and hearing his tragic life story. But Villechaize was not finished talking. Gervasi ran through his questions and collected a few quotes, before packing up his recorder and notebook-eager to get to a more exciting interview on his itinerary. The reporter dutifully flew to Los Angeles, and met Villechaize for what was supposed to be a quick conversation at a West Hollywood restaurant.

Gervasi did not expect much from the interview. And aside from the occasional Geraldo appearance or odd Dunkin’ Donuts commercial, Villechaize’s career had dried up.

#HERVE VILLECHAIZE FMAN WIUTH THE GOLDEN SERIES#

But it had been about a decade since Villechaize was fired from his last high-profile job-the TV series Fantasy Island, where he played sidekick Tattoo-after demanding equal pay to his co-star, Ricardo Montalbán.

Gervasi was supposed to crank out a 500-word “Where Are They Now?”–style blurb about the French actor, perhaps best known for playing evil henchman Nick Nack in 1974’s The Man with the Golden Gun.

#HERVE VILLECHAIZE FMAN WIUTH THE GOLDEN HOW TO#

But also, Peter plays it almost as a cautionary tale, like this is how to not handle this kind of attention and acclaim.In 1993, Sacha Gervasi was working as a journalist in London when he received what would become the strangest-and most meaningful-assignment of his life: an interview with Hervé Villechaize. I never had that experience before on anything, and it was really emotional on many occasions.'Īside from the fact that there are so few little people working in TV and film, 'no one else could have played Herve,' Gervasi says. 'It couldn't be more meta: The most famous dwarf on a TV show now playing the most famous dwarf on a show back then. 'Art completely imitated life, and life imitated art. 'It was so surreal, because we were shooting at these real locations where Sacha had met him and the actual bell tower where Herve rings the bell' in 'Fantasy,' Dinklage remembers. The film recreates many events from Gervasi's week with Villechaize, and includes a scene shot at the same Los Angeles hotel where he last saw the actor, days before he shot himself. They struggled to secure financing for more than a decade until HBO came aboard. That changed when he met Gervasi who wrote and directed the movie. Dinklage, also a producer of 'Dinner,' only vaguely remembers watching 'Fantasy' at his grandmother's house, but never considered himself a true fan of the actor.

Herve villechaize fman wiuth the golden