Jamie Dornan lands starring role in HBO production

Jamie Dornan has been cast alongside Peter Dinklage in a new HBO drama based on the life of French actor Hervé Villechaize.

In My Dinner with Hervé, Dornan will portray Danny Tate, a struggling journalist who encounters the Dinklage-played Villechaize over one wild night in LA.

Villechaize starred in 70s TV series Fantasy Island and was also known for playing evil henchman Nick Nack in Bond film The Man With The Golden Gun. In 1993, he committed suicide.

Director Sacha Gervasi was the last person to interview Villechaize before his death, and worked with Dinklage on the script over years. “He interviewed Hervé right before he killed himself. Sacha was a journalist, sitting here like we are now. After he killed himself, Sacha realized Hervé’s interview was a suicide note,” Dinklage told The New York Times in 2012.

HBO Films have come on board with the project after a protracted period of development in which Gervasi co-wrote the story with Eddie the Eagle writer Sean Macaulay.

This marks Dornan’s first TV project since The Fall.