If you need to add a sense of gravitas to your project, or have a villain who needs to be deliciously evil with just a hint of twinkle in his eyes, there’s a pretty simple solution: hire Charles Dance. The legendary actor has been lighting up the screen for decades, whether lording it over Westeros in Game Of Thrones as Tywin Lannister, or menacing 007 as mercenary Claus in For Your Eyes Only. He’s as busy as ever, popping up in blockbusters and brilliant series alike – and he’s recently lent his voice to a chilling, thrilling Diablo IV promo video.For Diablo fiends, the fourth instalment in the hit game franchise is available for pre-order now, and you can even get a little early access by signing up to the beta now.
That gave Empire the perfect chance to dance the dance with Dance himself, talking through his many memorable roles – from his experience learning of Tywin Lannister’s death from a book-reading fan, to his… erm… unusual medical situation on the James Bond set.
We have to start with Tywin Lannister. You chose not the read the books, but those of us who had read them had him pegged as a bad guy from minute one. Did you have a bit more empathy for him?
I thought of him more as unlikable. Even though this was fictional, it was based on fact. That world is feudal, so you have to behave in a particular way to retain your position in a feudal society. And that's what he did. He’s a misogynist, not very pleasant. But he did what he did for the good of his family. And, finally, for the good of his position.
So how early did you know about your death scene?
I found out quite late. I was walking down the street and this guy came up to me. He recognised me. “Game Of Thrones, I love it – you’ve got this great death scene.” I said, “Oh, do I?| He told me about it. I was quite near a Waterstones bookstore so I went in and got a copy of the book off the shelf and thumbed through until I found Tywin Lannister’s death. Luckily for me, on the screen it wasn't quite as drastic as it is in the book; you who have read the books will know! But still quite spectacular. Ungrateful little sod, after all I’d done for him [laughs]. It obviously worked, and ended up being the most successful television shows ever made. Weren’t we lucky?
Going way back, was your first big Hollywood experience The Golden Child?
Yes, working in the US and that kind of fantasy thing. I did an American film before that, a film adaptation of David Hare’s play Plenty where I played opposite Meryl Streep, but it was shot here. I can't honestly remember [The Golden Child]. It's quite a while ago. This is my 47th year [in acting], I'm so still hanging on. You know, people mistakenly assume there’s something vaguely aristocratic about me, but there isn’t. My mother came from the East End of London; she went into service when she was 13. There are thousands of people desperate for work, or are in work and doing a job that is just a job. And here I am a very lucky position of doing a job that I love.
Roger Moore was an absolute gentleman and one of the nicest men I've had the fortune of working with.
How well do you remember Claus in For Your Eyes Only? Would it be fair to say that that’s the kind of film where you stood around and glowered a lot, and then a stuntman took on large sections of the role?
Yeah. We were in Cortina, doing the snow stuff, and I'm supposed to be having a fight with Roger Moore while we’re sliding down a ski slope. There was a point at which something explodes beside where I am, and I’m kind of knocked off my feet. I said to John Glen, the director, “Look, I just have to fall over. I've been working in theatre all my life; I can do this.” So we set up to rehearse it, and I did something to my shoulder. Then of course, we had a couple more rehearsals and then the take. By the time we shot, I was in a lot of pain and I didn't want anybody to know. To cut a long story short, I’d dislocated my shoulder.
[At the hospital] they gave me a massive painkiller and yanked my arm back into place, and I thought, “Right, I’ll get back to the trailer, take another one of these painkillers and then I can do my stuff.” So I go to the trailer, open the bag from the pharmacy and it's a suppository. I'm in a one piece, zipped-up, skintight ski suit and I've just dislocated my shoulder and I've got to somehow manage to take this thing. I did it, but it was quite a logistical exercise! So that’s the principal thing I remember about For Your Eyes Only – that, and the joy of Roger Moore, who was an absolute gentleman and one of the nicest men I’ve ever had the fortune of working with.
Recently you were in The Sandman, where you’re a sort of wizard dabbling in dark arts.
I’ve not seen it yet but I have to tell you, it was one of the best gigs I've ever done. It was during the pandemic, based in Marseille in a studio. I was put up in a villa – thanks very much – for the duration of the shoot, which began with 10 days of isolation. So every couple of days somebody would ring and say, “How are you doing for food, could you do with some more bread?” And that would be brought. There was a pool, god knows how many bedrooms; I don’t think I ever found them all. It was fantastic! See what I mean about lucky?
What about Godzilla: King Of The Monsters? How did that compare to Thrones in terms of scale?
I hadn’t had anything quite like that before. I've done quite a lot of blue screen and green screen work, but I've not worked with that sort of 60-foot-high monster before. So we had this wonderful First AD and he helped us all through it. There was a big pink balloon hanging up in the roof of the soundstage. He would say, “There’s the balloon, he’s up there, this is terrifying! Cower in fright! Now aim, aim to the right of the balloon!” So we spent the whole time looking up at this balloon. One of the silliest jobs I’ve had.
A couple of years ago you played William Randolph Hearst in Mank, which was a reunion with David Fincher. How had he changed across the 30-odd years since you made Alien 3?
He just got even better. Alien 3 was his first film; he’d done, I think, a video from Madonna and some Nike commercials. I met him then and I thought, “My God, this guy's clever.” He was astonishing. I mean, what he's able to do now is because he's more a captain of his own ship than he was when he was directing a franchise movie. He's now able to go to an astonishing number of takes. It’s very rarely less than double figures of takes when you work with David Fincher. The guy is a film animal from the top of his head to the soles of his feet. He knows about every aspect of the job, from the costume design to production design, the cinematography to the sound man, everything. And every detail, he strives to get absolutely right. Although it's frustrating and it saps one’s energy, ultimately, I and most of us working on it don't mind because we know that we're working with a very smart guy and the end result is going to be a very good film that we’re glad to be part of.
Were you disappointed that Clemens didn’t make it to the end in Alien 3?
Yes, I hoped he would!
It was nice to see you playing a good guy in that as well. You don’t get the chance as often as you should.
I used to play good guys, a long time ago. I don’t know why I suddenly got lumbered with dubious characters, but there you go.
They say that bad guys have more fun though.
Most of the time, yes. You get to say and do the most horrendous things that you wouldn’t dream of doing in real life.
One more bad guy: you were Benedict in Last Action Hero, another famously troubled production.
It didn't feel difficult when we were doing it. I think they just didn't time the release very well. It came out more or less at the same time as something very big [Jurassic Park]. But it was fun to do.
You got to wear some awfully nice suits.
Yes! [laughs] I can remember being in a makeup chair next to F. Murray Abraham, and we were having a rather pompous conversation about European film. And Arnold came in and said, [in perfect Schwarzenegger voice] “You know, you need the money you make from my movies to make your art films.” We said, “You’re absolutely right, Arnold.” He came out with this absolutely fantastic line, he said, “I make films for the polyester people.” Arnold is a very smart man, oh yes. Very definitely. And very funny, and very aware.
Check out the Cathedral Of Diablo video here