As Bobby Cannavale remembers it, “The Station Agent” nearly didn’t get made due to Peter Dinklage‘s casting.
Cannavale, who co-starred alongside Dinklage within the acclaimed 2003 characteristic, advised Self-importance Truthful that quite a few studios handed on the mission as a result of Dinklage wasn’t an “A-list-type actor.” Dinklage performs a prepare afficianado who strikes into an outdated prepare station. Cannavale stars as a sizzling canine vendor who works outdoors the station. Author/director Tom McCarthy’s movie co-stars Patricia Clarkson and Michelle Williams.
“I keep in mind the whole lot about that film, as a result of it took eternally to get made,” Cannavale mentioned. “It took us 4 years of doing readings for various individuals, for small impartial firms. Getting rejection letter after rejection letter as a result of individuals wished to recast Pete [Dinklage]. I can’t let you know what number of studios had been prepared to take the film on, as long as you’ll be able to simply recast Pete with different A-list-type actors who may play the position. And simply ‘overlook that he’s a dwarf,’ when actually one of many fucking factors of the film was that he was this outcast.”
“The Station Agent” ultimately debuted at Sundance, the place it was acquired by Miramax.
“I keep in mind Pete and I taking the bus from the little home that the producer rented for us into Park Metropolis, and no one realizing who we had been. Us stepping off the bus, and the primary particular person we noticed was Pauly Shore passing out flyers for his film. And the whole lot altering 12 hours later when the film premiered at Eccles,” Cannavale mentioned, pointing to how the movie made Dinklage a breakout star. “Pete couldn’t stroll round. It was an unbelievable expertise. Then the bidding for it, and Harvey [Weinstein] shopping for it for Miramax. The eye that the film bought when it got here out, the critics loving the film, it successful all these awards at Sundance — I’ll always remember it.”
Cannavale added, “It additionally fucked me up as a result of that was the primary film I’d ever actually had a great half in, and so I simply thought, ‘Properly, that is the way it’s going to be each time!’ I’ve by no means had one other expertise like that.”
Cannavale additionally mirrored on his flop “Vinyl” a decade later, saying that he hoped he didn’t disappoint sequence director and creator Martin Scorsese.