Peter Dinklage picked up his first ever Emmy for his role as Tyrion Lannister in HBO’s “Game of Thrones,” and while he came across charming and polished while giving his acceptance speech, the actor was anything but ready just before his name was called.
“There’s some really good actors up there who could just have easily been holding this,” Peter told Access Hollywood backstage at the awards ceremony, referring to his competition on Sunday night.
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Peter said he did not expect to win at all.
“Definitely not me,” he said when asked who he expected to win. “Esteem issues.”
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In his speech, Peter delighted the crowd as he praised “GOT” producers David Benioff and D.B. Weiss, his own pregnant wife, Erica Schmidt, and someone back home, but none of his words were planned.
He told Access he didn’t prepare a speech.
“No, God, no. I forgot to thank my manager. I was thanking my dog sitter before my manager,” he said. “It’s a blur when you get up there. It’s a lot of people.”
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The actor only has a short while to celebrate before he heads back overseas to continue production on Season 2 of the series.
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“It’s a lot of fun to go to work. We’re shooting the second season right now,” he said. “I gotta go back to Belfast (on) Tuesday, so, yeah, it’s fun, a lot of fun.”
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And on a related note, Peter opened his acceptance speech by remarking about following Martin Scorsese, who picked up a Best Directing nod just before Peter’s category was announced. Backstage, Access’ cameras caught the two as they met, both congratulating each other heartily.