'My Dinner with Hervé' director Sacha Gervasi reflects on the history he shares with the film and his titular character
By Nicki Gostin
In 1993 British journalist Sacha Gervasi was dispatched to Los Angeles to interview author Elmore Leonard and for a bit of light entertainment, also speak to Hervé Villechaize - the diminutive actor famous for his role as baddie Nick Nack in the Bond film ‘The Man with the Golden Gun’ and appearing in “Fantasy Island.”
What was originally supposed to be a quick chat morphed into hours long conversations in which the actor bared his soul and opened up about his tumultuous life. Gervasi says that after their initial conversation in which he asked mundane questions, Villechaize pulled a knife out.
“He wanted to get my attention,” he explains. “He wasn’t threatening me. He was like, ‘You were judging me. Everyone thinks I’m a punchline. And he presented a real human being. Yes, he was 3”10, yes he was pretty unusual. And he spent the next two meetings pouring out his heart.”
