On The Red Carpet: "I feel like a puppet" says X-Men Star Peter Dinklage

Melbourne last night hosted the Australian premiere of the superhero blockbuster X-Men: Days Of Future Past. Three of the film's stars were even in town – Hugh Jackman, who reprises his role as Wolverine, Chinese actor Fan Bingbing, and Peter Dinklage, beloved as Tyrion Lannister in Game Of Thrones – to walk the red carpet at Melbourne Central under its historic Coops Shot Tower. 

"Now I really feel like a puppet," Dinklage joked as he hit the carpet and one of sponsor Nova's team awkwardly took a photo on a mounted tablet.

"I wish to confess... I'm guilty of being on the red carpet"  Pic: David Harris

Large crowds had gathered - some curious passersby, others hardcore fans. After all, this latest instalment of the X-Men franchise is epic. It sees the mutants fight The Sentinels for their very survival – and the battle even involves time travel, with Wolverine journeying back to President Nixon's '70s to intervene in a program of annihilation initiated by Dinklage's military scientist Bolivar Trask, the 'villain'. 

The ensemble cast is huge, with James McAvoy and Patrick Stewart playing the young and old Professor X, respectively, and Michael Fassbender and Ian McKellen as Magneto – a symbolic mash-up of the original X-Men with the new. While superhero films are often perceived as being about, and for, dudes, there are strong female parts in Days…, with Jennifer Lawrence leading its X-Women. It must have been tricky to squish all the stars onto the film poster...

To promote Days…, the actors have split up to travel the globe over the course of a week in what is being branded as The X-Men X-Perience (complete with its own hashtag, #XMenLive). Melbourne is the last stop ahead of the film's Australian opening next Thursday. [Director Bryan Singer is avoiding press – he's embroiled in a sexual abuse legal drama. The X-Men X-Perience is providing a canny distraction from the controversy for its distributors 20th Century Fox.]

It's amazing that Melbourne, not Sydney, should stage the Australian premiere of the first 3D X-Men movie. Media are gathered by mid-afternoon, lining up in a stairwell to enter the pit. The logistics are immense with several publicists on hand. 

But, such is the dog-eat-dog world of media, and inevitable red carpet frenzy, that any interview schedules collapse into opportunistic chaos. Outlets ambush each other – and some miss out. [Commercial radio people can be ruthless.]

X-Fans: Days Of Early Starts Pic: David Harris

Surprisingly, the gregarious Jackman, suited and with a beard of which Conchita Wurst would be proud, arrived first. 

Next was Fan, who portrays Blink in her international break-out. The graceful actor was striking in a winter-white gown with her hair in a low ponytail and blood-red lipstick. She has serious devotees in the local Asian community – they almost breached security. 

The charismatic Dinklage was last to arrive – with a leading man's bouffant. And following the 'puppet' quip, he made the greatest effort to talk to media, expressing a dry sense of humour that could be described as a tad Tyrion. 

Days… is his first major movie following years of indiedom – and those Emmy and Golden Globe award wins for GOT. He's in his element. Considering that Trask is a creature of the '70s, we hit up Dinklage for his thoughts on the decade that so polarises people – is there anything to redeem it? 

"Oh my God – I liked being a kid," the youthful fortysomething said of the '70s. 

"I had a great childhood… I always sorta relate time periods to the music that was popular at the time and, for me, that was one of the best times in the history of at least recent music – you know, The Beatles were just coming out and, like, Sgt Pepper and [Jimi] Hendrix was still around. It just was a great time." 

Screaming fans soon made carpet chatter impossible. "Oh my God," Dinklage said again, amid screams, before being whisked away. "I didn't hear any of that 'cause Mr Jackman is nearby!"