X-Men: Days of Future Past has promised fans big things; in fact, it's promised no less than to be THE most epic, and action-packed X-Men movie yet. The cause of all of the trouble that will plague not one, but several eras of X-Men teams will be none other than Game of Thrones star Peter Dinklage, who will play Bolivar Trask, the industrialist who invents a form of mutant-hunting robot known as The Sentinels.

While the character of Trask has a long and varied history of interpretations on both the comic book page and the screen (for instance, an African-American version of the character was portrayed by Bill Duke in X-Men: The Last Stand), Dinklage claims that his version will be something more complex than the one-note bigot Trask can sometimes be.

For those unfamiliar: In X-Men comic book lore, Bolivar Trask is the wealthy son of industrialist Larry Task, who takes it upon himself to defend humanity against the rise of mutants (humanity's natural successor) by creating giant robots designed to hunt down and kill the mutant population - including those hiding in plain sight within humanity's ranks. After Trask's initial design, The Sentinels went on to radically evolve over the years - ultimately resulting in alternate futures where the world is a war-torn dystopia in which mutantkind has been all but eradicated by an army of advanced Sentinels - with humanity faring little better in the process.

Like the comic book storyline it borrows its title from, Days of Future Past will indeed trace the choices Trask makes in his stand against mutants, and the dire effect of those choices on the future. According to Peter Dinklage, however, Trask's motivation for doing what he does will be cut from the modern cloth of sympathetic villains.

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Peter Dinklage as Boliver Trask

As the actor told EW:

“I didn’t want to play the villain. He’s a man of science. He’s a man of invention. He actually sees what he’s doing as a good thing — [his ambition is] definitely blind and he’s quite arrogant. He’s strove all his life for a certain respect and attention."

Now, back when Dinklage was first rumored for DoFP, there was specious speculation from fans that the actor just had to be playing a character who matched his unique physique (those annoying "Puck" rumors, remember?). For those still hung up on the issue: it's clear to see how Dinklage playing Trask could add a lot of rich layers to the character. Dinklage touches on the meta-appeal of the cast with his comment about Trask longing for respect and attention; considering that the genetics which result in "little people" could be considered its own form of mutation, it makes this version of Trask a perfect springboard for deeper explorations of self-love, self-hate, and the delusion that is bigotry, etc...

The part only gets more intriguing as Dinklage reveals that Trask will also be butting heads with a '70s-era Richard Nixon. For more on that, head over to EW. For a look at Dinklage as Trask, check out the viral video below:

Bryan Singer directs X-Men: Days of Future Past with newcomers Peter Dinklage, Omar Sy, Boo Boo Stewart, Fan Bingbing, Evan Peters, Adan Canto, Josh Helman, along with returning stars Jennifer Lawrence, Michael Fassbender, James McAvoy, Nicholas Hoult, Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellen, Hugh Jackman, Anna Paquin, Ellen Page, Shawn Ashmore, Halle Berry, Lucas Till, and Daniel Cudmore.

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X-Men: Days of Future Past will be in theaters on May 23, 2014.

Source: EW