A series of outstanding performances with great directors as Thomas McCarthy, Sidney Lumet, Frank Oz and Alexandre Rockwell
Today is renowned and admired all over the world for his performance as Tyrion Lannister in the tv series Game of Thrones, actually Peter Dinklage is acknowledged to have a long and interesting movie career that started almost twenty years ago, in 1995. After he played a lot of supporting roles, among which a brief appearance next to Will Ferrell in Elf, in 2003 he gets his first role as leading actor. The opportunity that allows him to show his talent is The Station Agent, film debut of Thomas McCarthy as director.
The story, simple and touching, tells the misadventures of Finbar McBride, a taciturn trains fanatic who would live an ordinary life, but he always receives people’s attention because of his height. When his best friend dies, Finn is unemployed, but inherits an old train depot in New Jersey. The new accommodation and a series of unexpected encounters lead him willy-nilly to face and open up with the local community. The elegance and the irony of the script, written by McCarthy himself, are supported by a surprising and inspired cast of costars. Bobby Cannavale Patricia Clarkson and Dinklage form a trio absolutely funny, while a young Michelle Williams returning from Dawson’s Creek stands out in the local librarian’s role. The movie won a BAFTA award for best original screenplay and Peter Dinklage gets many nominations for his performance.
In 2006 he plays in the second to last movie by famous director Sidney Lumet, Find me guilty. Based on the true story of the longest and more articulated trial against the mob, the film holds on the surprising performance by Vin Diesel as mobster Jackie DiNorscio, who was the only one to defends himself in court. Peter Dinklage sits next to him as the most perceptive of the defence attorneys, divided between professional concerns and sincere sympathy for the main character. The year after he improves his British accent and flies overseas to work with Frank Oz in his black comedy Funeral Party. Dinklage joins the funny pinwheel of accidents and small dramas caused by the patriarch’s death in a seemingly quiet and country English family.
He also plays the same role in the irrelevant American remake in 2010. 2010 is the release year for Pete Smalls is Dead, where Dinklage is leading actor and producer for the first time. The fourth movie by the independent and original director Alexandre Rockwell uses to the best its poor means to tell a truthful, touching and ironic journey through Los Angeles. The talent of Peter Dinklage is proved again and is in harmony with that of actors as Mark Boone Junior, Tim Roth and Steve Buscemi. In the cast there is the beautiful Lena Headey, who becomes good friend with Peter Dinklage: a year after he recommends her for the role of his cunning sister, in the tv series that made him famous all over the world, Game of Thrones.
