Dinklage finds new ‘Home’

from Variety, International News section:
Dinklage finds new ‘Home’
He’ll star in Paki Smith’s helming debut, being sold by Content
By Robert Mitchell

LONDON — “Game of Thrones” star Peter Dinklage is set to star in “A Long Way Home,” with Content Film selling worldwide rights at the EFM in Berlin.

The film, described as an “epic adventure about friendship, courage, magic, adventure and the lengths one boy will go to reunite his family” is the feature helming debut of set decorator and production designer Paki Smith. He recently worked on Christopher Nolan’s “The Dark Knight Rises” and Andrew Stanton’s “John Carter.”

Set to lense in April, “A Long Way Home” is produced by Justin Moore-Levy, David Collins and Charlie Mason, with Paul Michaels and “Star Wars” saga producer Rick McCallum as executive producers. It is scripted by Alex Rose.

‘Game of Thrones’ star Peter Dinklage joins ‘X-Men: Days of Future Past’

from Entertainment Weekly:
‘Game of Thrones’ star Peter Dinklage joins ‘X-Men: Days of Future Past’
by Anthony Breznican

Game of Thrones star Peter Dinklage is joining the cast of X-Men: Days of Future Past.

Director Bryan Singer tweeted the news tonight, although he did not specify which character the actor would play.

While we’re of the mind that the charismatic 43-year-old could play any badass he put his mind to, there are a few Marvel mutant characters that would match his diminutive height.
One would be Puck, a strapping adventurer who found his physical stature shrunk by mystical forces — making him smaller, but no less of a forceful fighter.

But it’s unclear whether the character, which was part of Marvel’s Alpha Flight series (which started in 1983) would be covered by 20th Century Fox’s license to make movies based on the X-Men comics. Puck is technically an “altered human,” and he did have various adventures alongside the X-Men team, so it very well could count. We won’t know for sure until Singer reveals more.

Marvel sold film rights to Spider-Man, Fantastic Four, and X-Men, among others, before Marvel Studios began making its own movies, such as the interlocked Iron Man, Thor, Captain America and Avengers titles, so it’s always a question of which character can be used by whom. For instance, Marvel Studios can’t use any of its comic book mutant characters in its own films, since those all fall under the X-Men deal with Fox.

The reverse goes for MODOK, another smallish Marvel character whose size belies his chaos-causing prowess as a villain. He would fall under the Marvel Studios/Disney banner, and be unavailable to the Fox X-Men series.

But such speculation sells Dinklage, well, short.

This star of The Station Agent and Game of Thrones has personality that transcends his height, and could being energy and charm to just about character — good, evil, or in-between — that Singer hands him.
Days of Future Past, which is set to debut in July 2014, will also feature Ian McKellen and Patrick Stewart as older versions of Magneto and Prof. X, while X-Men: First Class prequel stars Michael Fassbender and James McAvoy will reprise the younger versions of those characters, with Jennifer Lawrence, Nicholas Hoult and, Wolverine himself, Hugh Jackman also set to return.

Robin Williams, Mila Kunis and Peter Dinklage to Star in THE ANGRIEST MAN IN BROOKLYN

from Collider.com:
http://collider.com/robin-williams-mila-kunis-peter-dinklage-angriest-man-in-brooklyn/167389/

Robin Williams, Mila Kunis and Peter Dinklage to Star in THE ANGRIEST MAN IN BROOKLYN
by Dave Trumbore Posted:May 18th, 2012 at 5:31 pm

You have 90 minutes left to live, what do you do? That’s the premise of The Angriest Man in Brooklyn, a new screenplay from Daniel Tapitz (Red Dog) to be directed by Phil Alden Robinson (The Sum of All Fears). The picture centers on the fallout after a stand-in doctor mistakenly tells an obnoxious patient that he has an hour-and-a-half left to live. While the patient goes on a tirade in New York City, attempting to right all the wrongs in his life, the doctor tries in vain to track him down. The high concept comedy stars Robin Williams, Mila Kunis and Peter Dinklage, and has also snared Melissa Leo and James Earl Jones. The Angriest Man in Brooklyn is set to start filming this September in Brooklyn. Hit the jump for more.

ScreenDaily reports that Williams, Kunis and Dinklage are all attached to star in The Angriest Man in Brooklyn, a picture that Mark Lindsay of Cargo Entertainment is currently shopping to Cannes buyers. Though no specific roles have yet to be assigned, I’m going to go ahead and peg Kunis as the stand-in doctor and Williams as the title role, which I think suits him best. Bob Cooper of production company, Landscape Entertainment, had this to say:

“This comedy has a unique big idea, it is universal [and] the talent of Robin, Mila, Peter, Melissa, James Earl and Phil Alden directing is a great recipe for a very special film.”

The director also chimed in, saying:

“When I read Dan Taplitz’s amazing screenplay I laughed and cried until I realized that I wanted so much to see this film that I was actually eager to spend a few years of my life getting it made.”

Finally, a comment from the frenetic Mr. Williams himself:

“I read the script and said, ‘wow!’ I love the fact that it’s so fun and honest. The idea of being that nasty and funny is a gift.”

Peter Dinklage thrown by ‘Game of Thrones’ Emmy win

From MSNBC:

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.

Peter said he did not expect to win at all.

“Definitely not me,” he said when asked who he expected to win. “Esteem issues.”

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.”

The actor only has a short while to celebrate before he heads back overseas to continue production on Season 2 of the series.

“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.”

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.

Peter Dinklage should win an Emmy

From People:

"Game of Thrones"' Peter Dinklage has earned an Emmy nomination for outstanding supporting actor in a drama series.

While HBO’s epic fantasy series “Game of Thrones” has stirred much debate over its nudity and violence, Peter Dinklage’s scene-stealing turn as Tyrion Lannister has been almost universally praised, even scoring the American actor an Emmy nomination for outstanding supporting actor in a drama series.

His recognition should come as no surprise to fans of the show and author George R. R. Martin’s “A Song of Ice and Fire” book series, on which “Thrones” is based, but for newbies looking to understand Dinklage’s appeal, here’s a few reasons why we think the actor, 42, deserves Emmy gold for bringing Tyrion to life:

SPOILER ALERT!

He’s no pushover

With his older sister Cersei ruling over Westeros as Queen and her twin brother Jaime serving in the King’s Guard, Tyrion is often overlooked and considered an embarrassment to the Lannister family, having been born a dwarf and incapable of serving as a solider.

But despite the lack of respect he receives from his tyrant father Tywin, Tyrion never ceases to impress, and often outsmart, his rivals. Dinklage plays the character as a confident and competent voice of reason with whom the audience can identify, in addition to being the only person in the Lannister family willing to stand up to Cersei’s insufferable son, Prince Joffrey.

He’s sympathetic

Despite his status as a Lannister, the richest house in Westeros, Tyrion treats even those considered beneath him with the same respect he does his equals, in particular, the bastard Jon Snow.

Being the illegitimate son of Lord Eddard Stark of Winterfell affords Snow little privilege, and Tyrion is quick to counsel the boy on how to deal with life as an outsider during their journey to Castle Black, home of the Night’s Watch.

Likewise, he finds empathy for the fate of Stark’s young son Bran, who is paralyzed in an accidental fall that, unbeknownst to Tyrion, was orchestrated by his siblings. On his return journey home, he stops at Winterfell and provides the Stark family with saddle instructions that will allow the boy to ride again.

He’s hilarious

Dinklage’s true talents as an actor are no more on display than in bringing moments of comedic relief to an otherwise dark and bloody series. When imprisoned at the Eyrie, the home of Lady Cateyln Stark’s sister Lysa, Tyrion barters his freedom by agreeing to confess his crimes, and goes on to mockingly atone for stealing a servant girl’s robes and leaving her naked, filling his uncle’s boots with goat excrement, and masturbating into his sister’s dinner.

The scene also unites Tyrion with mercenary Bronn, played by Jerome Flynn, who becomes Dinklage’s comedic counterpart as the series progresses.

Elf

It’s not uncommon for little people to play elves in Christmas movies, but Elf bucks tradition a bit by casting people of average stature as the elves (through the cinematic technique of forced perspective), and a single little person (Peter Dinklage) as a highly paid children’s book author with an attitude.

Disability themes are hinted at; throughout the movie, especially during the beginning scenes at the North Pole, Buddy the Elf notices he’s different from the other elves. He can’t make toys as fast as they can, and though his elf supervisor tries to cheer him up by pointing out all the things Buddy excels at–like changing the lightbulbs every six months–behind his back they gripe that he’s slowing them down. Buddy overhears one such conversation, and is sent to the equivalent of a sheltered workshop for “special elves” (here the word “special” is used as a pejorative) where he performs repetitive busywork. A maniacal Jack-in-the-Box terrifies Buddy, and Santa must intervene.

Santa tells Buddy that he’s really been human all along, and must go to New York in search of his biological father. Buddy catches the next ice floe out of there, but after a socially awkward reunion with Walter Hobbs, his reluctant father believes Buddy is mentally ill.

Buddy persists in trying to form a relationship with his father, and (after an unusually quick paternity test) Walter is convinced of his duty to Buddy. He takes him home to a very understanding wife and son for nurturing, but after realizing he cannot leave Buddy alone in an unfamiliar world, takes him to work in the hopes he’ll sit quietly in the corner.

Buddy barges in on a meeting with the aforementioned children’s book author Miles Finch and mistakes him for one of his elf compatriots. Miles takes offense, lists his accomplishments (houses in various cities, plasma TVs, more “action” than Buddy’s ever seen), and challenges Buddy to “Call me elf, one more time!” Unaware of the human world’s sad history of labelling assertive disabled people as “angry”, Buddy whispers that he must be an “angry elf”.

Miles charges down the length of the conference table and opens up a travel-size can of whoopass. Someone’s been taking his adaptive martial arts lessons. Watch the full “Angry Elf” scene (unfortunately not embeddable). The scene is played for laughs, but such a beatdown is quite possible; little people do have normal or almost normal strength in their arms and legs. Combined with a low center of gravity, judo training, and the element of surprise, and it’s small wonder that Miles prevails.

Interestingly, the Elf Original Motion Picture Score lists the incidental music track for that scene as “Attack of the Little People”. The words “dwarf” and “midget”, currently considered pejorative, aren’t uttered in Elf. The producers show a sensitivity to disability issues, and even wring some humor out of them.

The Last Rites of Ransom Pride

The Last Rites Of Ransom Pride purports to be a Western, but looks more like an MTV music video starring Walker Texas Ranger. In it, a tough woman with the improbable name of Julliette Flowers lies, cheats, and kills in order to bring the body of her outlaw lover (with the even more improbable name of Ransom Pride) home to be buried next to his mother. In order to do this, she must exchange one life for another; namely, that of Ransom’s brother Champ. The blood-price is sought by one Bruja, a vicious Mexican voodoo priestess whose (Catholic?) priest brother was killed by Ransom some time before. And if you couldn’t tell Bruja was the villain from the decomposing headdresses she wears, she also has burn scars artfully disfiguring her face and eye.

Juliette Flowers and Champ Pride (am I the only one reminded of Hiro Protagonist?) embark on an almost hallucinogenic journey to retrieve Ransom’s body and gun down anyone in their way, encountering mythical creatures such as a dwarf and a pair of dying conjoined twins. The unnamed Dwarf and the token alcoholic black man get into a game of one-upmanship over who has the better life, but fortunately both are killed before the tales get really tall. The enigmatic twins seem to do nothing but lament their impending double demise.

Oh, and there’s a gratuitous deaf girl with crutch-using father who seems to serve no purpose other than to indicate how bad the bad guys are for abusing her.

Blurred and color-shifted imagery, millisecond flashbacks, and jarring camera work all contribute to the feeling that these disability tropes are, to paraphrase the conjoined twins, “performed for illiterate imbeciles and pathetic whores and they mock us”. We cannot allow this precious time we have to be stained with ridicule, indeed.