The extremely talented actor Peter Dinklage will finally be on the big screen again this month with the release of "Penelope" on Feb. 29. The film, which was completed in 2006, even has a theme about accepting physical difference.
"Penelope" producer Scott Steindorff calls the film the "'anti-Barbie' movie. Today, everyone's so concerned about how they look, that it's interesting to develop a story where a young woman overcomes prejudice about how she looks and proves her strength of character and eventually triumphs, finds herself and finds true love."
Dinklage, best known for his SAG best actor award-winning role in 2003's "The Station Agent" plays Lemon in "Penelope." Lemon is a tabloid reporter who wants a photo of the mysterious Penelope (played by Christina Ricci) and hires Max (played by James McAvoy) to pose as a prospective suitor to get the picture.
The movie is being billed as modern romantic fairy tale, and may actually draw some attention with the rising star of James McAvoy ("Atonement") in it, as well as having Reese Witherspoon in the cast.
I have been a fan of Dinklage since "The Station Agent;" I admire his brilliance as an actor and how he has been able to avoid stereotypical roles for short-statured actors. A 2007 USA Today article about LP actors explained that "the approximately 125 short actors who are Screen Actors Guild members say they're usually pigeonholed by producers, directors and screenwriters. And even exceptional roles offer scant career momentum." But that things are getting better: "times seem to be improving, with diminutive actors receiving high-profile projects and broader, more nuanced roles."
Dinklage appeared in a nuanced role as an artist/male nanny in the F/X channel plastic surgery drama,"Nip/Tuck," in 2006 and his character had an affair with 5-foot-9 Joely Richardson. "His height was a counterpoint to the show's central theme, the idolization of physical perfection, " according to USA Today.
But many LP actors still have to contend with lots of scripts that relegate them to roles as Christmas elves or as comedy relief.
"Obviously, everything needs to move forward a bit in Hollywood," Dinklage told USA Today. "It's certainly getting a lot better. But it's two steps forward, one step back. There's a lot of crap out there."
Dinklage was in an off-Broadway play, "Things We Want" last fall, which marked the off-Broadway directorial debut of his friend Ethan Hawke. Dinklage is currently filming "The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian."
I am hoping for the day when he stars in the film adaptation of Simon Mawer's Mendel's Dwarf. According to Variety in 2005, Barbra Streisand's production company, Barwood, acquired the rights to the 1998 novel, which focuses on the life and work of Dr. Ben Lambert, a geneticist who struggles to unravel the genetic secrets of dwarfism, as well as his complex relationship with a woman in a bad marriage. Peter Dinklage was set to star. It's a fantastic book, and when I read it last year, I already had Dinklage starring in the film adaptation in my mind. Here's hoping the only delay is Barbra getting a great script written.
