What do you do when your wife adapts a movie to give you work and due to lack of charisma of the other two stars, you are stuck? I’ve got to believe this is what happened to Peter Dinklage in Cyrano adapted by his wife Ericka Schmidt.
I loved Dinklage in most of the film, he is certainly sincere and if there ever was a man/character who possesses charm yet comes with disability, he is far better than Gerard Depardieu (although according to the tabloids, G.D. has a personality defect, laugh emoji).
The other two ‘stars’ of the film were for lack of a better word, overly maudlin, and therefore, unsympathetic and unbelievable. Haley Bennett comes off as such a spoiled brat that I was smiling at the end. In another wtf nepotistic moment, Joe Wright, the director has been in a relationship with Haley for four years, holy double date nightmare!
And Kevin Harrison, Jr. was brilliant in Luce, so his talents may be better used in a modern story.
The filming seemed clumsy, distracted and much too jumbled, like I feel when I try to read the newspaper online.
I truly hope Dinklage can get some better written roles (like The Station Agent a la Tom McCarthy). He deserves them.
Cyrano…Peter, Hail the Station Agent
