ROOFMAN : Tuesday 21st October 2025

I saw the M Rated 'ROOFMAN' earlier this week, and this American crime comedy drama film is Co-Written for the screen and Directed by Derek Cianfrance who made his Directorial debut with 'Brother Tied' in 1998 and would follow this up with 'Blue Valentine' in 2010, 'The Place Beyond the Pines' in 2012, and 'The Light Between Oceans' in 2016. The film had its World Premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival in early September, was released in the US and here in Australia on 9th October, has generated largely positive press and has so far grossed US$21M from a production budget of US$18M. 

The films story opens in 1998 with Jeffrey Manchester (Channing Tatum), a divorced US Army veteran living in North Carolina. He struggles to provide for his three young children, and after one of his daughters sixth birthday, he is reminded by Steve (LaKeith Stanfield), his friend and fellow member of the 82nd Airborne Division, of his powerful skills of observation. Jeffrey uses this 'superpower' for noticing and exploiting routines to rob a McDonald's, breaking in through the roof at night. Surprising the morning shift before they start work for the day, Jeffrey orders the employees into the walk-in freezer but treats them kindly, even giving the manager his own coat to keep warm, before escaping with the contents of the safe. Over the course of the following two years, Jeffrey carries out about forty-five or so robberies with the same strategy, capturing the attention of the authorities and the media as the mysterious 'Roofman'. He is subsequently caught and arrested at his daughter's birthday party after attempting to escape the clutches of the local Police, and is sentenced to 45 years in prison, while his ex-wife Talana (Melonie Diaz) meanwhile ends his contact with their children.

In July 2004, he works in the prison shop, using his attention to detail to escape by hiding underneath a delivery truck and concealing himself above a black painted plank of wood that fits snugly under the truck and is sturdy enough to bear his weight. Hitchhiking to Charlotte in makeshift street clothes, he is unable to reach his children with a manhunt underway, and his face on all the news channels. He calls Steve, who warns him to lie low for a month and make contact with nobody. He is forced to hide in the bathroom ceiling at a Toys 'R' Us store.

And so Jeffrey ventures into the employee area once the store closes for the night, and finds the security system manual and puts a stop to the stores CCTV cameras from recording. He kits out a hiding place in a hollow wall behind a bicycle display using whatever he can find from the stores shelves to make himself a mattress and a chair. Concealing himself, sleeping, watching and listening in on the remote baby monitoring system to track the staff he has set up during the day, and roaming the empty store at night. 

Helping himself to clothes from the donation bin and other merchandise, he survives on Peanut M&M's and baby food. When Mitch (Peter Dinklage), the store's manager, is unwilling to accommodate his employee Leigh's (Kirsten Dunst) schedule as a single mother, so Jeffrey accesses Mitch's computer to change Leigh's shifts himself, by viewing Mitch's log in and password through his hidden cameras.

Jeffrey steals toys to donate to the toy drive Leigh has organised at her church, and when he is pressed to enter the church by another member of the congregation he claims to be a visiting New Yorker named John Zorn and is introduced to Leigh. He pawns stolen video games to pay for dental work after living on a diet of peanut M&M's. He later evades questions at a church singles lunch event by telling Leigh and the other gathered women that he is an undercover government agent. Leigh asks 'John' on a date, and they begin a relationship. Missing his own children, Jeffrey makes a concerted  effort to bond with Leigh's daughters Lindsay (Lily Collias) and Dee (Kennedy Moyer), but is unable to persuade Leigh to start a new life together some place else.

Early one morning while washing himself at the store, a naked and soap covered Jeffrey is interrupted by Mitch who comes into work much earlier than usual. Jeffrey quickly retreats to his hideout, while Mitch frightened bolts to the relative safety of his office, leaving Police to believe a homeless man snuck in and then fled through a fire escape. Later Lindsay and Leigh get into a heated argument, as she lashes out at her mother. Jeffrey buys a used car to teach her to drive and gain some independence and takes the family on a reckless test drive, with the used car salesman (Jimmy O.Yang) sat in the passenger seat nearly crapping himself over Jeffrey's high speed driving antics. 

Steve returns after months overseas, and agrees to help Jeffrey escape the country under a new identity for US$50K. Steve's partner Michelle (Juno Temple) aids the process by co-ordinating a hair piece for disguise purposes to help him clear customs. Desperate, Jeffrey botches a break-in at the pawn shop to steal a gun, and burns down his dentist's office to cover his tracks for fear of being identified through his dental records. 

At a team meeting held by Mitch just before the onset of the busiest time of the year, Christmas, he informs his team that all hours as rostered must be worked, no exceptions, and that he expects 110% commitment from every team member to achieve the stores sales goals. Jeffrey then once again adjusts Leigh's schedule to keep her away from the store until 10:30am on the day that Jeffrey holds the Toys 'R' Us staff at gunpoint and pistol-whips an armoured car guard knocking him unconscious. However, Leigh arrives early while he is calling for an ambulance. She recognises the masked Jeffrey, who flees with the store's cash before the Police arrive, who upon investigating the store premises discover his hideout. Jeffrey pays Steve for his fake documents and leaves for the airport, but receives a call from Leigh while en route. Unwilling to abandon her, he arrives at her apartment at their designated time of 5:00pm clutching helium filled festive balloons and gifts, but it turns out to be a trap by the Police after Leigh gave him up. He is taken into custody and receives an additional forty-year sentence.

Leigh visits Jeffrey in prison and they forgive each other, and tearfully embrace. He reconnects with his own daughter as he accepts life behind bars. An epilogue reveals that Leigh remarried but visited Jeffrey again for the first time in decades, while Jeffrey made two more escape attempts in 2009 and 2017, but says that no more escape plans feature on his agenda, that he is resigned to his fate in prison, and it is where he deserves to be. He is eligible for parole in 2036. Also starring Ben Mendelsohn and Tony Revolori.

I enjoyed 'Roofman' - up to a point. This film is part RomCom, part drama and part thriller, and is ably held together by two on point performances by a likeable rogue thief in Channing Tatum, and his trusting but ultimately betrayed girlfriend Kirsten Dunst. It has heart, humour, emotion and tension and Director Derek Cianfrance knows how to weave these elements in to a neat and tidy unoffensive package, but at a run time of 126 minutes the film for me outstayed its welcome by twenty minutes and I felt it dragging at the midpoint. That said this is a crowd pleaser of a film that demonstrates that life is stranger than fiction but I would have liked to have seen more of Manchester's roofman exploits and a little less of his Toys 'R' Us squat.

'Roofman' merits three claps of the Odeon Online clapperboard from a possible five claps. 

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

THE HUNGER GAMES : THE BALLAD OF SONGBIRDS & SNAKES - Tuesday 5th December 2023.

I finally got around to seeing the M Rated 'THE HUNGER GAMES : THE BALLAD OF SONGBIRDS & SNAKES' at my local multiplex this week following its release in the US and here in Australia on 16th November. This American dystopian science fiction action film is Directed by Francis Lawrence, is based on the 2020 novel 'The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes' by Suzanne Collins, serves as a prequel to 2012 film 'The Hunger Games' and is the fifth instalment in 'The Hunger Games' film series. Francis Lawrence Directed the last three films in the franchise with 'Catching Fire' in 2013 and 'Mockingjay Parts 1 and 2' in 2014 and 2015 respectively. Those first four films in the series grossed close to US$3B at the global Box Office off the back of combined production budgets of US$493M making this eventual prequel a no brainer. This film has so far grossed US$247M off the back of a production budget of US$100M and has generated mixed reviews. 

The film opens up in 'The Dark Days' three years before the first Hunger Games where a young Coriolanus Snow and his older cousin Tigris scavenge the war torn streets of Panem under cover of darkness for scraps of food. Returning home later that evening the pair are greeted by their Grandma'am (Fionnula Flanagan) who tells them that their father Crassus Snow has died. Fast forward thirteen years and Coriolanus (Tom Blyth), now eighteen-years-old, is one of twenty-four Academy students selected to mentor a tribute in the 10th Annual Hunger Games. Coriolanus determines to restore his family's prosperity by earning the Plinth Prize scholarship to Panem University. Games creator and Academy dean, Casca Highbottom (Peter Dinklage) advises mentors to focus on entertaining viewers rather than tributes winning the Games, as viewership has waned over recent years, and for the Games to survive it needs to re-establish a strong audience. 

During the reaping ceremony, in which Coriolanus is assigned to mentor the District 12 tribute Lucy Gray Baird (Rachel Zegler), she first slips a snake into Mayor Lipp's daughter Mayfair's dress and then charms Capitol viewers by breaking into song. Coriolanus earns Lucy Gray's trust, by riding with her to the Capitol Zoo in a train carriage with the other chosen tributes, and helps her win Capitol citizens' sympathy, much to Highbottom's chagrin, as he paired Coriolanus with a District 12 tribute so he would fail. 

Coriolanus proposes a sponsorship scheme to Head Gamemaker, Dr. Volumnia Gaul (Viola Davis), where Capitol viewers donate supplies to tributes via their mentors during the Games to increase viewership. Coriolanus' classmate, Clemensia Dovecote (Ashley Liao), takes the credit for the scheme. Gaul meanwhile has placed the proposal document into a tank of genetically modified snakes that do not attack familiar scents. Gaul has Clemensia retrieve it. Not recognising Clemensia's scent, the snakes critically wound her, but Gaul's assistants are on hand to administer an anti-venom, thus confirming it was Coriolanus' proposal all along.

During a Games-arena tour the day before the games are due to commence, several rebel bombs explode causing much damage to the arena and killing several mentors including the President's son, Felix Ravinstill, and tributes. Lucy Gray saves Coriolanus when he is pinned under falling debris, and so as a gesture of thanks he gifts her deadly rat poison to use as a weapon, contained in his mothers silver make-up compact. 

The Games begin the next day as planned, with Host Lucretius 'Lucky' Flickerman (Jason Schwartzman) presiding over the event. Several tributes perish in the initial bloodbath. Lucy Gray is able to escape through an explosion-caused hole in the ground hiding in a service tunnel beneath with fellow District 12 tribute Jessup (Nick Benson). Coriolanus' wealthy friend and fellow mentor, Sejanus Plinth (Josh Andres Rivera), resenting the Games' cruelty and everything it stands for, sneaks into the arena and mourns next to his fallen tribute Marcus, a former District 2 classmate. Gaul persuades Coriolanus to retrieve Sejanus from the arena. When tributes turn on them, Coriolanus kills one by clubbing him to death.

To avenge Felix's death, Gaul releases her snakes into the arena, killing every tribute except Lucy Gray, as Coriolanus had secretly put a handkerchief containing her scent into the snake tank. Gaul refuses to declare her the victor until Capitol viewers pressure her into doing so. After the victory celebration, Highbottom confronts Coriolanus with the handkerchief and poison and sentences him to serve twenty years as a Peacekeeper for cheating. Sejanus is similarly punished for entering the arena. Coriolanus bribes an enrolment officer to transfer him to District 12, where he and Sejanus begin their Peacekeeper training.

Coriolanus and Sejanus visit the Hob bar where Lucy Gray performs with the Covey, a nomadic band, and they rekindle their friendship in secret. Coriolanus overhears Sejanus helping rebels planning to escape, and so he uses a jabberjay to record Sejanus' voice and sends it to Gaul. Coriolanus finds Sejanus talking to rebel Spruce (George Somner), Lucy Gray's old boyfriend Billy Taupe (Dakota Shapiro), and his girlfriend Mayfair Lipp (Isobel Jesper Jones), leading to an argument. Coriolanus fatally shoots Mayfair and Spruce kills Billy. Sejanus and Spruce are subsequently hanged for treason while Lucy Gray and Coriolanus escape. However, in the meantime Coriolanus has passed an intelligence and aptitude test with flying colours and is offered a transfer to District 2 for Officer training by Commander Hoff (Burn Gorman) and reluctantly accepts. 

Despite his offer for fast track promotion, Coriolanus and Lucy Gray flee north and decide to rest up overnight in a lakeside cabin. There, Coriolanus finds Spruce's weapons stash concealed under the floorboards. Lucy Gray runs away after realising Coriolanus betrayed Sejanus. As Coriolanus pursues her, a snake set in a trap bites him. Disoriented, he shoots his rifle blindly after hearing jabberjays mimicking Lucy Gray's voice. Coriolanus is unsure if she was shot after her footprints in the mud disappear on a path, leaving her fate a mystery.

Coriolanus returns to the Capitol, where Gaul reveals she had him honourably discharged and enrols him at the University. Sejanus' parents, who remain unaware he caused their son's death, make him an heir, so restoring the Snows' wealth. Coriolanus visits Highbottom, who confesses the Games were never intended to be reality. It was merely his idea one night heavily under the influence of alcohol that Crassus had stolen, and he set Coriolanus up as revenge for the bloodshed he indirectly caused. Coriolanus kills Highbottom by slipping rat poison into his vials of morphling, which he knocks back when Coriolanus has left, and is dead within minutes. Gaul later trains Coriolanus as a Gamemaker, so setting him up on his eventual rise to power.

For me 'The Hunger Games : The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes' failed to ignite the interest, the level of excitement or the sense of urgency that the four original films in the franchise were able to capture, and at the longest run time of 156 minutes in the franchise outstays its welcome somewhat. That said Tom Blyth as the smiling assassin Snow, Rachel Zegler as mentee and love interest Lucy Gray, ably supported by a strong ensemble cast including Davis, Dinklage and Schwartzman do elevate this film above the also-ran, but, I can't help thinking that this young dystopian musical action drama film is enough to bridge the gap between the younger Snow and his older self as portrayed by Donald Sutherland in the original film series, so lets hope this puts an end to this franchise, particularly considering this is the most underperforming film at the Box Office in the series, and by a country mile!

'The Hunger Games : The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes' merits three claps of the Odeon Online clapperboard from a possible five claps.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

THREE BILLBOARDS OUTSIDE EBBING, MISSOURI : Tuesday 2nd January 2018.

'THREE BILLBOARDS OUTSIDE EBBING, MISSOURI' which I saw earlier this week, following its Australian release on New Years Day, is a black comedy crime drama film Written, Directed and Co-Produced by British/Irish playwright, screen writer and film maker Martin McDonagh whose previous feature film credits are 'In Bruges' and 'Seven Psychopaths'. The film Premiered at the Venice International Film Festival back in early September and then TIFF later that month taking out the top prize - The People's Choice Award. Since then the film has been shown at numerous film festivals and has received widespread critical acclaim, so far picking up 49 award wins and a further 140 nominations including six Golden Globe nominations, four SAG nominations and five AACTA International nods with the winners & grinners yet to be announced. The film opened in the US in early November, went on general release in Australia on 1st January and in the UK on 12th January. Having cost US$12M to make, the film has so far grossed US$24M. Apparently, McDonagh gained inspiration for the premise of the film after seeing billboards about an unsolved crime while travelling 'somewhere down in the Georgia, Florida, Alabama corner'. Of the event that inspired the film, McDonagh stated 'the rage that put a bunch of billboards like that up was palpable and stayed with me'. Eventually he was inspired to create the fictional scenario around such a situation, into the film we have today.

The film follows a mothers plight, who after seven months have passed by without a culprit in her daughter's violent rape and murder case, Mildred Hayes (Frances McDormand), a small town shop assistant, makes a bold move and rents three abandoned roadside billboards close by to her home in Ebbing, Missouri. She rents the billboards from Ebbing Advertising managed by Red Welby (Caleb Landry Jones) who states that these have not be leased since 1986, and as the new highway cut off that part of town where the billboards are located, anyone driving along that stretch of road would either have to be lost, or be a complete retard! But she proceeds and lays down an initial one months rental fee of US$5,000 and then orders that each sign in bold lettering portray a specific message directed at William Willoughby (Woody Harrelson), the town's revered Chief of Police. Each of the signs reads, in sequence, 'Raped while dying', 'And still no arrests?', and 'How come, Chief Willoughby?'. 

Willoughby's second-in-command, Officer Jason Dixon (Sam Rockwell) an immature Mummy's Boy with a leaning towards violence, is the first person to come across the billboards as they are being finished off early one evening. He calls Willoughby while he is having dinner with his family, and the next day the pair visit the roadside billboards. It is revealed that Willoughby has terminal pancreatic cancer which only heightens their disapproval of the signage, and the Police Chief thinks this is a personal attack against his character and his standing within the local community. Meanwhile, the towns folk have also become increasingly upset by the three signs, and Mildred and her son Robbie (Lucas Hedges) are threatened and harassed. Mildred however, is unwavering in her stance.

Willoughby visits Mildred at her home and the two talk. He is sympathetic to her cause, but does his best to explain that their investigations into Angela's murder all led to dead ends and for now there is very little else he can do, except to offer her some hope that at a future date something may come to light that will lead to a conviction. Willoughby confides in Mildred that he is terminally ill with cancer, hoping for some sympathy, but he gets none. She replies that his 'secret' is not nearly the secret he believes, and that the whole of Ebbing knows. She further states that the buck stops with him and that he is ultimately responsible for finding her daughters rapist and killer, and if the signs gel him into action then so be it. They won't be much good after he 'croaks'!

Dixon is frustrated and angered by Mildred's lack of respect for the Chief and retaliates by threatening Red, who rented the billboards to her. After discussion with his mother too, Dixon begins getting back at Mildred through her friends and supporters, and arrests her colleague in the shop on exaggerated marijuana possession charges. Mildred confronts Dixon in the Police station.

After an altercation with the vastly overweight town dentist that involves a wobbly tooth, hastily administered anaesthetic, a drill and a fingernail Willoughby brings Mildred in for questioning and threatens to tie her up in red tape for years, when the dentist wishes to press charges against her for assault with a deadly drill. While waiting to be questioned over the incident, there is another heated exchange with Dixon over his alleged beating and torture of a coloured man held in custody. When Dixon is discharged from the interview room and Willoughby is chatting to Mildred, he coughs up blood unexpectedly over her, signifying to them both that his condition is worsening. He is taken by ambulance from the Police Station to the local hospital.

Willoughby discharges himself from hospital as soon as he can, and goes home and takes his two young daughters and his wife Anne (Abbie Cornish) out to the lake for a picnic, where they spend a near perfect afternoon. Later that night, Willoughby goes out to the stable to attend to his horses, and shoots himself in the head, dead. He leaves several suicide notes - one for his wife explaining his actions, and for Mildred which is delivered that day by a distraught Anne to her place of work. In his letter to Mildred he explains that she wasn't a factor in his suicide, but he paid a further US$5,000 in secret to keep the billboards going for another month, finding amusement with the antagonism they would continue to cause her after his death.

Dixon is shocked and distraught by the news of Willoughby's suicide, and violently takes his anger out on Red Welby and his assistant, by forcing entry into the premises, beating him up, and throwing him out of the first floor window onto the street below, and then further beating him on his way back to the Police Station just across the road. All of this is witnessed in broad daylight by Abercrombie (Clarke Peters), Willoughby's replacement, who promptly fires Dixon. Later, the billboards are destroyed by fire in an arson attack, believed to be by Dixon.

Mildred retaliates by fire bombing the Police Station with molotov cocktails under cover of darkness. Believing the Station to be deserted at night, she is unaware that Dixon has gained entry to retrieve a letter left to him also by Willoughby and to return his keys to the place. In the letter Willoughby explains to Dixon that he should learn to let go of his anger and his hatred and be forgiving, loving and see the good in people - the only way of following his dream of becoming a detective. Dixon is able to escape the fire with Angela's case file, but is badly burned in the process. A friend James (Peter Dinklage) witnesses the incident, and fronts up immediately with an alibi for Mildred, claiming that the pair were on a date.

In time, Dixon is discharged from hospital having recovered sufficiently from his burns. Feeling sorry for himself one night and drinking alone in a bar, he overhears a conversation from two guys talking about an incident that one of them was involved in that sounded suspiciously similar to Angela's rape and murder. Dixon takes note of the interstate car number plate and engineers a fight in which he scratches the mans face to gain a DNA sample under his fingernails to compare to the forensics collected at the time of Angela's murder. In the meantime, Mildred is on a dinner date to thank James for his intervention with the alibi, when her abusive and volatile ex-husband Charlie (John Hawkes) enters the restaurant with his nineteen year old bimbo girlfriend Penelope (Samara Weaving) and siddles up to the pair. Charlie admits that in a drunken stupor he set light to the billboards.

Sometime later, the results of the DNA tests come back, but prove that their new suspect is no suspect at all, as he wasn't even in the country at the time of Angela's rape and murder, and was overseas on military service. However, the pair conclude that the man must be guilty of some rape crime otherwise why would be be bragging about it in such a cavalier way to his friend in the bar that night. Mildred and Dixon agree to join forces and drive interstate to where the man lives and kill him anyway, but show some reservation in their mission shortly after leaving. They resolve to have made their final decision by the time they reach their eventual destination.

In this film McDonagh has crafted a great story, fine dialogue and captured memorable performances most notably from Frances McDormand and Sam Rockwell, but Woody Harrelson deserves a special mention too. McDormand owns this film with an equally best performance that is up there with her Marge Gunderson in 'Fargo', as the determined, unwavering and relentless woman who's on a mission and she really doesn't care who she steps on along the way. Rockwell plays the racist, discriminating, violent and dumbass cop who you really don't want to cross that comes good in the end so much so that your earlier opinion of him is reversed. And Harrelson plays the approachable, warm hearted, forgiving local pillar of the community who is the big fish in the small pond and with whom you can't help but feel sympathy. Imbued with the darkest humour that starts out with a clever and witty moment of inspiration, and gives way to the deep rooted anger and frustration that drives the human spirit to extremes and in particular some of those residents in small town USA. The film offers twists and turns aplenty and explores on many levels anger, frustration, grief, injustice and the power of forgiveness with a number of laugh out loud moments along the way. One of the best films of the year and a worthy contender come Academy Award time and deserving of the accolades already bestowed upon the film, McDonagh, McDormand and Rockwell. A truly original film, you won't be disappointed.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

Birthday's to share this week : 5th-11th June 2016.

Do you celebrate your Birthday this week?

Peter Dinklage does on 11th June - check out my tribute to this Birthday Boy turning 47, at the end of this feature.

Do you also share your birthday with a well known, highly regarded & famous Actor or Actress; share your special day with a Director, Producer, Writer, Cinematographer, Singer/Songwriter or Composer of repute; or share an interest in whoever might notch up another year in the coming seven days? Then, look no further! Whilst there will be too many to mention in this small but not insignificant and beautifully written and presented Blog, here are the more notable and noteworthy icons of the big screen, and the small screen, that you will recognise, and that you might just share your birthday with in the week ahead. If so, Happy Birthday to you from Odeon Online!

Sunday 5th June

• Kathleen Kennedy - Born 1953, turns 63 - Producer
• Mark Wahlberg - Born 1971, turns 45 - Actor | Producer | Singer | Songwriter

Monday 6th June

• Paul Giamatti - Born 1967, turns 49 - Actor | Producer
• Jonathan Nolan - Born 1976, turns 40 - Writer | Producer | Director
• Robert Englund - Born 1947, turns 69 - Actor | Director
• Jason Isaacs - Born 1963, turns 53 - Actor | Producer
• Sandra Bernhard - Born 1955, turns 61 - Actress | Writer

Tuesday 7th June

• Liam Neeson - Born 1952, turns 64 - Actor
• Karl Urban - Born 1972, turns 44 - Actor
• William Forsythe - Born 1955, turns 61 - Actor | Producer
• Ronald Pickup - Born 1940, turns 76 - Actor
• Bill Hader - Born 1978, turns 38 - Actor | Writer | Producer | Director
• Michael Cera - Born 1988, turns 28 - Actor | Writer | Producer | Director | Composer | Singer  

Wednesday 8th June

• Jerry Stiller - Born 1927, turns 89 - Actor | Producer
• Griffin Dunne - Born 1955, turns 61 - Actor | Producer | Director  

Thursday 9th June

• Michael J. Fox - Born 1961, turns 55 - Actor | Producer
• Johnny Depp - Born 1963, turns 53 - Actor | Producer | Director | Singer
• David Koepp - Born 1963, turns 53 - Writer | Producer | Director
• Aaron Sorkin - Born 1961, turns 55 - Writer | Producer | Director | Actor
• Natalie Portman - Born 1981, turns 35 - Actress | Producer | Writer | Director 

Friday 10th June

• Jeanne Tripplehorn - Born 1963, turns 53 - Actress
• Elizabeth Hurley - Born 1965, turns 51 - Actress | Producer
• Leelee Sobieski - Born 1983, turns 33 - Actress | Producer
• Andrew Niccol - Born 1964, turns 52 - Writer | Producer | Director
• Jurgen Prochnow - Born 1941, turns 75 - Actor  

Saturday 11th June

• Gene Wilder - Born 1933, turns 83 - Actor | Writer | Producer | Director | Singer
• Hugh Laurie - Born 1959, turns 57 - Actor | Writer | Producer | Director | Singer | Songwriter
• Peter Dinklage - Born 1969, turns 47 - Actor | Producer
• Shia LaBeouf - Born 1986, turns 30 - Actor | Writer | Producer | Director

Peter Hayden Dinklage was born in Morristown, New Jersey to mother Diane Dinklage, an elementary school music teacher and father John Dinklage, an insurance salesman, now retired. He was born with 'achondroplasia' - a common cause of dwarfism whereby those with it are effected by short stature typically being an average height of 130 cms, or 52 inches, for men and generally associated with late paternal age or inherited as a genetic disorder. Dinklage has a brother, a violinist, who is of normal build and stature. All that said, the young Dinklage got his first stab at theatre success in a school production of Margery Williams 1922 book 'The Velveteen Rabbit' playing the lead role of the young boy given the said rabbit as a present. He graduated from the private Roman Catholic all boys prep-school, Delbarton School in Morristown in 1987 having honed his acting talents throughout his school life. He then went on to the private arts college - Bennington College in Bennington, Vermont, from which he graduated in 1999 with a degree in drama.

He got his first break in the 1995 film 'Living in Oblivion' - a film about film making starring Steve Buscemi, Dermot Mulroney and Catherine Keener with Dinklage playing a dwarf actor complaining about being typecast. After a couple of uncredited roles, 1998 saw 'Safe Men' with Paul Giamatti, Mark Ruffalo, Sam Rockwell and Steve Zahn and comedy 'Pigeonholed' closing out the decade. A couple of appearances on television series episodes followed before 'Never Again', and then for Director Michael Gondry came 'Human Nature' with Tim Robbins, Rhys Ifans and Patricia Arquette in 2001, and then '13 Moons' a year later with Steve Buscemi, Sam Rockwell, Peter Stormare and Jennifer Beals, and 'Just a Kiss' that same year.

His breakout role however, came in 2003 with Tom McCarthy's 'The Station Agent' with Patricia Clarkson, Bobby Cannavale, Michelle Williams and John Slattery. For his performance as Finbar McBride, Dinklage won numerous awards and further nominations. 'Tiptoes' followed that same years with Gary Oldman, Matthew McConaughey, Patricia Arquette and Kate Beckinsale, with Jon Favreau's 'Elf' with Will Ferrell, James Caan and Edward Asner as Santa closing out that year.

In the years that followed there were a number of short films, television series appearances, and made for TV movies with feature films in between such as 'The Baxter', 'Escape Artists' a remake of 'Lassie', 'Fortunes', 'The Limbo Room', true Mafia courtroom drama 'Find Me Guilty' for Sidney Lumet with Vin Diesel, 'Little Fugitive', and 'Penelope' with James McAvoy, Richard E. Grant, Reece Witherspoon and Christina Ricci, with seven episodes on 'Nip/Tuck' closing out 2006.

The Frank Oz Directed 'Death at a Funeral' saw Dinklage star in this British version in 2007 with Matthew Macfadyen and Ewen Bremner, and then he starred in the US version of the same film in 2010 with Chris Rock, Martin Lawrence, Kevin Hart, Danny Glover and Keith David. In between time there was 'Ascension Day', 'Underdog', 'The Chronicle of Narnia : Prince Caspian', 'St. John of Las Vegas' with Steve Buscemi again, and then the Aussie RomCom 'I Love You Too', 'Pete Smalls is Dead' with Steve Buscemi once more and 'The Last Rites of Ransom Pride' closing out the noughties.

'A Little Bit of Heaven' with Kate Hudson, Kathy Bates, Whoopi Goldberg and Rosemary DeWitt kicked off 2011. Then came 'A Case of You' with Sam Rockwell once more and Justin Long, 'The Knights of Badassdom' with Steve Zahn again and Ryan Kwanten, then biopic 'Low Down' and 'X-Men : Days of Future Past' as Bolivar Trask.

Following on from these there was 'The Angriest Man in Brooklyn' with the late great Robin Williams, then 'Taxi', 'Pixels' for Chris Columbus with Adam Sandler and Kevin James, and 'The Boss' with Melissa McCarthy bringing us up to date. In the meantime, Dinklage lent his voice talents to 'Ice Age : Continental Drift' as Captain Gutt and 'The Angry Birds Movie' most recently as Mighty Eagle.

Let's of course not forget his multi-awed winning role as Tyrion Lannister on 55 episodes so far of 'Game of Thrones' for which he has won a Golden Globe, two Primetime Emmy's and a Satellite Award rounding out a 'GOT' haul of eight award wins and a further 27 nominations. Next up, currently in post-production of 'Rememory' with Anton Yelchin and Julia Ormond, currently filming is 'Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri' for Martin McDonagh with Sam Rockwell once more, Woody Harrelson, Abbie Cornish and Frances McDormand, and 'The Thicket' in pre-production.

All up Dinklage has sixty-six acting credits to his name, three Producer credits, and he has twelve award wins and 39 other nominations. In 2005 he married Erica Schmidt, a theatre Director with whom he has  daughter born in 2011. He has been a vegetarian since sixteen years of age, is a supporter of the American animal protection organisation 'Farm Sanctuary' and narrated 'Face Your Food' - a film promoting a vegan diet for ethical reasons.

Peter Dinklage - proud to be of shorter stature; proud to be an animal lover; frequently appears with Steve Buscemi and Sam Rockwell especially; a private hermit like person now of world renown thanks to 'GOT'; and clearly now very much in the spotlight and keeping us entertained and glued to the small screen and the big screen too. Good things . . . come in small packages! Happy Birthday to you Peter - from Odeon Online.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-