Reports are surfacing that Peter Dinklage, star of HBO’s hit series Game of Thrones, has begun negotiations to play T.E. Lawrence in the film adaptation of Mary Doria Russell’s novel Dreamers of the Day.
Should the project go forward, this will be the first time that the legendary Lawrence of Arabia is played by an actor under six feet tall. Dinklage is four feet five inches tall.
“Lawrence was five feet two in real life,” Dinklage is reported as commenting, “so if you average me and Peter O’Toole, it all balances out.”
Tilda Swinton is tapped to play the young Winston Churchill, and gender-bending casting goes on to include Kurt Russell as Gertrude Bell, in his first drag role since “To Wong Foo Thanks for Everything, Julie Newmar.”
Finally, in a bold move to capture Oscar gold, Meg Ryan will play the plain-faced and retiring 40-year-old spinster Agnes Shanklin. “It’s going to be a real challenge,” Ms. Ryan didn’t say. “I won’t be adorable even a little.”