If there's anything underrated about Game of Thrones, it's the anonymity of the cast at large. Movie buffs should be well aware of many of the actors. They're mostly veterans, but everyone's almost exclusively done work in the UK and little in the States. With that in mind, here's a quick rundown of ten movies starring Game of Thrones actors you need to see. Some you've definitely heard of. Others? Not so much.
1. The Station Agent
Game of Thrones star: Peter Dinklage (Tyrion Lannister)
Also stars: Patricia Clarkson, Bobby Cannavale, Michelle Williams
Dinklage plays a reclusive little person in The Station Agent who shuns society because everyone shuns him. When he's bequeathed an old train depot, his presence attracts some of the small town locals whom he, reluctantly, becomes friends with. Dinklage is quiet, standoffish, and angry, in maybe his best performance (besides Tyrion).
2. Dredd
Game of Thrones star: Lena Headey (Cersei Lannister)
Also stars: Karl Urban, Olivia Thirlby, Wood Harris
Speaking of Tyrion, Headey wears nasty scars as the dystopian queenpin Ma-Ma in Dredd. She's a former prostitute and present-day (re: future-day) drug dealer whose seeming death wish makes her incredibly dangerous. Headey reportedly drew inspiration from rocker Patti Smith in conceiving the character.
3. Dom Hemingway
Game of Thrones star: Emilia Clarke (Daenerys Targaryen)
Also stars: Jude Law, Richard E. Grant, Demian Bichir, Madalina Diana Ghenea
Clarke plays Evelyn in Dom Hemingway, the estranged daughter of the title character (played by Law), a hugely violent ex-convict hunting down his stolen money. But Dom has a soft spot for Evelyn, and their relationship adds needed depth to the angry character. Clarke also sings in the movie, quite well in fact.
4. Testament of Youth
Game of Thrones star: Kit Harington (Jon Snow)
Also stars: Alicia Vikander, Colin Morgan, Hayley Atwell, Dominic West
Harington, once again, proves romantic in the 2015 drama Testament of Youth about the life of pacifist Vera Brittain (Vikander). She's a young woman who's sworn off marriage in favor of school and a career, that is, until she meets a dashing young soldier named Roland (Harington).
5. The Wire (TV) (Seasons 3-5)
Game of Thrones star: Aidan Gillen (Petyr 'Littlefinger' Baelish)
Also stars: Dominic West, Michael K. Williams, Wendell Pierce, Lance Reddick
Okay, it's an exception to the movie theme here, but Gillen is so great on The Wire, another HBO original series, that his performance must be mentioned. Gillen plays Tommy Carcetti, a cocky, whip smart councilman who wins the mayor's seat in Baltimore. The Irish actor's scenes are long on dialogue and Gillen motors through in a perfect American accent.
6. Hot Fuzz
Game of Thrones star: Rory McCann (Sandor 'The Hound' Clegane)
Also stars: Simon Pegg, Nick Frost, Jim Broadbent, Paddy Considine
The Hound has always played to his size as an actor. Check him out in this early commercial. But McCann may never have seen the light of Game of Thrones if it wasn't for Hot Fuzz, the best of director Edgar Wright's Cornetto Trilogy. McCann plays the monosyllabic "Lurch" who says one word: "Yarp." Inspiration for Hodor perhaps?
7. Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
Game of Thrones star: Julian Glover (Grand Maester Pycelle)
Also stars: Harrison Ford, Sean Connery, Alison Doody, John Rhys-Davies
Glover, a British actor, is in two iconic film franchises: He's General Veers in Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back and he also plays the deceitful Walter Donovan in the third Indiana Jones movie. Donovan is the juicer role and Glover sinks his teeth in as the Holy Grail-obsessed millionaire who turns on Indy.
8. The Others
Game of Thrones star: Michelle Fairley (Catelyn Stark)
Also stars: Nicole Kidman, Christopher Eccleston, Keith Allen
Fairley has a small role in Alejandro Amenábar's mind-bending The Others from 2001. Her performance is impassioned, if brief, giving us a glimpse of the wolf inside Catelyn Stark she would show years later.
9. John Adams (TV)
Game of Thrones star: Stephen Dillane (Stannis Baratheon)
Also stars: Paul Giamatti, Laura Linney, David Morse, Tom Wilkinson, Danny Huston, Rufus Sewell, Justin Theroux
Stannis Baratheon himself, Stephen Dillane, shows another side of leadership as Thomas Jefferson in HBO's John Adams miniseries (another non-movie, sue me). Dillane is simply great in everything. The classically-trained British actor is a Tony winner (The Real Thing) who's usually reciting Shakespeare somewhere. The way he channels Jefferson is fun to watch. He's sly and intelligent in the role.
10. The Guard
Game of Thrones star: Liam Cunningham (Davos Seaworth)
Also stars: Brendan Gleeson, Don Cheadle, Fionnula Flanagan
Writer/director John Michael McDonagh's brilliant cop caper features a slew of great actors and accents. Cunningham plays the notorious drug dealer Francis Sheehy-Skeffington, who's awaiting a shipment in the small town of Connemara, on the coast of Ireland, something which doesn't sit well with the local Garda (Police), led by Sgt. Gerry Boyle (Gleeson).
