Emmy spotlight: Rhys Ifans is good at playing bad in ‘House of the Dragon’

Rhys Ifans is best-known for playing offbeat characters in major motion pictures. He first came to fame as Hugh Grant‘s oddball roommate in “Notting Hill.” Since then he has stolen scenes as Luna Lovegood’s spaced-out father in “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part One,” the comic book villain Lizard (Dr. Curt Connors) in “The Amazing Spider-Man,” and rah-rah-Rasputin in “The King’s Man.” Against this collection of colorful characters, his restrained performance as Otto Hightower in “House of the Dragon” stands in stark contrast.

Otto is the Hand of the King (to Paddy Considine‘s King Viserys Targaryen) and the father to Alicent (Emily Carey/Olivia Cooke). He is “House of the Dragon’s” answer to Tywin Lannister (Charles Dance) from “Game of Thrones” — the politico trying to pull the strings from behind the scenes and position his own family as the most powerful in Westeros.

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Ifans strips away the color of the character and portrays the man with stony neutrality. He never celebrates, he never weeps, he simply is. His muted demeanor and gravely, low voice make for a quietly intimidating screen presence and he stands out as one of the characters you are dying to know more and more about every time he is on screen.

Not surprisingly, he won over many critics with his performance. Below, just a sampling of his rave reviews:

Slash Film’s Mike Schutt wrote that Ifans’ performances has a “searing, quiet intensity.” He wrote: “Ifans has found a way to completely bottle his tendencies to go big and made stillness a perfect weapon. He barely speaks above a whisper, forcing you to lean into everything he says. It’s part of his ability to command and manipulate people around him to do things entirely in service of bolstering his own ego.”

Michael Deacon of The Telegraph wrote that Ifans’ Otto is one of the most unique characters in Westeros so far thanks to the actor’s performance, which helps to smartly blur the character’s true intentions. He wrote: “The most interesting aspect of it, though, is the role of Ser Otto Hightower (Rhys Ifans), who is the King’s chief adviser – and, it just so happens, Lady Alicent’s father. He always affects to be so noble and upright and principled. Yet beneath this veneer of high-minded solemnity, he’s clearly just as slippery and scheming as anyone on the show.”

And Thomas West of Screen Rant wrote: “One of the things that stands out the most about ‘House of the Dragon’ is its careful attention to character detail… This is particularly true of Otto Hightower, the King’s Hand and one of the most important and powerful men in the realm. As he is portrayed by Rhys Ifans, he is a consummate schemer and subtle thinker, and it’s to the actor’s credit that he keeps him from becoming nothing more than a stereotype. In fact, there are a number of important mannerisms from the book Fire and Blood that Ifans captures with particular skill.”

Ifans sits outside our predicted line-up of Drama Supporting Actor nominees: Jonathan Pryce (“The Crown”), Nicholas Braun (“Succession”), John Lithgow (“The Old Man”), Matt Smith (“House of the Dragon”), Giancarlo Esposito (“Better Call Saul”), F. Murray Abraham (“The White Lotus”), and Kieran Culkin and, in first place, Matthew Macfadyen (both “Succession”). If Ifans manages to crack the top eight, however, this would be his first-ever Emmy nomination.

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