Rory Kinnear is a persuasive choice for the man in charge, but we find him more interesting when he becomes unsettling. His authority is useful, though the official roles do not always give him enough to do.
Fi1m perspective
Rory Kinnear often plays the man with an official title, someone whose job requires other people to listen. His Bill Tanner, introduced in Quantum of Solace (2008) and seen again in Skyfall (2012), fits comfortably inside the Bond intelligence establishment. He makes such men credible without needing to make them agreeable. That is useful casting, though we would rather see a script test his authority than simply rely on it.
In Guy Ritchie's The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare (2024), his Churchill sends Henry Cavill's Gus March-Phillips on a mission to sink a ship supplying U-boats. Kinnear is once again placed in charge, authorising the adventure rather than being given the adventure himself. The action is clear and the company good, but the film treats the mission as a lark for too long. We grew tired of it because nothing anyone did seemed to cost them anything. An actor who can lend credibility to the orders cannot supply consequences the film has chosen to leave out.
The more promising turn in his screen work has been towards horror, with the Creature in Penny Dreadful (2014–2016) and multiple male roles in Alex Garland's Men (2022). These parts ask for something beyond the familiar assurance of an official, and his ability to unsettle deserves more use. There is a limit here too: casting him to be chilling can become as predictable as casting him to issue instructions. We want characters with something to discover about them, rather than another reason to distrust the man played by Rory Kinnear.
In Amadeus (2025), he is Emperor Joseph: another title that makes immediate sense beside his name. We recommend the series chiefly for Paul Bettany and Gabrielle Creevy, who make artistic jealousy and its consequences hurt. Its five episodes also leave the central rivalry repeating itself when the music should take over. We would not choose either this series or Ritchie's film just because Kinnear is in it. For a part that asks something less familiar of him, try the Creature in Penny Dreadful.
Biography
Rory Kinnear is an English actor. He was born on 17 February 1978 in Hammersmith, London, and trained at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art after studying at Balliol College, Oxford. He has worked extensively with the Royal Shakespeare Company and the Royal National Theatre.
Kinnear is known for playing Bill Tanner in the James Bond films Quantum of Solace (2008), Skyfall (2012), Spectre (2015) and No Time to Die (2021). His other screen roles include Michael Callow in Black Mirror (2011), John Clare in Penny Dreadful (2014–2016), Detective Robert Nock in The Imitation Game (2014), and P.M. Winston Churchill in The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare (2024). On television he has appeared as Prime Minister Nicol Trowbridge in The Diplomat (2023) and Tom Bombadil in The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power (2022).
He won Laurence Olivier Awards for his performances as Sir Fopling Flutter in The Man of Mode (2008) and as Iago in Othello (2014), both at the National Theatre, and a British Independent Film Award for Broken (2012).
