10 Underrated Films by Rhys Ifans You Must See

Rhys Ifans has built a wide ranging screen career across the United Kingdom, Europe, and the United States. His work spans intimate character studies, literary adaptations, and offbeat comedies, and he has collaborated with filmmakers such as Roger Michell, Roland Emmerich, Oliver Stone, Michel Gondry, and Noah Baumbach. Along the way he has played everything from musicians and poets to scientists and journalists.

This list gathers ten feature films that highlight roles outside the usual blockbusters people tend to name first. For each title you will find the part he plays, the filmmakers involved, and specific story or production details that make it easy to decide what to watch next.

‘Twin Town’ (1997)

Set in Swansea, this crime tale pairs Rhys Ifans with his real life brother Llyr Ifans as the Lewis twins who push back against a powerful local businessman after a family accident. The film is directed by Kevin Allen and follows the brothers through petty scams that escalate into a bitter feud across garages, clubs, and housing estates.

The production shoots in and around the city and captures local landmarks and speech patterns with a cast drawn largely from Wales. Released in the United Kingdom by a major British production outfit, it became an early big screen showcase for Ifans before global attention from ‘Notting Hill’.

‘Human Nature’ (2001)

Michel Gondry makes his feature debut with a screenplay by Charlie Kaufman, and Ifans takes the central role as Puff, a man raised away from society who is discovered by a naturalist played by Patricia Arquette. The story tracks Puff’s entry into modern life under the guidance of a behavioral scientist played by Tim Robbins, with set pieces that contrast wilderness upbringing and laboratory instruction.

The film brings together an American and European creative team and blends location work with constructed sets to stage its experiments and therapy sessions. It introduced Gondry’s feature directing to audiences and placed Ifans at the heart of a surreal modern fable written by the writer of ‘Being John Malkovich’.

‘Danny Deckchair’ (2003)

This Australian feature stars Ifans as Danny Morgan, a frustrated cement mixer who ties a cluster of helium balloons to a backyard deckchair and lifts off over Sydney. A change in winds drops him in a rural town where he meets a local police officer played by Miranda Otto and begins to rebuild his life under a new name.

The film shoots across urban and small town locations in Australia and uses practical rigs and visual effects to stage the lift off and landing. The premise echoes a widely reported lawn chair balloon flight in the United States, and the production leans on radio and television news inserts to ground the story in a believable contemporary setting.

‘Enduring Love’ (2004)

Roger Michell directs this adaptation of the Ian McEwan novel, opening with a hot air balloon incident that links strangers who witness it on a quiet afternoon. Ifans plays Jed Parry, a man whose sudden fixation on the protagonist played by Daniel Craig destabilizes relationships and draws police attention as the story unfolds.

The production films in London and surrounding countryside and uses recurring locations such as a park, a university lecture hall, and domestic interiors to chart the aftermath of the opening event. Samantha Morton appears as the protagonist’s partner, and the adaptation keeps the novel’s focus on obsession, memory, and the pressures placed on a couple after a public disaster.

‘The Shipping News’ (2001)

Lasse Hallström adapts the Pulitzer Prize winning novel by E. Annie Proulx about a printing press worker who relocates with his daughter to a coastal Newfoundland town. Ifans appears as Beaufield Nutbeem, a colleague at the local paper who files colorful human interest stories while the newsroom covers shipwrecks, weather, and community events.

The production uses Atlantic Canadian locations to create the fishing community setting with rugged harbors, ice floes, and clapboard homes. The ensemble includes Kevin Spacey, Julianne Moore, Judi Dench, and Cate Blanchett, and the film tracks the rebuilding of a family through work at the newspaper and ties to a long established local clan.

‘Mr. Nice’ (2010)

Bernard Rose directs this biographical portrait of Howard Marks, a Welsh born Oxford graduate who built an international cannabis smuggling operation. Ifans plays Marks from student days through clandestine meetings, coded phone calls, and shipments that move across borders while law enforcement builds a case with the help of informants.

The film draws on Marks’s own autobiography and stages scenes in classrooms, safe houses, and courtrooms to follow the rise and fall of the network. Chloë Sevigny appears as Marks’s partner and David Thewlis portrays an associate from the world of Irish republicanism, while the production moves between the United Kingdom, continental Europe, and the United States to cover the scope of the operation.

‘Greenberg’ (2010)

Noah Baumbach sets this character study in Los Angeles and centers the story on Roger Greenberg played by Ben Stiller, a man house sitting after a breakdown. Ifans plays Ivan Schrank, a former bandmate and friend who tries to keep family and work on track while fielding calls from Greenberg and navigating old unfinished business.

The film uses real neighborhood locations such as music rehearsal rooms, small clubs, and modest homes to ground the characters in everyday routines. Greta Gerwig co stars as Florence, and the soundtrack features original score work by James Murphy that underscores the city’s traffic, parties, and late night conversations.

‘Anonymous’ (2011)

Roland Emmerich directs this historical drama that explores the authorship of the Shakespeare plays through a story focused on the court of Elizabeth I. Ifans plays Edward de Vere, the 17th Earl of Oxford, whose writings and political entanglements drive a plot that interweaves the theater world with court intrigue and the careers of playwrights and patrons.

The production films at Studio Babelsberg in Germany and relies on extensive digital work to recreate Elizabethan streets, the Globe Theatre, and royal chambers. Rafe Spall appears as William Shakespeare and Vanessa Redgrave and Joely Richardson portray Queen Elizabeth I at different ages, while David Thewlis plays William Cecil within the shifting alliances at court.

‘Len and Company’ (2015)

Tim Godsall directs this independent drama with Ifans as Len, a once successful record producer who has withdrawn to a rural house to avoid industry pressures. His teenage son and a rising singer arrive without warning, and the story follows studio sessions, late night jams, and arguments that force Len to face the people he has pushed away.

The film premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival and makes use of intimate interiors and quiet upstate roads to mirror the character’s retreat. The cast includes Jack Kilmer and Juno Temple, and the production builds much of its atmosphere around on screen music creation and the process of drafting and revising songs.

‘Under Milk Wood’ (2015)

Kevin Allen brings Dylan Thomas’s celebrated play to the screen with Ifans as Captain Cat, the blind seafarer who narrates the dreams and daily rhythms of the village of Llareggub. The film uses voiceover, montage, and overlapping character vignettes to move through the town’s night and day as shopkeepers, lovers, and schoolchildren step into view.

The production presents both English language and Welsh language versions and shoots in West Wales locations closely tied to Thomas’s life and writing. The cast features a mix of Welsh performers from stage and screen, and the design leans on vivid costumes, seaside exteriors, and stylized interiors to translate the poetry for cinema.

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