Downton to downright nasty: Dan Stevens’s dramatic transformation

In The Guest, Stevens plays David, a stranger who pitches up on the doorstep of a grieving American family. He claims to be a friend of their eldest son, who died in combat in Afghanistan but it’s clear to the viewer he’s bad news.

By Ryan Gilbey

(Photo By Stranger at the door: Dan Stevens as David)

The Guest (15)
dir: Adam Wingard

The PR spiel for The Guest, a new thriller, promises: “Dan Stevens as you’ve never seen him before!” This leaves the field open for those of us who have only ever regarded this British actor as simpering and insipid. But perhaps it wasn’t just his Downton Abbey character who died in a car crash several Christmases ago. From this distance, it appears that Stevens was also killing off his old image, foppish flyaway hairdo and all.