The phrase "a small role of" is not correct in standard written English.
It seems to be a misphrasing, as "role" typically refers to a part played by an actor or a function in a particular context, while "of" does not fit well here.
Example: "He had a small role in the play."
Alternatives: "a minor part in" or "a small part of".
The Lynchian flavour may also be due to the presence in a small role of Isabella Rossellini (who famously starred in Blue Velvet).
Reese Witherspoon's 2015 comedy Hot Pursuit featured a small role of a trans prostitute that was criticized as an offensive stereotype.
Among the film's many attributes were the launching, in a small role, of Claudia Cardinale and the casting, in a comic part for the first time, of the dramatic Italian actor Vittorio Gassman, as a washed-up professional thief whose nondescript gang bungles a shabbily organised robbery.
In the D38E background, mutation of residues 42 and 44 led to 2 3-fold rate reductions, slightly smaller than in the WT background, suggesting only a small role of these residues in general base positioning.
A correlation important in mosses, that between monoicy and polyploidy, apparently plays a small role: of 20 species with chromosome counts, only one is polyploid, the monoicous Anthoceros punctatus.
In conclusion, we determined that there is a small role of TP in the cytotoxicity of 5FU, and that this role could be increased when TP expression was increased.
His basic philosophy is a smaller role of government for the people.
North Americans are thought to be exposed to PBDEs primarily via inadvertent exposure to dust, with a smaller role of diet (e.g., Allen et al. 2007; Lorber 2008; Stapleton et al. 2008).
Examining nonsmoking-related (cause-specific) mortality shed new light on the mortality gender gap and revealed the important role of smoking-related cancers, the continuation of excess mortality among women aged 40 50, and a smaller role of biological factors in the sex difference than was previously estimated.
By contrast, we estimated a small role for recruitment of LCNS via acquisition of novel functions over time.
Derek Elley of Variety mentioned that Mukerji made "the most of her feisty nautch-girl," despite having "a small role for a star of her caliber".
