SPY SAGA: Matthew Rhys stars on The Americans.
Actor Matthew Rhys on his role as a Soviet spy in the Cold War drama. By Meredith Blake
In person, actor Matthew Rhys is charmingly evasive. Rather than offering long-winded answers about himself, Rhys is just as likely to respond to a question with another question, a tendency which makes it easier to understand how he effortlessly slips into so many disparate identities on FX’s Cold War drama The Americans”
Rhys plays a Soviet spy posing as a suburban American dad named “Philip Jennings.” In the line of duty, he assumes numerous other personas, relying on an impressive array of wigs, facial hair and eyewear to maintain his cover.
Though the gloriously authentic 1980s hair and makeup certainly come in handy, it’s Rhys who deserves the credit for pulling off such remarkable dramatic contortions.
“I’m always trying to find what’s the truth in this moment,” says Rhys, clad in a chambray shirt and cargo pants, an inconspicuously cool ensemble that would be a great disguise for a spy hiding out in Brooklyn — though his rolling native accent, so thoroughly masked in The Americans, would be a dead giveaway.
Over the course of a shape-shifting career dating back to the late ‘90s, Rhys, 39, has starred as a Southern California lawyer in the prime-time network soap Brothers & Sisters, an opium-smoking choirmaster in an adaptation of Dickens’ The Mystery of Edwin Drood and poet Dylan Thomas in the pedigreed biopic The Edge of Love.
“There’s something in Philip who’s always figuring out his place,” says Joel Fields, executive producer of The Americans. “I sometimes wonder whether that is deeply imprinted in Matthew’s soul somehow. I can’t help but feel there is something in that Welsh upbringing, in the culture of being an outsider inside a larger country, being Welsh in Great Britain, that goes to the way he comes at acting in general and this role in particular.”
Now in its second season, The Americans puts a new spin on the antihero drama by centering on a married pair of KGB spies living in suburban Falls Church, Virginia, in the early days of the Reagan administration.
On the surface, Philip and his wife Elizabeth (Keri Russell) are unusually attractive but otherwise unremarkable, with two kids and a cover job running a travel agency. In truth they are ruthlessly effective, cold-blooded agents, willing to lie, cheat, torture, kidnap and kill in service of the Motherland. Their seemingly content marriage is also intensely fraught: What began years ago as a partnership arranged by their KGB handlers has evolved into a loving relationship, and their growing attachment to each other has made certain aspects of their job, like seducing sources, less palatable.
For Rhys, the Jennings’ complex marriage was the main reason he signed up for the show. “It’s the sort we’ve never seen before, two people who’ve been together for ‘x’ amount of years and now begin to forge a real relationship. The spy stuff was just a bonus.”
In a refreshing gender reversal, Philip is the more sympathetic protagonist, both a warmer parent and more conflicted spy. Though for now he remains committed to the Soviet cause, Philip has evidently been seduced by the West: In last week’s episode, he even bought a Camaro on a whim, creating tension with his dogmatic wife. “His thing is always family and their safety and his realisation that it’s not a career or a life that can be sustained,” Rhys says. “His mandate is simple: He just wants to stay alive.”
For series creator and executive producer Joe Weisberg, finding leads with convincing chemistry was a crucial part of making the show work. “It’s such a subtle and crazy thing this couple has to have, but they just had it,” Weisberg says. “We had to find two people who were believable as a suburban couple who were also killers. It seemed impossible until we found them.”
There is a moment from Rhys’ audition that has taken on almost mythic proportions: He and Russell were acting out a scene from the pilot in which Elizabeth slaps her husband. Russell, swept away in the moment, slapped him so hard her handprint was visible on his cheek.
“He did not even flinch,” Russell recalls. “His eyes looked straight back to me like, ‘Yeah, what you got?’ That’s the point. He’s unflappable.”
(The onscreen dynamic between Rhys and Russell has contributed to rumours of an offscreen relationship, though both have denied a real-life romance.)
When he was cast on The Americans, Rhys was perhaps best known to US audiences for Brothers & Sisters, the drama about a wealthy Pasadena family that ended its five-season run on ABC in 2011. He calls the experience a “golden age,” particularly working with the “breathtakingly professional” Sally Field. “You realise what the standard is,” he says. — Los Angeles Times/MCT
Gwyneth Paltrow ‘bragging’ about split?
Actress Gwyneth Paltrow has reportedly been “bragging” about her amicable split from her husband of 10 years Chris Martin and her friends are said to be annoyed.
The 41-year-old had announced she was “consciously uncoupling” from her husband of 10 years Chris Martin last month, but her friends are reportedly annoyed because she keeps talking about her “perfectly” planned split.
“All she’s doing is bragging about how peaceful her divorce is and how she and Chris planned it so perfectly that it is hardly disrupting their lives. Gwyneth has always thought she had the most perfect life and even though she’s getting a divorce and both of them are getting bad press she doesn’t care,” femalefirst.co.uk quoted a source as saying. “She has become insufferable saying how happy she is with the way everything is evolving. It’s so ridiculous to listen to her talk as if nothing bad is going on at all for her. But Gwyneth has always had a protected privileged life and this is no different,” she added. — IANS
Shailene Woodley: Not odd one out
Actress Shailene Woodley says her friends don’t think she’s odd because they’re all like her. The actress said that she is a keen environmentalist and only mixes with people who share her interests, reports showbizspy.com. “All of them live that lifestyle already, so I’m fortunate. I find myself living in two worlds sometimes - being this person who can walk a red carpet in a huge, fancyball gown, high heels and mountains of make-up, but also being the girl at a hippie festival in the middle of the forest with war paint on my face,” she said. She enjoys company of all sorts — as long as she gets to enjoy herself. “I exist so well in both, and I used to feel like I had to choose one or the other. I struggled with that up until doing The Fault in Our Stars. “I have one life to live, and it could end any minute, so I’m going to appreciate every single moment. I’m going to own my day before my day owns me,” she added. — IANS
Kendra Wilkinson’s mother upset over rift
Reality TV star Kendra Wilkinson’s mother Patricia is upset because her daughter hasn’t spoken to her since last October. The reality TV star, who is due to give birth to her second child next month, hasn’t spoken to either her brother Colin or her mother Patricia, reports contactmusic.com. “I have not seen or heard from Kendra since October 17, 2013, and I am deeply sad, upset and hurt,” said Patricia.
The fight reportedly kicked off when Patricia rang Kendra to enquire whether the pregnancy rumours were true. The situation has escalated since then. “Kendra seems to have this deep-seated hatred towards me and I cannot figure out why. Until a sincere apology comes my way, we won’t be part of each other’s lives,” added Patricia. — IANS
Reese Witherspoon plans to open retail store
Actress Reese Witherspoon has named her lifestyle company Draper James and plans to open a retail store next year. Draper James will include bed and bath products, lingerie, handbags, kitchenware, fragrance and cosmetics, furniture, swimwear, pens, pencils, stationery and even plastic storage containers, reports eonline.com. An official description of Draper James reads: “This multi-channel lifestyle brand founded by Reese Witherspoon will emphasise her southern roots and personal style. The first store will open in 2015.” — IANS