Jonathan Rhys Meyers is in 'Paris' and 'The Tudors'
First off - let's get the name right. It's Jonathan Rhys Meyers. That's "reese," and, no, it's not a middle name - it's one long last name - and, yeah, he's been called "Rice Meyers" from time to time. But surely that's happened less as the young Irish actor has steadily made a name for himself, first gaining attention in Todd Haynes' arty "Velvet Goldmine," then nabbing a Golden Globe for his portrayal of a young Presley in the CBS TV-movie "Elvis."
Along the way, he's also appeared in "Bend It Like Beckham," "Match Point" and picked up two Golden Globe nominations for his work in Showtime's "The Tudors," in which he plays a rather virile Henry VIII who's apparently married to a gym membership and cardio routine as much as all those wives.
Now, it's "From Paris With Love," which opened Feb. 5, a buddy-action flick from producer Luc Besson and director Pierre Morel that's as rapid-fire as Edith Piaf's vibrato. Rhys Meyers plays a naive spy trainee keeping up with bald tough guy John Travolta. He sat down recently with Newsday contributor Joseph V. Amodio at Le Parker Meridien hotel in Manhattan.
Is it true you met Travolta for the first time in that first scene where your characters meet?
Yeah. I'd seen him in the morning, just to say hello. I hadn't seen him in costume. He went off and got made up. And when I saw him as the character, it was the first time we stood face to face.
I hear shooting an action movie is a lot more methodical than it looks.
It's meant to look spontaneous and erratic, but to do that is technically very, very difficult. But we had Pierre Morel. Before he was a director, he was a and cameraman for the "Transporter" movies. So you know where he's coming from. Very fast, fearless. He makes compact movies. He doesn't like people sitting around the cinema for two and a half hours. Ninety-five minutes - you're in, you're out.
The last season of "The Tudors" airs this spring. Any surprises in store? Is Henry going to learn to play nice with his wives - do the dishes, take out the trash?
He takes out the trash, but it tends to be human. No . . . I play an old man. I play him at 50 years old.
What was it like to age?
To get your facial muscles to move under so many layers of prosthesis is hard. You have to be bigger underneath for the prosthetic to work. You've got to move big to make it look small.
There's also "Shelter," where you play a guy with multiple personalities.
Shot "Shelter" about a year and a half ago with Julianne Moore, and I haven't signed on to the next thing yet so I can't talk about it. [He smiles.]
Is that the film with the weird title - uh . . . "At Swim" . . . ?
"At Swim-Two-Birds." That's being directed by Brendan Gleeson, and it just ended up on the Internet that I'm involved - mainly because I'm Irish. "Ohh, Brendan Gleeson's making a film with Liam Neeson, Gabriel Byrne, Colin Farrell, Jonathan Rhys Meyers. . . . " Just name any famous Irish guys when you're at your computer. . . . Some little cyber-dude.
Yeah, somewhere in Iowa, probably.
Why is it always Iowa? Or . . . Poughkip . . . ? Uh, Pough . . . Poughkeepsie, isn't that it?
Yeah, they get a bad rap. So what's next for you?
I ski when I don't shoot. I was extreme skiing in Chamonix [in France] about a week and a half ago.
Extreme. Not just bunny slopes or downhill.
I want to be an extreme skier. I'm not that good, but extreme skiing is what I've been working toward.
Why?
Well, because it's just so beautiful up there. That's where the magic happens - up the mountains.
What's it like to be up that high? Spiritual?
No. It's just - the world looks different from up there.
Are you worried at all about breaking your neck?
Yeah. It scares me. Skiing scares me. But I like it. I love the environment of it - the air, the geography, and the adrenaline rush, the grace of skiing. And, yeah, it is difficult, no doubt about it - heights do scare me. But why should something that frightens me stop me from doing what I really like? Otherwise, I'd never be in a movie. C'mon, when you're in a movie, the potential for embarrassment is endless.
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