I recently spoke with Matthew Rhys, star of The Americans, about his character's relationship with his children and his character's often undecided view of the United States of America. We should have a complete transcript posted in a few days, but in the meantime here is a short sneak peek.
My first question for Matthew involved episode 2.09 (Martial Eagle) in which Phillip screams at Paige for her newfound religion and interpreted disrespect for her parents. I asked Matthew about what went into creating such an emotionally tense scene. Matthew responded by referencing a piece of training that he received when he attended the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London. He said that he made use of a technique called emotional callback where one essentially thinks back to a time where the emotion he is to be displaying is mirrored. He also said that he believes that Phillip realizes the amount of pressure on him has caused him to lose touch with his daughter. During my talk with Matthew Rhys it became very clear that he takes a lot of pride in understanding the characters that he portrays. For example, Matthew has created an entire backstory for the character with the mustache, goatee, and tool belt (pictured above). I wish I could tell you all about this backstory, but unfortunately the phone reception was weak at points during the conference call and I could not understand what Matthew said. Hopefully the transcript will have this piece of information for everyone.
My second question for Matthew involved the amount of leniency, some might even say forgiveness that Phillip extends toward his children at times. I wanted to understand what makes Phillip take this approach whereas Elizabeth is much more strict. Matthew saw a number of reasons for Phillip's forgiving nature. Matthew first referenced Phillip's easier assimilation to the United States as opposed to Elizabeth whose indoctrination was quite brutal. At the same time Matthew understands the great hardships that Phillip would have gone through as a child in the Soviet Union and believes that this makes him appreciate his family more given their surroundings and level of freedom.
That was all the time that I had for questions, but there were a lot more people on the call with excellent questions that you can read about once we receive the transcript. Again, we should have a complete transcript of this conference call online within a few days so stay tuned!
Tune in to The Americans on Wednesdays @ 10/9c on FX Network.
Interesting interview. Adds some depth to how Matthew creates the aspects to Philip's character. I would be interested to hear the backstory for Philip's "tool guy."
ReplyDeleteThe character you mention is called Fernando and Matthew has (jokingly?) said that he is a bit of a ladies man, perhaps even had a stint doing porn! He is Spanish-speaking, but right now I can't remember from what country. He's talked about this character in numerous interviews, so you can probably find more by just googling. :-)
ReplyDeleteInteresting interview, I' m waiting for more news abouth how Matthew Ryas give his answers for all of our questions! I really enjoy to watch him, how he play his role as KGB agent in America!
ReplyDeleteMatthew describes the backstory for "Fernando" in an appearance on VH1 Morning Buzz with Nick Lachey. You can find the video at the VH1 website. It's pretty funny.
ReplyDeleteI thought he said something like that, but I didn't want to say that and be way off! Lol. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteGlad you enjoyed it. It was a short interview, but it was a lot of fun. Matthew Rhys is a lot of fun to watch on TV.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing. It's quite interesting how these seemingly ridiculous backstories actually shape how they portray a character.
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