The New Prince of Wales
Guardian Unlimited
Kate Kellaway
April 30, 2000
Matthew Rhys is not only being seduced every night by Kathleen
Turner in The Graduate, he also stars in Metropolis, a new ITV
thriller about - graduates. And, Kate Kellaway discovers, he is
in love with an older woman in real life.
Matthew Rhys has been practising the art of seduction. In
Metropolis, the compulsively watchable ITV thriller (beginning
tomorrow) about six graduates from Leeds trying to make a go of
it in London, he plays the male equivalent of a dumb blonde: he's
an unemployed brunette with unruly hair and devastating blue eyes.
Matthew (the actor and the character share a name) is young, lazy
and seldom seen out of bed. His main occupation is smoking dope.
He is vile to his girlfriends but there is a kind of sexual provocation
to his insults and he is rewarded for his lack of charm.
Rhys also plays Ben in Terry Johnson's stage version of the Sixties
film The Graduate (at the Gielgud theatre). Ben is smarter than
Metropolis Matthew but, like him, has little more than sex appeal
to recommend him. Ben's hair is nicely barbered, he has a crisp
American accent and a blameless white shirt. He is an amusing
contrast to Kathleen Turner's Mrs Robinson. She is smoothly predatory,
like a Disney lioness tossing her blond mane. He is jumpy as a
grasshopper - he majors in nerves.
Matthew and Ben have this in common: they don't have to do a thing,
at least at first, to get their women. Women are drawn to them
like stupid moths to a flame. Ben and Matthew share something
else. By a bizarre coincidence, they both choose to take the same
romantic initiative: each hijacks a wedding with the intention
of securing the bride for himself. I suggest to Rhys when we meet,
that he should be careful to avoid further scenes of this kind
lest it lead to a most peculiar and specific form of type-casting.
We meet at tea-time, at Soho House. Matthew Rhys looks cool -
but isn't. He is in no way smooth or over-confident - which makes
him immediately likeable. I've always had a weakness for people
who trip up easily. (As he left, he got seriously tangled up in
the furniture). It is easy to see why he does nerves so well.
I hardly noticed him walk in because of the more extrovert presence
of his girlfriend, Ciara Parkes, who runs a PR company. She is
an untidily glamorous blonde, a good 10 years older than him (he
is 25). Matthew and Ciara have been on the receiving end, inevitably,
of jokes about life imitating The Graduate - but seem to be surviving
happily. Ciara plays the older woman well. She orders tea in a
motherly style and makes no secret of her relationship with Matthew,
calling him 'love' in a breezily possessive way.
The first and most striking thing about Matthew is his Welshness.
His voice comes as a lilting surprise after hearing his Mancunian
and American accents. He is 'intensely proud' of being Welsh (it
is his first language). He hangs out with Welsh friends (he shares
a flat in Kilburn flat with Welsh actor Ioan Gruffud). He says
that 'though it may be a cliché', it is 'frighteningly
true' that his nights at the pub end in song. Does he sing well?
'If I am honest, I can string a good tune together. I might even
throw a few harmonies in.'
Matthew grew up in a Methodist, working-class family in Cardiff.
Both his parents were teachers. He looks back at his childhood
affectionately 'through the old rose-tinted spectacles'. His father's
family were farmers, his mother's people lived near the sea. Until
he was 10 or 12, he wanted to be a farmer. He feels very much
'the same person' now even though his life has changed so much.
He minds about his parents' approval and is at his most nervous
on stage when one of his family is in the audience. His greatest
happiness, he swears, is travelling home by train to Wales.
He went to RADA where he had to unlearn before he could learn
a thing. The mannerism police were out in force. 'I was told in
week two to stop rubbing my nose when speaking. I had no idea
I was doing it.' He is mannerism-free now - except that he often
pillows his cheek with his hand. But his language is full of catchphrases.
He often uses the word 'frightening' - when he is not frightened
at all. And he answers many questions with the words 'To be honest'
- there is every reason to believe he is just that. He does not
seem vain though he dresses beautifully - he was wearing a white
shirt with turquoise cufflinks.
He laughs at himself a lot. When I pointed out that he looked
miserable in his photo in the programme, he surprised me by roaring
with laughter. 'I'll have to change it. I look nerdy when I smile.
I have always wanted to be like Marlon Brando and the brooders.'
He makes it sound like an old-fashioned pop group - and I can
just see him singing in it.
He loved playing Matthew in Metropolis partly because he is such
a conundrum. He kept asking himself 'Who is he?' He tries to find
an anchor - something to identify with in each role he plays.
He identified with Matthew's working-class background, he says
(a safe choice). Rhys has recently been informed that he can no
longer pass for 18 - which came as a shock. So how much does age
matter? Does the 10 years between himself and Ciara mean anything?
'No I honestly don't believe it does. It never has been an issue
for the pair of us because we get on so well together,' he says.
Age was an issue - in a beneficial way - between Rhys and Kathleen
Turner. At the audition, he felt 'blind panic', daunted at the
thought of the naked scenes between himself and the Hollywood
star. 'For the first 40 minutes I was a dribbling mess. She was
brilliant: she had been there, done that.' A different take on
the experienced woman? 'That's it. The whole kernel of the play
was in that audition.' And Turner had a say in the casting. So
he must have done OK.
Matthew Rhys has been in seven movies - he can be seen next month
in the seventh as Demetrius in Julie Taymor's Titus Andronicus.
His eighth will be a Welsh version of Braveheart in which he will
play a jealous brother by the name of Llywelan. He will be on
horseback a lot - he is a good rider. And presumably the film
will be made in Wales (alias heaven). Rhys says the most difficult
thing about acting is 'keeping your integrity in a world so heavily
governed by other people's opinions'.
What he means, I think, is: it is hard to keep your head. Does
he ever imagine middle-age? Being 45 - like Kathleen Turner? 'Yes
- and it's frightening. I wonder: Will I still be acting?'
click on Graceland to go home
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