Sunday Independent
Ciara Dwyer
April 1, 2001
Matthew Rhys may be the star of Peaches but a previous role has left him a little in awe of Hollywood royalty, as Ciara Dwyer found out.
Matthew Rhys's latest film, Peaches, is not of earth-shattering, change-the-world importance. It is about a bunch of lads who hang around together, boasting of sexual conquests (fictional and real) and general success in life. But in the middle of all the testosterone bravado, there is something poignant. Frank (Matthew's character) has just graduated from college and he is a little lost. He is stuck in a horrible no-man's land. He is full of lofty university ideals, but the real world is a different story.
There was a time when his biggest concern was getting extensions on his essay deadlines. If he could survive cramming sessions and scrape through his exams, he could relax for the rest of the summer and live it up. For the summer of his final exams, he is all set to slip into student mode. Only one problem: he is no longer a student. It takes some time before it dawns on him that he is now a grown-up, and that he should start behaving like one.
In the film, the boys are quite laddish. They talk about the women they have slept with in great detail. This surprises me. I always thought that women were the only ones who did that.
"Do men share about sex?" I ask Matthew Rhys.
"I think they do," says the smiling actor. "There's an enormous insecurity about women that follows men. Well, men of a certain age anyway. You haven't quite ... you're not that comfortable in front of your friends and you're not that comfortable with yourself, so there's a lot of bravado and bulls**t."
When Rhys read the film script, he had reservations.
"I was a bit iffy about it, it was a dialogue-driven film. But I recognised certain things within it. I liked that I could relate to it. All that stuff about coming out of college and not knowing what to do. All the women s**t. A head-f*** really."
Matthew Rhys is not well known, yet. The 26-year-old Cardiff-born actor is still serving his time. At the time of our meeting his biggest selling point, apart from Peaches, was that he had starred opposite Kathleen Turner in the original West End production of The Graduate. Inevitably, I have to quiz him about Turner. Was it a daunting task playing Benjamin to her Mrs Robinson? And above all, what is Turner really like?
"She is formidable, she's scary. I wouldn't cross her. But she only explodes when needs be. She is an absolute craftsman. She works it to the bone. A week before we were to go on, she was still working through scenes again and again. I loved that about her. At that age, she still gives a f**k and really wants to nail it."
Taking on the role of Benjamin wasn't exactly a walk in the park for Matthew.
"It was a nightmare. You're playing Dustin Hoffman. He had it set in stone. It was a nightmare, up to a point. Then we started it and worked on it and tried to make it our own Graduate."
Unbeknownst to many, Kathleen Turner had her own cross to bear during the show. "The woman was almost crippled with rheumatoid arthritis. She was in terrible pain. Wearing the high heels didn't help. Her feet would give her great discomfort."
As Rhys is an ascending star, he is happy to talk about Turner. He is also willing to talk about his acting life. He de-glamourises it and emphasises that it is not a profession for the faint-hearted. As he talks about the gruelling audition process, I get the feeling that he has had to develop a hard streak in order to survive.
"Some people deal with rejection very well. It took me time to harden myself. At first you don't cope with rejection, it hurts. You're only out of drama college a few months and you want to give it up."
Acting is about staying power as much as anything else. It is about surviving the out-of-work periods. Matthew found 'resting' a terrifying experience.
"The lull didn't last very long but at the time it was so scary. I'd never known an insecurity like that. All your life you've been told what to do, you've been in a structure where you know what's going to happen. Then, all of a sudden, you don't."
No wonder he chose to do Peaches. "I was only a month out of work but it seemed like the longest time. I'd spend a day watching day-time TV and then I'd feel guilty. So the next day, I'd go and do something, like go for a run, get fit."
For all aspiring actors, Rhys quashes any romantic notions of RADA. As he talks about his acting training there, it sounds like very hard work.
"It was a shock. I was expecting a university lifestyle. It was three years of six days a week in college. Six long days. Doing voice, singing, fencing and acrobatics. At times, it was slightly psychoanalytical. They're big into the Method. On my supposed day off Sunday I would have to learn scripts."
Since graduating from RADA, Rhys has been lucky. He has done stage work in well-respected theatres such as The Old Vic and The Royal Court in London. And he has clocked up quite a few films. He had a small part in Elizabeth which found itself on the editing floor. And he was as unlucky with the following film, Heart. He got paid, but he was never seen on the screen. But all that is about to change.
In Peaches, he plays the lead. He also has a big part in The Abduction Club, which was filmed in Ireland earlier this year. He plays an intrepid dinosaur explorer in The Lost World. And there are shades of Jerry Springer in his role as a talk-show host in Tabloid.
Things are looking up for Rhys. Now he has no time to fret about the direction his career is taking. He is too busy working. But if all that stopped tomorrow, what would he do?
"I don't know what the hell else I could do," he says in his soft Welsh accent. In the meantime, he is enjoying the ride.
