If the question is: How do you follow-up the biggest hit of your career – Matthew Rhys has one answer: Play Perry Mason. The Cardiff, Wales, native has been a working actor for decades. His first break was the soapy ‘Brothers & Sisters’ series (2006-2011) where he stood out among an ensemble that included Sally Field, Rob Lowe and Calista Flockhart. Then came the critics’ favorite ‘The Americans’ where Rhys won an Emmy over five seasons as a Russian spy in early 1960s Washington, D.C. He was given not just a fake ID but a fellow spy (Keri Russell) to play his wife and they had 2 born-in-the-USA children.
In real life Rhys and Russell quickly became a couple and had a child in 2014. On Sunday Rhys, who spoke from his Catskills cabin while in self-quarantine with his family, debuts his 8-episode HBO miniseries reviving Perry Mason. Or, more accurately, rebooting the character with a complex origin story set in Depression-plagued 1932 Los Angeles where Mason, a divorced father with a run-down farm, works as a private investigator for John Lithgow’s lawyer in a headline-making kidnap case that sees the infant’s mother on trial for her life.
Q: Matthew, was it difficult to commit to a new role when you’ve had this career peak?
MATTHEW RHYS: It is and it isn’t. As incredible as that journey was. The possibilities in the line of work I do, the possibilities are endless and boundless. I don’t know if a part like that would ever come around again — because there’s so much to play, because it’s so layered. And then you sit down and get offered a part that is equally layered and nuanced and as in depth as the last. I count my blessings that I’m incredibly fortunate (although there were 2 jobs in-between).
Q: What were they?
MR: One was back home with the BBC, playing something very different again, a staunch Northern Irish Protestant and then I did the movie with Tom Hanks [‘A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood’]. Two very different parts. To me one of the greatest luxuries is if on these journeys we are offered variety in what we do, then we’re incredibly lucky. That’s certainly the fortune I’ve had so far.
Q: This Perry Mason is not the brilliant defense lawyer, he’s a scrappy cynic in a corrupt LA where the DA is pretty much a thug with the force of the law at his command.
MR: You know, they gave him such an incredible backstory. In the first minute you meet him, you know there’s a lot going on for him. So, they presented a very well made-up, very interesting Perry Mason. You kinda go, Where does he go from here?
Q: Who knew he had a kid! A son about to turn 8.
MR: A number of the big elements in his life are structured. His patriarchy is one of those, how he struggles to negotiate those very choppy familial seas. And he doesn’t do very well with them. Obviously with the kind of case he’s working with’ – a horrendously grim kidnapping – ‘his own paternity certainly affects how he attacks the case. There’s a number of elements they gave to me so I wasn’t expecting the inherited land. He’s one of the original Angelino pioneer families and the pressures that come with that. The fact that he’s a veteran — that I wasn’t expecting. That kind of inform the moment we meet him.
Q: This is incredibly dark. Not only the doomed infant but a gruesome homicide, complete with a foot crushing the throat of a dying man. I wonder if they looked at the reinvention of Batman origin story ‘The Dark Knight’ and were inspired by that.
MR: To my knowledge it is certainly not inspired by any ‘Dark Knight’ stuff. I know the writers worked with an LA historian. So a number of elements in our story are based sadly on historical truth. That is a tragic element based on a real case back in the Thirties when a kidnapping went horrifically wrong.
Q: You’re credited as an Executive Producer here. I always wonder what does that really mean?
MR: This is the first outing for me as a producer. I tend to think my importance was maybe much more upfront. Once it’s been shot I find it very hard to be objective of my own performance, so it’s hard not to weigh in on the vanity. So I left my part alone. But putting together certain crew members that were very key for me, also the casting, storyline, how I wanted to help build this character with them. I wanted input in the backstory. The costume was built closely on that. I worked with the costume designer Emma Potter (‘True Detective,’ ‘Beautiful Boy’).
Q: ‘Americans’ was perfectly attuned to the early Sixties. What is the value or benefit or the exotic attraction of doing something in the Thirties?
MR: The writers had a very clear intention to set it in Los Angeles; they went back to the original books. For me to shoot in LA in a 1930s noir setting certainly clicked a number of boxes in the cinematic makeup that I was heavily influence by. From a fan point of view it was real. Wearing a fedora and driving those cars and living out my [Raymond] Chandler-esque moment — it lends itself incredibly cinematically to the piece. I also think in a kind of old-fashioned crime investigation dramas we see, the less technology present makes it a little more interesting for the viewer – I say that from personal point of view. You can’t text somebody.
Q: Perry has a romantic relationship with this Mexican singer-aviatrix-businesswoman? Is that a key element? And will he interact with the evangelist (Tatania Maslany) based on Aimee Semple McPherson?
MR: Not as much. It’s a little bit of cat and mouse for myself. We circle each other; my intrigue with her develops enormously. The relationship with Lupe (Veronica Falcón ) because of her business interests’ – she wants to buy Mason’s farm – ‘make that relationship incredibly complicated. Both women play dance partners metaphorically as he tries to figure out what they both want. So there’s a lot of cat and mouse between all three.
Q: Is this an 8-episode miniseries? Or is it the first of many seasons?
MR: At the moment because HBO commissioned it as a stand alone limited series I only signed for those 8 episodes. The talk as to whether we go into a second season at the moment I think will be based on what happens.
Q: I must say there are some fascinating character details. The thing with Perry buying a tie from the coroner in the morgue, selecting one from a corpse for ten cents. And what input did you have for your costume? That leather jacket? What did you want?
MR: It was well over 100 [temperature] for days when we shot. I think you have to get to 110 before they shut you down for health and safety issues. That leather jacket may not have possibly been the greatest choice for Los Angeles in the summer. I wanted to make sure the physical image of Mason related to who he was. I loved in the script that he bought clothes from dead people in the morgue. Remember it was the Depression. [For Perry’s suits] Nothing was tailored. I wanted his silhouette to be specific. I didn’t want him to look tailored or as having it fitted right. I wanted the jacket a touch too big, the pants too long. All those things I wanted to add to his dishevelment in every way.
Q: You’re Welsh, you have this beautiful, lilting accent which we never hear in your American roles. Does that mean you maintain character, stay in the accent all day?
MR: [A laugh] I’m not one who stays in character. The accent sometimes — there are good days and bad days with the accents. Some days if I’m having a bad day I’ll stay with the accent or if I’m getting tired. It’s more the accent than the character. I don’t find it hard to pull the switch when somebody yells, ‘Cut!’
Q: You’re bilingual, with Welsh and English. In fact you have this sidebar career as a distinguished Welsh native. Do you plan on doing one of those BBC-Wales series where it’s done in both Welsh and English?
MR: Yes I have. I have a few projects I have worked in the Welsh language in the past and did a tri-lingual film a few years ago, in Welsh, English and Spanish. So I’ve been fortunate.
NEW DVDs:
THE BOYS STILL RIDE HIGH ‘South Park: The Complete Twenty-third Season’ (Blu-ray, 2 discs, Comedy Central/Paramount, Not Rated) is another glorious excursion into the wild and woolly adventures of Stan, Kyle, Cartman, and Kenny, courtesy of Matt Stone and Trey Parker. Watch them tackle immigration, plant-based school cafeteria meals and be banned in China! Here also are fan fave characters Randy and Towelie, the PC Babies, Scott Malkinson with different theme songs for nearly every episode. Uncensored and featuring the 300th (!) episode, along with concept art. The Blu-ray has #SocialCommentary on all episodes as well as behind the scenes tidbits on each and every episode.
The characters from “South Park”/Comedy Central
A FRENCH ICON’S YOUTH ‘Promise at Dawn’ (Blu-ray, Menemsha Films, Not Rated) is a starry 2017 French remake of a Romain Gary novel that was first filmed in 1970 with the mother-son roles embodied by the glam Greek star Melina Mercouri (‘Topkapi’) and Assi Dayan, son of the Israeli Defense Minister. ‘Dawn’ is Gary’s autobiographical memoir, a comedic drama (or dramatic comedy) and international bestseller. Today Gary is perhaps best known as Jean Seberg’s protective celebrity husband who publicly declared the FBI responsible for the French-American actress’s suicide. Back in the ‘60s he towered as an author and influential public figure. ‘Dawn’ is adapted from his autobiographical novel detailing his Polish childhood, his exodus with his family to the south of France to escape the consequences of Hitler’s anti-Semitic purges in Germany, his mother’s conversion to Catholicism and his exploits in Africa as a pilot with the French Air Force. ‘Dawn’ credits Gary’s drive to become a great writer, to live the most fantastic fulfilling life imaginable to his mother Nina (Charlotte Gainsbourg). But Gary (Pierre Niney, so memorable as Yves Saint Laurent and in Ozon’s 2016 ‘Frantz’) knows that a mother’s possessive love is also a burden. In French with optional English subtitles.
A CASTLE UNLIKE OTHERS ‘Let’s Kill Uncle’ (Blu-ray, KL Studio Classics, Not Rated) is a rare Sixties artifact. First, it’s a William Castle (1914-1977) production, directed by the horror maestro himself. Second, it stars child actor Mary Badham, now iconic as Scout, Harper Lee’s stand-in, in the ’62 film version of Lee’s ‘To Kill a Mockingbird.’ This 1966 entry is from the producer of ‘Rosemary’s Baby’ and ‘The Lady from Shanghai’ who also directed ‘The Tingler,’ ‘House on Haunted Hill,’ ‘Strait-jacket’ and the Barbara Stanwyck-Robert Taylor ‘The Night Walker.’ The ostensible star is Nigel Green who the credits helpfully note is Of ‘Ipcress File’ fame.
Few may remember that Michael Caine hit but this brand new 2K master has a lively comical set-up: A 12 year old orphan (Pat Cardi) is stranded on an island with his sadistic, ex-M16 uncle (Green) who is determined to murder him. The boy’s only ally is Badham. Uncle maneuvers with a pool of sharks, poisonous mushrooms (mushrooms were very big in the ‘60s) and even hypnotism. Special Features range from an interview by Pat Cardi on Castle and an audio commentary.
GERMAN YES BUT NOT NAZIS? Two classic German films have been meticulously restored, returning the spotlight to 2 enduringly controversial filmmakers: Leni Riefenstahl and G.W. Pabst. ‘The Great Leap’ (Blu-ray, Kino Classics, Not Rated) is a 1927 German ‘mountain movie,’ a genre of adventure films set in Austria and Germany’s snow-covered peaks and filmed with real danger, without doubles.
They made Riefenstahl (1902-2003) a movie star before she became, in the 1930s, celebrated and condemned as Hitler’s propagandist with her now-classic documentaries ‘Triumph of the Will’ and ‘Olympia.’ Yes, she was Hitler’s favorite yet she repeatedly emphasized she’d never joined the Nazi party. Unlike her earlier hits, ‘Great Leap’ is a rom-com set in the Dolomites that boasts acrobatic skiing and rock climbing which sets it apart from the genre’s usual survival thrills.
G.W. Pabst (1885-1967) is a lavishly praised filmmaker known for his Greta Garbo silent, the 1925 ‘Joyless Street,’ 2 sexually subversive silents starring the iconic American beauty Louise Brooks, ‘Pandora’s Box’ and ‘Diary of a Lost Girl,’ and the first film version of the Brecht-Weill musical ‘The Threepenny Opera.’ Pabst also helmed one of Riefenstahl’s most popular mountain movies ‘The White Hell of Pitz Palu’ (’29). That’s quite a legacy by itself. Under Hitler’s Nazi regime Pabst made nearly a dozen pictures which critics have most resolutely ignored. His 1943 ‘Paracelsus’ (Blu-ray, Kino Classics, Not Rated), filmed as the Nazi war machine was faltering and defeat glimmered, is among his most intriguing. Paracelsus is a 16th century historical enigma, a Swiss-born doctor, spiritual guru and alchemist who here must calm German mass hysteria rising from an imminent plague. Not released in the US until 1974, ‘Paracelsus’ prompts a question often asked of artists who work under dictators: Is this propaganda or a subversive allegory? Pabst went on to make another 10 films after the war including ‘The Last Ten Days’ in ’55 about Hitler’s and the Nazis inglorious end. So we ask again: Is this an anti-Nazi arrow, unleashed in plain sight of Reich Minister of Propaganda Joseph Goebbels? Audio commentary by film historian Samm Deighan on both films which are in German with optional English subtitles.
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