Celebrity Interview - Jonathan Rhys Myers
Mission possible for versatile star
Jonathan Rhys Myers Mission possible for versatile star
IN CONJUNCTION WITH OUR SPECIAL FEATURE THIS MONTH ON MEN, WE DECIDED TO GRACE OUR COVER WITH ONE OF IRELAND’S HOTTEST AND MOST TALENTED ACTORS, JONATHAN RHYS MEYERS, PERHAPS BEST KNOWN IN RECENT TIMES FOR HIS TV ROLE AS KING HENRY VIII IN THE TUDORS INTERVIEW BY JUSTIN POWER & GEMMA WATSON/FAMOUS
■ What is the longest relationship you’ve been in?Four years.
■ Are you still in it?No.
■ How do you keep a relationship alive?With great difficulty.
■ When you’re working far away, what do you do to keep a relationship alive?Phone calls… I've learned how to deal with it over time, because I've been on the road for about nine years now. So I've got mechanisms of dealing with it.
■ You send flowers?I'm not really the sending flowers type; I'm not very romantic.
■ You’re not? There are different ideas of romance. So you’re not the chocolate and flowers kind of guy?(pulls a face) A nice box of chocolates once a month is always good when you can't get there... Sending a Terry's Chocolate Orange and Desperate Housewives works! (laughs)
■ And you’re not intimidated by women who are tough?I'm not. I'm not intimidated by tough women; I'm attracted by it.
■ How did you meet your last girlfriend?At a restaurant in London.
■ You saw her across the room?Yes. It happens!
■ How did you make the approach?I didn't, she made the approach. She came and bought me a drink.
■ Did you have the eye contact thing going?Oh yeah. I've never been shy about sitting across the room and seeing someone who I really like and letting her know it.
■ So she made the first move – that must have been a turn on?Yes, it was.
■ Had she seen you in a film?(shakes his head) Even if she had, she never let on. I don't think she was very interested.
■ Have you ever dated an actress?I wouldn't date an actress. Too difficult. To competitive. I'm the only actress in my life.
■ You’re the only drama queen!They're all drama queens. No matter who you interview, don't let them tell you any different. They are all drama queens. All of them. From one who is, let me tell you, they all are. It's really funny: actors all have different personalities, but they're all f*****g actors, the core of it.
■ Do you prefer skinny women or women with curves?I don't fancy very skinny women. But then I have to say, I don't fancy fat women either. I like athletic women. I like women who work out. I like women who are athletic and outdoorsy.
■ What would you be doing if you weren’t an actor?Couldn't tell you.
■ Getting up to no good.Without a doubt.
■ In Ireland?Everywhere.
■ Have you ever had your heart broken?Yes, it was in the four-year relationship.
■ What’s the best way to mend a broken heart?Terry's Chocolate Orange and Desperate Housewives.
■ Are you friends with all the Irish actors – like Colin Farrell, Cillian Murphy? Is it like a little club?No, it's not like a little club! (laughs) And I'm not a member. I know Colin because I worked with him and I know Cillian as well, because I met him when I was working with Colin. We don't hang out with each other. I don't own their phone numbers or anything like that. We wouldn't ring each other up and say, “Hey, how's it going?” I've never really made friends with any actors.
■ Because?Because all actors are bitter, twisted creatures, including me! (joking − of course)
■ Are you the tortured soul type?No, I don't think I'm tortured.
■ Would you like to get married and have kids at some point?Yes. I'm very broody, but I'm not ready to be a father. I do love children. When I was on the set of Mission Impossible and Will Smith and his wife came down, and he's got a little girl and a little boy… They are so beautiful and what makes them even more beautiful than they already are is that they're not conscious of it. It's what makes people really unattractive when they become adults: they become so conscious of the way they look and these two kids had no consciousness about the way they looked. They were so beautiful and it was lovely to see that family unit. It's the same with Tom. He's got a great family unit. They're great fathers, the both of them. And they love their children very much. It's very inspirational.
■ So what was it like working with Tom Cruise?Easy, you know – he’s a nice guy. He’s a generous actor, he’s a good boss. It’s an education from the point of view of a young professional working with Tom. He’s a good guy. The reason Tom is such a success is Tom was always the first on the set, he was always there together, he was never hung over, he never got there with a bad attitude. He’s into solutions, not problems.
■ Is that something you take on board as an actor? Would you like to reach the level that Tom Cruise has got to?Of course. No kid kicking a football against a wall wants to grow up to be Mr Smith from Barnsley: they all want to be Maradona. Of course I want to be Tom Cruise or want that level of fame and that level of success and power. I mean, it’s very attractive. I’m not quite sure if it would suit me or anything. I wouldn’t limit myself to, I just want to make these types of films. I want to do a little bit of this, a little bit of that, and live a quiet life. I’m living a quite life but, bollocks, if I’m not gonna put my balls on the line to do it…
■ You’re getting job after job at the moment – so the acting side’s going really well for you. How about the side of things that Tom deals with? You know, you say you enjoy your quiet life – I don’t think there’s any way that Tom Cruise can ever, ever have a quiet life…Not anymore, no. I don’t put myself out there, I don’t date an actress, I don’t hang around with famous people, I make sure I don’t go to f*****g Chinawhites or Pangaea or anything like that and get photographed coming out of there at four o’clock in the morning, hanging with some glamour model. There’s a lot of things you can do to eliminate the press out of your life, especially in that invasive way, and you do it by leading your own quiet life and not promoting it. People who moan about the tabloids and the paparazzi, you know, they won’t leave me alone − it’s like, well don’t go out in a f*****g blacked-out escalator with a bodyguard, you dipstick. If you want to go to the pub with your mates, go to the pub with your mates, but you don’t need an entourage of 20 f*****g people. That’s not gonna protect you. You don’t have to go out in Gucci sunglasses at 11 o’clock at night. That’s not really going to protect you; people aren’t going to go, “Oh, I didn’t see them there”, when you’re surrounded by six foot six black guys with machine guns in their pockets − course you’re going to be noticed!
■ Do you ever get worried that the rug is going to be pulled, because everything is so great?Everything will change. Sometimes it changes for the better, sometimes for the worse. I mean, my life is not a rose garden: there are thorns; I'm just not going to talk about them.
