“What an absolute twat!” Matthew Rhys exclaims, burying his face in his hands. He’s just been reminded of something he said back in 2000, when he was playing the Dustin Hoffman role in the West End stage version of The Graduate. He was 25, fresh out of RADA, and someone asked if he could imagine being middle-aged like his co-star Kathleen Turner, who played Mrs. Robinson and was 45 at the time. His answer? “Yes – and it’s frightening. I wonder – will I still be acting?”
Maybe the “frightening” part deserves a laugh. But acting is an unstable career, so it’s no surprise he questioned how long it might last. “It is precarious,” he says, grateful for the chance to explain. He’s wearing a black T-shirt and talking over a video call from the Brooklyn home he shares with actor Keri Russell, their 10-year-old son, and her two teenage children from a previous marriage. “It was after The Graduate that I had my longest stretch without work. I thought I’d made it, and then I was like, ‘Nope.'” Things got so bad back then that he applied to join the army, but a recruiting officer turned him down, convinced he was just researching a role. “I remember him looking down my CV at the list of acting jobs and saying, ‘I’m very confused…'”
Now 51, the Cardiff-born Rhys is all smiles, despite the “Celtic lid” over his eyes that he once said gives him a naturally gloomy look. His career is anything but unstable. He’s just returned home after six months filming the second season of the thriller Presumed Innocent. But today, we’re talking about his lead role in Widow’s Bay, a hugely entertaining horror-comedy that feels like Schitt’s Creek or Northern Exposure reimagined by Stephen King. Directed by Hiro Murai, best known for Donald Glover’s Atlanta, and created by Katie Dippold, one of the writers behind Melissa McCarthy movies like The Heat and the 2016 Ghostbusters, it manages to be both funny and creepy.
Rhys plays Tom Loftis, the mayor of Widow’s Bay, a quaint New England island town where a rumor persists that no one born there can ever leave. Tom, who’s originally from the mainland, wants to attract tourists, not scare them off, so he naturally downplays the area’s gruesome folklore and denies reports of ghosts and ghouls running wild on the island.
Widow’s Bay caps off an impressive couple of decades in which Rhys has become one of the most compelling figures in US television. He spent five years playing Sally Field’s gay lawyer son on Brothers and Sisters, won an Emmy for playing a Soviet spy undercover in the US in The Americans – where he met Russell, who played his on-screen wife and fellow KGB agent – and was nominated four other times, most notably for his guest role as a toxic celebrity novelist, the very embodiment of #MeToo, in the American Bitch episode of Lena Dunham’s HBO hit Girls. He also stepped in when Robert Downey Jr. wasn’t available to play the title role in the gritty 2020 reboot of Perry Mason. And he was both charming and chilling as a property developer and suspected killer opposite Claire Danes in last year’s Netflix thriller The Beast in Me.
A streak of dark humor runs through even his darkest characters – like the scene in The Beast in Me where he horrifies Danes by brazenly dancing to Talking Heads’ “Psycho Killer.” But Widow’s Bay gives Rhys a rare chance to play full-on comedy. One highlight is Tom’s dinner with a New York Times journalist, hoping he’ll write a flattering piece about the island. Up until then, Tom has been walking on eggshells, a frantic, Basil Fawlty-like mania surfacing as he tries to impress his sophisticated guest. But when the journalist reveals over dinner that he loves Wi…Dow’s Bay, and he can’t understand why it doesn’t already have the same reputation as Martha’s Vineyard. Tom briefly loses control. He lets out an excited yelp, then quickly covers his mouth, as if trying to push the awkward noise back in.
“I remember thinking, ‘Let’s just try it,'” Rhys says. “It was a big-swing moment. The whole thing is a big-swing project for me. It’s out of my comfort zone – it’s a bit ‘death or glory’ at times – but I loved every second of it.” In another way, though, it fits his pattern of playing outsiders, which worked so well for him in The Americans. It also connects to his own life, as a Welshman who has now been living in the US for 20 years.
“The parallels weren’t lost on me,” he says. “Not to get too ‘armchair psychologist’ about it, but it also ties into growing up. As much as culture and the arts are respected in Wales, there weren’t many of us doing it. At my very sporty school, I’d be like, ‘Oh, I’m the only guy in drama club.’ I was an outsider even then.” Was he teased or bullied for that? “Not really. My friends would make fun of me a bit. It was just banter.” That, he says, is one of the things he misses most about the UK. “The level of teasing you get is Olympic standard. Sometimes when Keri comes back with me, she says, ‘They’re so mean to you!’ In Britain, the great equalizer is how well you can make fun of someone – and how well you can take it yourself.”
So Rhys was an outsider long before he left the UK. “And now I come to a different country, and I’m definitely the outsider here. Weirdly, that never goes away. Even though I live here, New York is still, for me, Robert De Niro in Mean Streets. And you’re always reminded of your differences. Gabriel Byrne used to say, ‘You carry it like a hump on your back.’ It’s not quite a hump for me, but it’s an awareness you never shake. That was the big parallel for me with Tom. Same with The Americans – a foreigner pretending to be an American. I was like, ‘God, I’ve built my career on that!'”
He has come to dominate TV. But what about movies? His Hollywood résumé isn’t bad: Steven Spielberg directed him in the journalism drama The Post, with Tom Hanks and Meryl Streep, and he teamed up with Hanks again as a troubled reporter interviewing the wholesome entertainer Mr. Rogers in A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood. Then again, he also messed up a James Bond audition in the early 2000s by joking to the producers that he’d consider playing the spy with an eyepatch or a limp. How much does he want a film career now that his TV one is so strong?
“I don’t anymore,” he says. “I think TV is the perfect medium for me. I’ve made movies with huge stars, so I’ve checked that box. But I like the slow burn of episodic television, the luxury of being able to take your time.”
He certainly doesn’t lack for complex roles. Tom in Widow’s Bay may start as a comedic character, but he has his demons too. That special duality in Rhys has been clear since at least The Scapegoat, a 2012 Daphne du Maurier adaptation on ITV where he played doppelgangers.
Even he was surprised, though, to be offered The Beast in Me. “I was like, ‘Are you sure this is for me?’ I thought they’d sent it to the wrong guy. What did they see in me?” It’s likely the producers spotted him in Girls, I suggest: his character cruelly but skillfully manipulates Hannah (Lena Dunham), who has written a blog criticizing him for using his power to prey on young women. Lulling her into…He lulled her into a false sense of security with a mix of intellectual talk and flattery, then suddenly pulled his penis out of his fly. No, Rhys didn’t get to keep that silicone semi. “I did ask,” he says glumly. “I wonder what they did with it. I hope it got disinfected.”
He believes his age is why he now gets offered more complex roles. “As you get older, you can tap into your emotions much more easily. You’ve lived a life, so there’s more to draw from.” What would he see if he looked back at his films from the late 1990s and early 2000s? “I didn’t have much acting experience back then, so it was all pretty plain. A bit rubbish. The interesting stuff comes with the years. And thank God for that.” So, middle age. Not so scary after all.
Widow’s Bay is on Apple TV from 29 April.
Frequently Asked Questions
Here is a list of FAQs based on the topic I hope it got disinfected Matthew Rhys talks about bravery banter and wearing a prosthetic penis
BeginnerLevel Questions
Q Who is Matthew Rhys
A Hes an actor best known for playing Perry Mason in the HBO series Perry Mason and for his role in The Americans
Q What is this prosthetic penis thing about
A In the show Perry Mason his character has to wear a prosthetic penis for a specific scene Its a fake body part used for filming
Q Why did he say I hope it got disinfected
A He was joking about the prosthetic being shared or reused between scenes Its a funny offhand comment about hygiene on set
Q Is this a serious interview or a comedy bit
A Its a mix He talks seriously about bravery in acting but the prosthetic part is lighthearted banter
Intermediate Questions
Q What does bravery mean in this context
A For Matthew bravery means being willing to do uncomfortable vulnerable or embarrassing things to tell the story honestly Its not about physical courage but emotional risk
Q What is banter and how does it relate to this story
A Banter is playful teasing conversation He uses banter to lighten the mood when discussing awkward topics like nudity or prostheticsso the audience laughs instead of feeling awkward
Q Was the prosthetic actually shared between actors
A No its a joke Each prosthetic is custommade for the actor and used only for that person The disinfected comment is just funny exaggeration
Q How does wearing a prosthetic affect an actors performance
A It can make them selfconscious or distracted but Matthew says it also helps him get into characterits a physical reminder that hes playing someone else
Advanced Questions
Q Why is this story considered a good example of bravery in acting
A Because he openly talks about a potentially humiliating experience without shame Bravery in acting often means being willing to look ridiculous
