| Can the world's oldest vampire resurrect Johnny Rhys Meyers?; As he films his new role as Dracula, the actor is calm, sober and happy - for now. So...
By Patricia Danaher- April 20th 2013
Irish Daily Mail
© 2013 Associated Newspapers. All rights reserved
Jonathan Rhys Meyers leans forward and fixes me with his piercing eyes, their blue-green colour striking as he speaks deliberately and seriously.
‘It’s almost like the ultimate fear of a man to have a monster growing inside them and then to have that monster take him over — it’s the ultimate sadness,’ the Cork-born actor says.
He is talking about Dracula, the dark role he plays in a new series, but he could easily be talking about himself. After struggling through a difficult upbringing and childhood, Rhys Meyers rose meteorically through the acting world after he came to the attention of casting agents in Cork.
He won acclaim for his intense and brooding performances — but soon became just as well known for his tempestuous life off-screen. He made headlines for multiple arrests and stints in rehab and, while he repeatedly swore off drink, Rhys Meyers always seemed to be fighting against himself.
‘Dracula is the ultimate monster,’ the actor says, speaking in the Four Seasons Hotel in Budapest, where the series is filming until July.
‘Bram Stoker picked up on this manifestation of a man from a normal human being into a power beyond human power. It started in Marino in Dublin for Bram Stoker and then he travelled to London to actually write the story and discovered where he could take this character.’ Rhys Meyers has rarely played cuddly or cute in film or television roles. There is an intensity to him in person and onscreen which he does not deny.
‘Can I be scary? I’m not quite sure I’m the person to answer that,’ he laughs. ‘I think I could be. I try to be as charming as possible, but everybody’s got their off days.
‘I have something in my physicality that lends to a slight haughtiness and, I suppose, arrogance that I portray. I don’t try to do it purposely, but onscreen that’s what comes off. I’ve got quite direct eyes that lend to a slight scariness that I’m able to do. I’m not quite sure I’ll be playing that many heroes in my life.’ The portrayal of Dracula in the new NBC/Sky series is a new take on the old story — described as ‘twisted, sophisticated and provocative’.
Dracula arrives in London posing as an American entrepreneur who claims to be bringing modern science to Victorian society, while in reality planning to wreak havoc on those who ruined his life centuries earlier.
Rhys Meyers, it seems, believes he is perfectly suited to the role — and he speaks about it enthusiastically.
‘I’m almost 36 and I think it makes sense to have Dracula in his mid-30s. He has to have that element of vitality and I like him being younger, erotic and diabolical at the same time.’ Rhys Meyers, who is incredibly well read, is philosophical about the recent popularity of vampire-driven plots and franchises, fuelled by everything from Bram Stoker to Twilight creator Stephanie Meyer.
‘The modern obsession with vampires is, I suppose, connected to eternal youth,’ he says. ‘You don’t age once you become a vampire, which is always attractive to humans for some reason. If you’ve been around for 400 years, you’re going to have an immense amount of charm and wealth. It’s diabolical but attractive.
‘Would I like to live forever? Of course it would be very attractive to live forever if I was to stay the same age as I am now, with all the emotions that I have and experience I’ve gathered — but that’s not Dracula’s journey.
‘He has to live forever in emptiness and I’m not sure I’d like to be imprisoned by my loss and to live forever in that way. If I could live as I am now, forever, then yes, I’d definitely want that. But I would hate to live forever like Dracula.’ Rhys Meyers, who has had more than his share of loss and turbulent experiences, is particularly introspective when discussing the role. The ten-part drama is set to air in the autumn and could also boost the US career of another Irish star, Victoria Smurfit.
Sitting comfortably in a casual white V-neck shirt and tan blazer, Rhys Meyers seems more at home in his own skin — and in his newest role — than he ever did when he was making headlines for drunken rants and violent fights.
In 2007, Rhys Meyers was arrested in Dublin Airport for being drunk and disorderly. Two years later, he was arrested in Paris’s Charles de Gaulle airport when he assaulted a barman who refused to pour him a drink, then attempted to resist three officers trying to arrest him and threatened to kill both them and their families.
As the downward spiral continued and he entered rehab again in 2011, he was dropped as the face of Hugo Boss, for whom he had been advertising since 2006. Then, while he earned significant praise for his performance in The Tudors, his erratic behaviour and tempestuous personality raised questions about who, if anyone, would give him further work.
In addition, he had a notoriously stormy relationship with on-again, off-again girlfriend Reena Hammer, with police even called during one particularly violent fight.
Multiple times in the past, Rhys Meyers has claimed he’s given up alcohol and put his wild ways behind him — and again, as he works on Dracula, this is the case. He has stopped drinking, has reportedly been treated for depression and everyone on set claims he is heavily committed to the project.
Among them is Smurfit and another Irish actress, Katie McGrath, whom Rhys Meyers worked with on the Tudors. She plays the winsome Lucy, while Smurfit plays Lady Jane, a vampire killer and socialite.
‘It’s a pleasure to work with women like that,’ Rhys Meyers says. ‘I get a great joy out of it. Victoria is very, very clever and powerful and she has this incredible elegance.
‘Katie I’ve known for a long time and she’s from this very beautiful Irish family. She’s very well educated and has a degree from Trinity that she did before going off to become an actress. Her talent and beauty is matched with an incredible intuitiveness and brain power. Those two keep me in line — that’s always a good thing.’ Rhys Meyers has dated his share of beautiful women over the years. His eight-year relationship with British heiress Reena Hammer finally came to an end late last year after several break-ups and reunions.
Since January, he and Australian model Victoria Keon-Cohen have moved into a €3.5million home in London, although he is based in Budapest until Dracula finishes filming in July.
He says his intensity extends from his working life into personal relationships. ‘If I find somebody attractive, I pay more attention and I try to pour on all the sort of Irish lilty charm,’ he says. ‘If it’s a woman I really, really want, she sees through it very quickly.
‘I love women; I truly love women, not just in the essence of “I love her and I have to have her”. I can sit with a beautiful woman and I can have dinner with them and I don’t need to have a hidden agenda. I love their company.
‘There’s something soft, something delicate and there’s something very powerful and strong at the same time, which I really appreciate. I love their company and most of my friends are women anyway.’ Rhys Meyers says he is fascinated by stars of years gone by and the grace they displayed.
‘I kind of fancy all the ones from the past, you know? Maybe Ava Gardner in her day or maybe Ingrid Bergman in her day. I think I prefer the old world movie stars. Marlene Dietrich would have been interesting. She’d have been at least a bit of a challenge, you know?’ His affection for women is not surprising as he was incredibly close to his late mother Geraldine. His father left when he was very young and even after he became successful, Rhys Meyers and his mother were in constant contact.
She died after a short illness in 2007, leaving him devastated.
At the time, he was photographed on a London street drinking cider at 10am, wearing a black donkey jacket with the collar turned up as he wandered along swigging straight from the can. Now, however, Rhys Meyers seems better adjusted and off the booze — and heavily invested in the dark character he’s portraying.
‘Bela Lugosi and Christopher Lee did versions of Dracula that I appreciate, but Gary Oldman’s performance is for me the best,’ he says. ‘This is a very modern take on Dracula. We’ve eliminated a lot of the unexplainable supernaturality and given very human explanations as to why things are happening to the main character. You’re not going to see our Dracula flying across the sky,’ he says. ‘That said, it’s now the kind of show that could run on and move into many different eras, even into the future.’ Exactly what lies in Rhys Meyers’ future, however, remains to be seen. Dracula, as the actor states himself, is stuck forever in time, in an enduring state of emptiness.
But as Rhys Meyers bites into this new role and series, perhaps he will be able to move on once and for all — and fill his life with more critical acclaim and less controversy.
‘I’ve got direct eyes that lend to scariness’
‘I love women. I love their company’
Thanks to :http://stephany-france.tumblr.com/
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