Keri Russell and her significant other/Americans co-star Matthew Rhys recently sat down for a joint interview with The Hollywood Reporter. Here's what they had to say:
Matthew, in what way is Keri most and least like her character?
RHYS "Height and hair. No, she doesn't have the ice of Elizabeth — though sometimes she does."
RUSSELL "How dare you! (Laughs.)"
RHYS "No, for the most part, you're not as calculating and icy as she is. But I think it has to live somewhere inside you in order to play it with conviction."
So was that the most or the least?
RHYS "Pick one. That's all I'm saying. I'm already drowning in hot water. (Laughs.)"
And Keri, how about Matthew?
RUSSELL "He's incredibly good with people. And with women. He's a good listener, he's incredibly emotional."
RHYS "This is going fucking south. Next question!"
RUSSELL "He's dying. (Laughs.)"
These parts not only are quite physical but also require you, as KGB spies, to take on multiple characters. What are the most challenging scenes to play?
RHYS "The hardest to land are in those moments where great stretches of the imagination have to merge with reality. Like telling [our daughter] Paige that we're spies."
RUSSELL "Yeah, that was difficult."
RHYS "When you read it, you go, "This sounds like a Monty Python sketch. It's absurd: We work for Mother Russia." So the challenge is landing in a real place where the audience believes, "Oh my God, that's so moving," and not, "That's so ludicrous.""
The series is heavy on graphic sex scenes, too, something you've said you hadn't done a lot of prior to this role, Keri.
RUSSELL "I know you might find it surprising, but people don't cast me for my voluptuous body all the time. "We're looking for a woman with a 13-year-old boy's body. Who can we get? Yes, you!""
RHYS "Don't say that because what does that say about me? (Laughter.)"
Did you have any hesitation?
RUSSELL "Definitely. No one wakes up on Tuesday morning at 6 a.m. and is [excited to be] like, "Hey! Nice to meet ya! OK, here we go, whoooo!" with 50 of our friends watching. But I will say I sort of love the use of it on our show because, at least in my experience being a woman, you usually have to do the most sexy, the most in love, the most romantic version. In our show, I'm in a place of power: it's to get information from that person or to make that person feel a certain way. And that can be empowering."
Is it any less comfortable because you two are a couple offscreen, or does that make having a crew and cameras there that much more awkward?
RHYS "There's that immediate thing where, like, physically you're comfortable together, and so that's fine, and you're not all …"
RUSSELL "'Can I touch your arm here?'"
RHYS "'I'm sorry if I do this. … Oh God … Oh, can someone get her a robe, please?'" (Laughter.)
You're not doing that with Keri?
RHYS "I am, actually. I get a little protective. I'm like, 'Can someone get her a f—in' robe, please?! She's standing there naked, we've cut for five seconds, Jesus Christ.' (Laughter.) And they're like, 'Dude, this is the fourth season.'"
RUSSELL "'We've seen it.'"
Read the full interview at The Hollywood Reporter.
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