Matthew Rhys Movies
Swarthy, striking, and Welsh, actor Matthew Rhys is earning a reputation as one of his country's hottest exports. A graduate of London's prestigious Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, where he enrolled in 1993, Rhys got his first professional role in 1997's House of America, a psychological drama that cast him as one of three siblings in a ragingly dysfunctional family. The first years of his career were spent largely in the theatre and on television; while still an RADA student, Rhys won a place in the cast of the BBC TV series Back Up and then spent a year doing theatre in London's West End.The actor gained familiarity with an international audience when he was cast in the role of Demetrius, one of Tamora's loathsome offspring, in Titus, Julie Taymor's 1999 screen adaptation of Shakespeare's Titus Andronicus. Although the film was eviscerated by critics and careened into box office oblivion, Rhys, with his peroxided hair and enthusiastically vile behavior, made a distinct impression on viewers. That same year, audiences were treated to two more helpings of the actor, when he starred as Tom Courtenay's son in Peter Hewitt's Whatever Happened to Harold Smith? (interestingly, the film also starred Laura Fraser as Rhys' love interest; Fraser also starred in Titus as Lavinia, the object of Demetrius' abuse), and as an aspiring teenage boxer in the black comedy Heart.
2000 brought with it a host of projects for Rhys, the most notable of which was the London West End production of The Graduate, in which Rhys starred as Benjamin Braddock opposite Kathleen Turner as Mrs. Robinson. The production, which earned a huge amount of publicity thanks to Turner's decision to disrobe entirely for the crucial seduction scene, proved to be extremely popular, and Rhys garnered wide praise for his portrayal of Braddock. Thanks to this, and to his friendship with two other rising Welsh actors, Ioan Gruffudd and Rhys Ifans, Rhys was soon being hailed in the British press as one of the key players in a new generation of Welsh talent. ~ Rebecca Flint Marx, All Movie Guide
- 1997
This downbeat Welsh drama is set in a mining town that's been crushed by an economic collapse. Sid (Steven MacKintosh), Gwenny (Lisa Palfrey), and Boyo (Matthew Rhys) are three grown siblings who must care for their emotionally unstable mother (Sian Phillips) as they try to scrape together a living. Fascinated with American culture, the siblings emulate the hard-living lifestyle of the Beat Generation authors of the 1950s; their mother has told them that their father moved to the United States 15 years ago, and they often write him, hoping to someday join him there. However, he never returns their messages, and no one can explain why. Desperate for money, Sid and Boyo learn that a coal mine in a nearby town is looking for workers, but their mother is terrified that her children will abandon her and begs them not to go. Eventually, Gwenny and Sid, both desperate for comfort, fall into an incestuous relationship. House of America was the first theatrical feature for director Marc Evans after a number of television films; he was the recipient of the "Best Directorial Debut" award at the 1997 Stockholm Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
One of William Shakespeare's lesser-known plays, Titus Andronicus was staged in New York by award-winning theatrical director Julie Taymor in an acclaimed 1995 production, before her widely praised Broadway version of The Lion King. Taymor revisits that production for her first motion picture, with the addition of a star-studded cast. Roman General Titus Andronicus (Anthony Hopkins) has returned from defeating the Goths in a bloody battle, but the victory has left him with mixed feelings, as the war took the lives of several of his sons. Titus is reminded by his first-born son Lucius (Angus Macfadyen) that their faith demands the sacrifice of an enemy prisoner as a gift to the gods for their victory. Titus chooses the eldest son of Tamora (Jessica Lange), the Queen of the Goths, who has since been taken hostage by Titus's troops. Tamora pleads for her son's life, but Titus goes ahead with the sacrifice. She then becomes the lover of the new emperor of Rome, Saturninus (Alan Cumming), a weak-willed and corrupt man. Tamora uses her connection to the throne for her own ends: in retaliation for the death of her son, Tamora and her surviving sons, Chiron (Jonathan Rhys Myers) and Demetrius (Matthew Rhys), brutally rape Titus's beloved daughter, Lavinia (Laura Fraser). This act sets in motion an ever-tightening spiral of revenge and retaliation that leaves few of the participants unscathed. The supporting cast includes Colm Feore as Marcus, Harry Lennix as Aaron, and James Frain as Bassianus. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Anthony Hopkins, Jessica Lange, (more)
- 1999
A mother's love turns deadly in the wake of an organ transplant in the thriller Heart. Gary Ellis (Christopher Eccleston) is a businessman, while his wife Tess (Kate Hardie) works in television. Gary and Tess don't get along very well, largely because he's convinced she's having an affair. One day, Gary has a major heart attack, and is soon confined to a wheelchair while doctors wait for a suitable donor for a heart transplant. Tess takes this opportunity to finally start having that affair Gary's been talking about, with a writer named Alex (Rhys Ifans). One day, Gary is rushed to the hospital after Sean (Matthew Rhys), a teenage aspiring boxer, is brought to the emergency room near death. Sean dies, and his heart is transplanted to Gary. After recovery, Gary is a new man, and Tess is so delighted she gives Alex his walking papers. But then Sean's mother Maria (Saskia Reeves) enters the picture; while at first Gary wanted to know what sort of person's heart was beating in his chest, now Maria is trying to work her way into the Ellis's lives, certain her son's hopes and dreams now live on in Gary's chest. Shot in 1997, Heart didn't receive a release in Europe until 1999, though it did play several film festivals the previous year. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Christopher Eccleston, Saskia Reeves, (more)
- 1999
- R
Set during the swinging disco era in decidedly unswinging Sheffield, England, this oddball comedy is both a coming-of-age story about getting funky and a supernatural mystery. Vince (Michael Legge) is a Travolta-obsessed teenager who lives with his aspiring magician brother; his randy mom, who has a taste for young men; and his laid-back father Harold (Tom Courtenay). Vince longs for the young, vivacious Joanna Robinson (Laura Fraser), as Harold wows his family with his unnervingly accurate mind reading tricks. Later, when he makes headlines for inadvertently stopping the pacemakers of a couple of oldsters, Harold learns that he actually does have a telekinetic brain. That doesn't stop him from getting arrested, however, and soon Vince and Joanna's snotty boss (David Thewlis) is representing him in court. Meanwhile, Vince has been unable to summon the courage to ask out Joanna. While walking home one day, he is taken by a sexy young punkette who turns out to be none other than Joanna. Vince promptly dumps his disco stuff and buys a Sex Pistols album. Pete Hewitt, whose previous efforts include Bill and Ted's Bogus Journey, directed this film. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tom Courtenay, Stephen Fry, (more)
- 2000
In this comedy, Frankie (Matthew Rhys) is a luckless loser who can't hold on to a job and isn't sure what to do around Cherry (Kelly Reilly), the woman he loves, even though she's more than interested in him (and makes no secret of it). Cherry decides to take matters into her own hands and invites Frankie along for a weekend getaway in the country, but Frankie isn't sure how to handle this sudden burst of good fortune. Two of his buddies, Pete (Matthew Dunster) and Johnny (Justin Salinger), insist on loading him down with "helpful" advice, while Pippa (Sophie Okonedo), one of Frankie's former significant others, turns up just in time to make things difficult for the already befuddled Frankie. Though set in London, Peaches was produced by Irish talent and had its world premiere in Ireland; in 2000, it played at both the London and Cork Film Festivals. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Matthew Rhys
After his attention-getting turn in the London stage production of The Graduate, actor Matthew Rhys took the lead in Sorted, a British clubland thriller directed by Alex Jovy. Rhys plays Carl, an attorney who travels to London upon hearing of his brother Justin's sketchy drowning death in the Thames River. Upon investigation, Carl tracks down Justin's circle of raver friends and club-owning acquaintances, including his girlfriend Sunny (Sienna Guillory), the megalomaniacal promoter Damian (Tim Curry), and his sex-for-hire friend Tiffany (Fay Masterson). As he becomes ensconced in the city's rave culture, the usually reserved Carl eventually submits to it and finds himself at the center of a dangerous drug operation. An Academy award nominee for his 1998 short Holiday Romance, Jovy is no stranger to London's club scene; he was once a promoter himself. ~ Michael Hastings, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Matthew Rhys, Tim Curry, (more)
A Welsh woman is belatedly forced to come out of her shell when poor fortune befalls her family and friends in this kitchen-sink comedy. Annie Mary (Rachel Griffiths) is a woman in her early thirties who seems never to have finished growing up; she still lives at home with her widowed father Jack (Jonathan Pryce), hasn't established much of a life of her own, and can't get her relationship with her boyfriend Colin (Rhys Miles Thomas) to go anywhere. Jack, an enthusiastic ladies' man with a passion for opera and no modesty about sharing his vocal talents with those around him, runs a bakery, and is known to sing the occasional aria for the edification of fellow motorists as he delivers bread. Annie-Mary has been slowly saving up money for a down payment on a flat of her own until disaster strikes and Jack suffers a stroke. Confined to a wheelchair and unable to speak, Jack is incapable of running the bakery, and it falls to Annie-Mary to keep the business afloat. Attempting to rise to the occasion, Annie-Mary decides to give the bakery a make-over, with limited success, but as she tries to keep the business going and care for her father, Annie-Mary discovers that one of her closest friends, Bethan (Joanna Page), is suffering from a serious illness and hasn't long to live. Bethan has always wanted to visit America and see Disneyland, so Annie-Mary hatches a plan to raise the money by winning a local talent show; despite her feeble dancing ability, Annie-Mary decides to form a pop group with her friends, in hopes of fulfilling one of her foiled ambitions from her teenage years. Though shot in 1999, Very Annie-Mary didn't find its way to theaters until 2001. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Rachel Griffiths, Jonathan Pryce, (more)
Made for British television, this two-part adaptation of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's adventure-fantasy novel The Lost World adroitly combines a straightforward retelling with an abundance of slyly satirical grace notes--not to mention deliberate echoes of such earlier films as Jurassic Park, Planet of the Apes and even Apocalypse Now. The basic plotline details the efforts of feuding scientists George Challenger (Bob Hoskins) and Summerlee (James Fox) to prove that dinosaurs still exist on a remote plateau somewhere in the Amazon jungles. They succeed in this endeavor, and also stumble upon a lost tribe of primitive humans, whose hearts and minds are captured by a mad missionary (Peter Falk). Though the film does not flinch in the special-effects department, there is still plenty of time left over for a quaintly old-fashioned romantic triangle involving sportsman Lord Roxton (Tom Ward), the lovely Agnes Mooney (Elaine Cassidy) and dashing Edward Malone (Matthew Rhys). And while there is action aplenty, the film remains scrupulously within the "suitable for children" category. Originally broadcast as the 2001 Christmas offering by BBC1, The Lost World premiered in the US over the A&E cable network on October 6 and 7, 2002. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 2002
Based on actual events that took place in Waterford, Ireland, in the late 1700s, director Stefan Schwartz's romantic comedy-drama concerns itself with a group of abductors who kidnap usually willing young women in order to persuade them to wed. Set during an era where law dictates that the eldest sons inherit family estates and younger siblings are left to either enter the priesthood or the military, young noblemen decide to take matters into their own hands by abducting the young heiresses and charming them for a night before releasing them to make their ultimate decision. As Anne (Sophia Myles) is subjected to the uninvited advances of Power (Liam Cunningham), Abduction Club member Byrne (Daniel Lapaine) schemes to kidnap Anne's older sister Catherine (Alice Evans). Though the kidnapping plan is foiled when Anne decides to tag along, Byrne's friend Strang (Matthew Rhys) finds himself attracted to the younger sister despite Abduction Club rules stating that abductees must be at least 18 (Anne is 17) and that no more than one member of the same family is to be abducted at any given time. Strang is subsequently expelled by Abduction Club leader Sir Myles (Patrick Malahide), and the fledgling affections of the mismatched couple face a formidable challenge as the local militia is tipped off to their scheme. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Alice Evans, Daniel Lapaine, (more)
Lost deep in the enemy territory of the western front during World War I, allied soldier Private Charles Shakespeare (Jamie Bell) and eight other British soldiers from the Y Company seek refuge in maze of an abadoned German trench. Winding through the twisting tunnels through piles of corpses and hungry rats, the exhausted soldiers decide to hold thier position and await a rescue team. As the soldiers begin to fall prey to an unseen force, one by one thier numbers dwindle and thier suspicions of one another grow. A young soldier who illegally entered the armed forces at the tender age of sixteen, Private Shakespeare must now summon the courage to face an evil greater than he could ever imagine. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jamie Bell, Ruaidhri Conroy, (more)
Saddled with a £50,000 which he has only four days to pay off before suffering grievous bodily harm, a petty London criminal attempts to carry out an ingenious art scam in director Richard Janes' spirited caper comedy. Nick Blake (Matthew Rhys) owes smooth-operating crime lord Foster Wright (Art Malik) a sizable dept, and if he doesn't cough up the cash in four days the situation promises to turn nasty. Desperate to find a means of raising the cash but unable to carry out the kind of heist that could get him out of his peculiar jam, Nick believes that he has found a solution to his problem when he discovers a lost sketch by revered Italian artist Antonio Fraccini. Nick's plan hits a hitch, however, when he discovers that the sketch is only worth £15,000. Now, with the clock ticking down and mere hours to go before Art sends his thugs out to collect, desperate Nick will enlist the aid of his cynical friend Eve and her talented artist brother Tony in forging the sketch and selling copies to five different Mayfair galleries in the short span of one hour. Should Tony and his partners in crime successfully execute their carefully planned ruse, the galleries won't even realize they've been swindled until it's too late. If the plan goes awry, on the other hand, Tony will be a wanted man on both sides of the law. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Matthew Rhys, Kate Ashfield, (more)
- 2003
Thirty-five years after his first television appearance in the feature-length Prescription: Murder, rumpled, raincoat-clad Lt. Columbo (who else but Peter Falk?) is still on the job in this made-for-TV movie. This time, Columbo moves about uncertainly in the Los Angeles rave scene, investigating the highly suspicious suicide of a tabloid reporter. The principal suspect is promoter Justin Price (Matthew Rhys), who had been confronted with incriminating photographs by the dead journalist. Additional intrigue is heaped upon the narrative when a mobster's son, who happens to be the ex-husband of Price's girlfriend Vanessa (Jennifer Sky), mysteriously vanishes. While the story is both entertaining and intriguing, the viewers could confidently depend upon two things: That Price is guilty as hell and that the disheveled Columbo will, at one point or other, pause before leaving the room with a "Just one more question...." Columbo Likes the Nightlife premiered January 30, 2003, on ABC. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Peter Falk, Matthew Rhys, (more)
A hyperactive and high-fashion American transplant living in London and working for Vogue magazine does her best to enhance the lives of those around her while remaining blissfully unaware of the man who longs to profess his true love to her in an ultra-modern romantic comedy produced by Luc Besson and David Fincher and directed by Alek Keshishian. Emily Jackson (Brittany Murphy) lives a charmed life. Always on the go in her Mini Cooper and able to talk until the sun comes up and then some, her fast-paced lifestyle belies a sensitive soul who takes great joy in playing matchmaker for her many friends. It's Emily's gay roommate and constant companion, Peter (Matthew Rhys), who usually becomes the subject of the quirky Cupid's frequent pairings, and when handsome new photographer's assistant Paolo (Santiago Cabrera) arrives at the Vogue offices, Emily makes it her mission to bring the two men together. Unfortunately for the contemporary Holly Golightly, Emily is so busy arranging a love connection between Peter and Paolo that she remains completely blind to the obvious torch carried for her by the one suitor who longs to provide her the with the loving companionship that she so cheerfully arranges for others. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Brittany Murphy, Santiago Cabrera, (more)
A lovely maiden with three potential suitors finds the competition to take her hand in marriage heating up to a fever pitch in an adventuresome comedy romance starring Hayden Christenson, Mischa Barton, Tim Roth, and Christopher Egan. Based on the novel by author Giovanni Boccaccio, writer/director David Leland's rousing period film offers a unique mix of old world aesthetics and contemporary sensibilities. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Hayden Christensen, Mischa Barton, (more)
- 2007
- Add Beau Brummell: This Charming Man to QueueAdd Beau Brummell: This Charming Man to top of Queue
Rome star James Purefoy steps into the impeccably tailored suit of the Regency England dandy who forever changed male fashion in director Philippa Lowthrope's adaptation of author Ian Kelly's acclaimed biography. In an era when men relied on powders and perfumes in order to appear well groomed and attractive, Beau Brummell's comparatively simplistic regiment of common-sense elegance and frequent washing was downright revolutionary. Matthew Rhys co-stars as Lord Byron. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
The Jacket director John Maybury adapts playwright Sharman MacDonald's account of the true-life relationships shared between Welsh poet Dylan Thomas; his wife, Caitlin; his lifelong friend Vera Phillips; and her husband, William Killick, in this biographical drama centering on the curious incident in which Thomas found his home turned into a war zone when Phillips and Killick attacked the abode with a machine gun and a grenade. Sienna Miller assumes the role of Dylan's wife, Caitlin, and Keira Knightley joins the cast as the trigger-happy Phillips in a film that not only reunites Knightley with Jacket director Maybury, but takes its cue from the play penned the Pirates of the Caribbean star's mother as well. Lindsay Lohan was originally tapped to play Caitlin, but dropped out due to contractual disagreements. The film also stars Matthew Rhys (Brothers & Sisters) as Thomas and Cillian Murphy as Killick. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Keira Knightley, Sienna Miller, (more)
