Rhys Meyers plays Chris Wilton, a guy who wants more out of life than simply teaching rich people how to hit a tennis ball over a net. His life changes in ways he never could have anticipated when he makes friends with Tom Hewett (Matthew Goode), falls for Tom's sister Chloe (Emily Mortimer), and then winds up in an affair with Tom's sexy girlfriend, Nola (Scarlett Johansson).
Jonathan Rhys Meyers Explains Woody Allen’s Take on London: “I think Woody has a certain view of London that’s viewed from a man of means. It’s a very comparable city to New York, so he spent quite a bit of time there playing music. And he wrote ‘What’s New, Pussycat?’ while living in London. And he actually wrote most of it while being in the [place] where we shot the scene where myself and Scarlett go after her failed audition.
He has quite a view on London, and I think he did a very similar thing to the way he did Manhattan. He used the city as a character itself. You felt influenced by the situations that go on in the city, and the social class system in New York and London is very similar. ‘Match Point’ was written for New York. It could have been a tennis coach in the Hamptons but he got the money in London, which is the way he liked to work.”
Jonathan Rhys Meyers Shares His Opinion of Why Woody Allen Made “Match Point” in England: “I always think it’s a very difficult thing getting an amount of money out of people to make a film. It is a risk. There’s no guarantee. Woody mentioned this last night that he moved to London because they let him work the way he wants to work. He doesn’t allow people to see his script. Producers are not allowed to see dailies. You give him a bag of money, he gives you a film. They allowed him to work this way in London. He can’t work this way in America anymore. Producers want too much influence. They want influence in the cutting. They want to see the dailies, they want to kind of mold it and try to guarantee its success. And Woody recently has trouble breaking even sometimes, and that’s very risky.
We have to ask ourselves, ‘Would you give two million of your hard earned dollars to make a film that you have no guarantee of getting your money back?’ I think it’s a very, very risky thing. I think producers have a very, very hard time because they hold the financial burden that I couldn’t understand as an actor. I get paid my salary, I make the movie and I go onto my next job. But they have to see it all the way through and they have their own families and their own lives so I think it’s a bit of a risk. So I appreciate them when they do, but sometimes it’s frustrating if they don’t.”
Jonathan Rhys Meyers Admires Allen’s Style of Directing: “He’s very comfortable in his own skin to the point where if we’re lighting a shot, Woody would think nothing of having a nap. Just sits onto the sofa [while] everybody’s doing their thing.
I remember one day Scarlett decided to put a sticker on Woody’s lapel saying ‘Hello, My name is Dennis.’ Woody didn’t realize this for many, many hours. But when he found out it was indeed Scarlett… Because who else would have the gumption to go up and stick ‘Hello, My Name is Dennis on his lapel? It’s strange. His relationship with Scarlett was very funny because he’s so amused by her. I think if Woody could be a 21-year-old girl, he’d be Scarlett Johansson.”
Jonathan Rhys Meyers on Kissing in the Rain: “We could’ve done it in dry circumstances but… I’m not sure how it was written. I don’t remember, but it’s so sexy in the rain. It had to be used, even though it was very uncomfortable. I felt for Scarlett because…I bit her lip. It was very passionate because it was my opportunity to gorge myself.”
Rhys Meyers’ co-star Scarlett Johansson said that he ate her face during the film’s passionate kissing scene outside in the rain. “When people ask me what is it like to get to kiss other people, [I say] it’s a great pleasure. It is a great pleasure because you get to indulge in something that you wouldn’t normally indulge in life and you’re not judged for it, really. In the scene, even though the scene is sexy in the film, they’re never particularly sexy to film. They are incredibly sexy to watch. The way Woody shot it and the way Scarlett performed it and the energy that we had with each other, it was really hot. Hotter than I thought it would be. You find a 69 year old man trying to direct a sex scene, you’re wondering where he’s going with it but he managed it beautifully.”
Page 2: Rhys Meyers on His Character, Working Out, and "Mission Impossible 3"
