Jonathan Rhys Meyers
Greenlandian, Bowls
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- Enjoyed the scratch-and-sniff after a night at the YMCA sponsored Greco-Roman hot tub wrestling festival) drugs are settling more on the men than the women. But you know me—and if you don’t you’re not reading this ’cause you got raptured—i won’t settle for that so i spent gobs of time and gobs of effort to pretty this post up a little. Still, the theme of this week is firmly Junk Male.
- Q: THIS ISN’T STANDARD WOODY ALLEN MATERIAL. YET IT’S SO SUBVERSIVE, FOR HIM, WAS IT A SHOCK WHEN YOU READ IT INITIALLY? JONATHAN: Yeah, because I didn’t expect it to be that type of movie... I knew it was not a comedy. That was the one thing that was established before I met him. This is a Woody Allen movie, not a comedy. I couldn’t find out anything else about it... I knew it wasn’t going to be a comedy. Because anybody who would cast me as a comedic actor has got to be f***in’ nuts. I am naturally not a comedian. On a film set recently, somebody asked me to do a funny scene. I told the director over a walkie-talkie, ‘You’ve got to be nuts. You got to be looking at a different actor. I am not a comedian.’ You’ll never see me doing a comedy, because it will never be released.
- On Brad Pitt: “Let’s not kid ourselves—this business is about being good-looking. Look, Brad Pitt is an incredible actor, but do you think he’d be a famous movie star if he didn’t look like that? Come on!” On Leonardo Dicaprio: “(Leonardo DiCaprio) was successful very young, was a party boy, took two years off, and then became this major Hollywood player. Right now I can get a $5 million film green-lit, not a $100 million film.” On being a narcissist: “Part of being a narcissist is being terribly insecure. If I wasn’t so insecure about myself, I wouldn’t work as hard as I do. I am constantly seeking approval.”
- Did Reena Hammer press charges on my physical abuse? Didn't think so.
- I Sang some of the songs that appear in Velvet Goldmine (1998).
- When I heard Reena say her dirty secret that she liked to see me get drunk and make a fool of myself so she could feel better about herself, I did not believe it. After someone has told you lies over the past six years, you trust them. She pulled the wool over my eyes, and I felt the atercations at airports were due to the resentment I was hiding!
- What do I get out of it at the end of the day? Money. I get to travel around to different places. Reena was nice for the time. She's very smart and very responsible. I am different. I was upfront and told her that I Would not Marry her or be a Father, and I don't think she liked that!"
- (Elvis Presley) was not a great businessman but he was a great artist and he needed somebody like Colonel Tom Parker to get him there. I don't think Elvis would have existed without Colonel Parker, he wouldn't have been anywhere near as famous. So you take the good with the bad.
- "I felt lower then than I did when I was 13 years old, I remember getting out of the limo with Toni and Christian Bale and walking towards all these photographers, and they were going, 'Hey! Toni! Look over here! Hey, Christian, here!' And I just walked on because nobody had an idea who I was. It was a horrible experience." - Cannes Film Festival 1998
- "You get on a set and immediately people are wiping your ass for you, and nobody tells you when you're being an asshole. I'm sure nobody working for Tom Cruise would turn around and say, 'Tom, don't do that anymore because you're a dickhead to do that'. Actually, he might quite like it".
- Tom runs a very tight ship. You do not turn up late and you don't muck around - he's strict with himself and everyone he works with.
- They were, like, so excited on the set. We were there, and we all knew that Tom was going to have a kid before anybody else and we were very excited about the fact.
- When you work with Tom certain things have to be secretive and you accept that.
- There will be ups and downs, but it is important to remember you're on your own beautiful journey, and once you're on it you have to see it through to it's own conclusion. And try to never be afraid to do anything because what's the worse that can happen?
- Who wouldn't want the chance of being the world's greatest super-spy agent? ... It's not reality for me at the moment.
- It's not reality for me at the moment .
- Match Point did get a lot of attention but it (Best Actor) was a very tough category.
- (On being a professional actor) I started acting at 18 years old because I got a lead role in a movie. It wasn't like I was a kid going, "When I grow up, I want to be an actor." So I think what drives me is I found something very young by mistake that I could do. But that doesn't necessarily mean I love it all the time. Because it's not lovable. The process of acting itself for me is really simple. It's not brain surgery. You take the character, and you play it as naturally as you possibly can. That's it. There's no greater or higher purpose. What makes acting difficult is the business end of it. Because no matter how genius an actor is or how many millions of dollars he makes, he can look back in his past and see a sea of rejection--even the people who are at the top of their game. Just because someone is like Leonardo DiCaprio doesn't mean he gets to do anything he wants. He has to fight for those roles the same as anybody else. Now, he is fighting on a different level, but it's still a fight. What's difficult about the prospect is trying to reinvent your self-confidence, even though it's constantly being torn down. And, of course, for every 10 people who like you in a film, there's 10 people who won't. I read one critique of me in Velvet Goldmine that said I had all the charisma of chewed bubblegum. I think I kept that one in my scrapbook.
- (On what satisfaction he gets as an actor) What do I get out of it at the end of the day? Money. I get to travel around to different places. I get--for 10 to 12 hours a day--to not really be me. It's great escapism. It can be very fucking therapeutic. But it's not something that's immediately satisfying. Sure, it's satisfying when a film you're in breaks $300 million at the box office, and the next thing is you get a $5 million offer, and there are awards flying about the place. But more often it's not. Every so often someone comes up and says, "Hey, I saw you in that movie. It was great!" And I'm like, "Yeah, thanks very much." And that's where the satisfaction comes in.
- (On Alexander) I did it just basically to work with Oliver Stone, but there wasn't enough work in it for me. I shouldn't have done it. I actually made a point of cutting myself out of two major scenes because I didn't want to be backroom dressing. I don't think Oliver really knew what he was taking on.
- I auditioned for Tigerland and I was furious when I found out that Colin (Farrell) was doing it. But then when I saw the movie, there was nobody else that could make it like Colin made it. He was like this beautiful, beautiful cocktail of Marlon Brando in The Men and Montgomery Clift in Red River. He was sensitive and attitudeish - lawyerish - but at the same time so boyish, so sexual, so misled. He played it beautifully. I could never have done that. After I saw the movie I said, 'Okay, I see what I need to learn'."
- (On becoming a successful actor) If you want to work, if you want to be successful, you have to struggle, you have to travel. You have to forgo relationships because they don't work, which I've learnt to my detriment. You have to forgo friends.
- (On his role in The Tudors) I based him on what I would do myself if I had absolute power at 28, 29 years old. I didn't have the physicality of Henry, you know? And so I had to do it all internally. I had to create this incredibly strong, powerful man without being sort of like 6' 4" and 300 pounds. I had to make his intellect bigger than anybody else's. I had to make his ambition bigger than anybody else's. I had to make his energy bigger than anybody else's. And I had to make him the most dangerous man in court.
- It's not about money, fame, people knowing you. It's not even about enjoying yourself and being happy. It's about achieving something that's brilliant, creating something that's brilliant, for other people. For yourself, you're always going to be unsatisfied, but if somebody comes up to me and says, 'That was a brilliant part, and I really, really got it'. That's essentially it.