Photographs by:  Matt Doyle,   Styling by:  Kelly McCabe

REIGN MAN

Years removed from his pretty-boy days, Jonathan Rhys Meyers is ready to assume the throne.
By Justin Monroe  

Contrary to what Medieval Times employees might tell you (before the jousting, and after the appetizers), kings aren’t born, they’re made—and Jonathan Rhys Meyers is no stranger to the coronation, having already been anointed twice. As the King of (Stolen) Rock ’n’ Roll in 2005’s TV movie Elvis and as England’s Henry VIII on Showtime’s hit The Tudors, Meyers learned that rulers grow into power, expectations, and even their own skin. In fact, the 30-year-old Ireland native has done all three since splashing off in the 1996 biopic Michael Collins. 
Labeled “pretty” as a youth, Meyers spent his teens and much of his twenties portraying weak, physically androgynous, and sexually ambiguous characters that ranged from bisexual rocker to tortured male rape victim to Alexander the Great’s bitchy lover. In 2004, Meyers began bulking up to nab more commanding roles. After stepping into Elvis’s blue suede shoes—and winning a 2006 Golden Globe for it—he lived out your fantasies by catching Scarlett (Johansson) fever in Woody Allen’s Match Point. Then this past January, he manned up his damn self by going into rehab for alcoholism…and then doing it again in April. (Um, isn’t that called being Irish? We kid, we kid. Cheers!) Clear-headed, Meyers is now preparing for the November premieres of The Tudors’ second season and the romantic drama August Rush. Complex got down with the king to talk about sobriety, the difference between celebrity and real royalty, and keeping it in your pants…at least on-set.

Complex: August Rush isn’t the first film you’ve sung in. What do you think when you hear yourself sing?
Jonathan Rhys Meyers: Oh, it’s dreadful. We don’t even have to continue with the question. I’m absolutely horrified and stunned that I could shame myself so much. I don’t like listening to myself speak.

C: Really?
Jonathan Rhys Meyers: At this point in my career I don’t mind watching myself on camera; I’ve come to terms with my flaws. When I first started watching myself on camera I wasn’t happy, and yes, I’m still not happy, but it’s not with how I am physically but more with performance things. But I still don’t like listening to my own voice—it’s never quite convincing.

C: How did having an absent musician father inform your August Rush role—a musician separated from his son at infancy?
Jonathan Rhys Meyers: I’m sure, in retrospect, it had some effect
because my father wasn’t there, but I don’t think I searched into that to play the character.

C: Did the parallels make it an emotionally taxing role?
Jonathan Rhys Meyers: Oh, no, no. It was emotionally taxing because films are.

C: The Tudors got an Emmy nomination for outstanding casting, but none of the cast was recognized. Do you wish you could have the nominations committee beheaded?
Jonathan Rhys Meyers: You’ve got to be realistic about awards because if you think you’re so deserving of them, then you’re probably not. Maybe it wasn’t my turn. I haven’t done enough yet; James Gandolfini, Kiefer Sutherland, Denis Leary, and James Spader, these are guys who have put in big time.

C: Is it true Snoop Dogg is a fan of The Tudors?
Jonathan Rhys Meyers: I was told that. I’m a fan of his, so that’s really cool. I can just imagine Snoop being into this because it’s about the rise to power, about being a king. Paying the cost to be the boss.

C: [Laughs.] Sharp reference. Do you feel a kinship with Henry VIII?
Jonathan Rhys Meyers: Well, we don’t really have much in common. That’s one of the hardest parts of playing Henry VIII. Being born into royalty, you have an energy. You didn’t have to achieve power, it was given by birth. That’s something extraordinary. Unless you know what that’s like, you don’t know what that’s like. Everything that I’ve earned in my life I’ve had to earn because I wasn’t born a king. So to get into the mentality that every good thing that happens to you, every bit of wealth, every palace, every horse that you own, every woman you bed, you deserve, just by your birth, that’s quite an extraordinary thing.






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