Interview : Jonathan Rhys Meyers & Keri Russell

Actors Jonathan Rhys Meyers and Keri Russell recently talked about their involvement in the latest installment of the popular spy thriller franchise, "Mission Impossible 3." The film, co-written and directed by J.J. Abrams, features the latest adventures of super-spy Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) and his Impossible Mission Force team.

Jonathan Rhys Meyers joins the IMF team as Declan, the team’s transportation expert. If you need it flown, driven, sailed, glided, helicoptered, or motored, he’s the man you want – despite his personality quirks. "Declan’s a fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants, mad Irishman," says Rhys Meyers, who was most recently seen in the lead role of Woody Allen’s "Match Point," a performance for which he received rave reviews. "He’s part of the next generation of the IMF – Ethan’s grooming him. He’s got that risk element that Ethan likes in his team members."

Declan is also a chameleon, able to blend into any situation unnoticed. "One minute, he’s an Italian deliveryman; the next, he’s a geeky American tourist; and the next, a Vatican guard," notes Rhys Meyers. "It’s very easy for him to slip into another character." Keri Russell, who previously starred for Abrams on his first television series, "Felicity," takes on the role of Lindsey Ferris, the only trainee that displays the high skill level and abilities to be confirmed by Ethan to become a member of IMF.

"Keri’s the absolute greatest," says MI3 director J.J. Abrams. "I haven’t worked with her since ‘Felicity,’ so having this opportunity is an absolute joy. It’s inspiring. She’s never done anything like this before, so watching her pick up the gun work and the stunts really showed me that she’s capable of anything. Tom was really helpful in showing her the ropes of action and stuntwork: the timing of it, the rhythm of it, and getting the confidence to do it." In the movie, Russell’s character, Lindsey, spars with Ethan using stick-fighting techniques. "The training was really fun," says Russell. "I spent about four and a half months training with the stunt guys – they’re incredible athletes. We boxed and I learned to stick-fight. It was pretty cool."

Here’s what Rhys Meyers and Russell had to say about their roles in "MI 3":

Q. We’ll start with ladies first. Keri, could you tell me a little about Lindsey, your character? Set her up for us and tell us why she’s the catalyst behind this whole mission that eventually Declan becomes part of.

KR. I play Agent Lindsey Ferris, who is a young agent in training, part of the training that… Ethan Hunt’s character trains all the young… And I go out on my first mission and get myself into a situation, and the story comes into play where Tom’s character has to decide whether to come help me in my situation or not. On this situation, I receive some information about IMF that is very important.

Q. Indeed. And likewise, Jonathan, if you can please set up Declan. Who he is, what kind of guy he is, and sort of multi-talented, I believe.

JRM. Really, they cast the wrong guy, didn’t they? (laughs) Declan is actually Declan Gormley and the reason he’s called Gormley is because first we was Tommy Gormley whom I will always remember as being able to speak Italian with a bass Scot’s accent. ‘Bene. Bene.’ It was really funny. He’s a great guy. Top class first AD. Top class in every way, as a human being and as a worker. So Declan Gormley is sort of like a young, impetuous, cocky IMF guy who gets recruited into Tom’s team for this mission to get Lindsey Ferris out of Germany.

 

And he’s good at anything you can drive. He’s good at speaking other languages. Good at basically being a cocky guy who thinks he can get away with anything which is just the type of guy you need really in that situation. But if I had a back story for Declan, he’s probably spent most of his years as a teenager stealing cars and was probably given the choice – prison or – ‘We have a better idea. Why don’t we send you to IMF where you might be of some use?’ So I think he’s one of these troubled kids who has everything it takes to be a good agent. But there’s also… Everything it takes to be a good agent and everything it takes to screw it up really, really badly.

 

It has to have that element of ‘is it really going to happen’ which J.J. brought to this "Mission Impossible." There’s no guarantees in this "Mission Impossible" which is really nice. At any point it’s touch and go. So you can imagine from the start of it, ‘Oh yeah, Tom Cruise goes to save the world.’ But that’s not necessary what this is about. JJ wanted to make not Ethan Hunt’s character goes to save the world, but Ethan Hunt’s team goes to save another human being.

Q. Essentially that’s my next question. There seems to be much more of a team effort in this particular installment in the franchise. Was that quite welcome for you? As much as all you characters are individuals, you work extremely well as a team, and it’s not as if you are just there to support Tom on his mission. It’s very much a team effort. How welcoming was that for you, and equally how welcoming was both Tom and J.J. stressing that to you both?

KR. I think Tom was incredibly generous. He had a way… I was definitely the novice in the action territory, and he had a way of making me feel absolutely capable and necessary to that moment, and I think that was incredibly generous of someone at his level. I just think it comes from him having so much fun doing what he does, and he wants you to have fun. He really genuinely wants you to be having a good time. He’s like, ‘Isn’t this great?’ And you’re like, ‘It is!’

Q. And likewise, I guess if you pick on J.J., he seems an equally enthusiastic character to work alongside Tom. How giving was he in terms of allowing you to do, you know, enhance on your character? I’m sure it was molded for you, but how much could you bring to it and how enthusiastic was he to change things around, add things to it that perhaps you may suggest?

JRM. I could have done anything I liked. Really. And if J.J. liked it as well, it would be in the film. And if J.J. didn’t, then it wouldn’t be in the film. He’s really open like that. Because J.J. is a deeply, deeply intelligent guy, and a deeply intelligent guy knows that he doesn’t know everything and that when he casts an actor in a film, the actor will have their own particular ideas of how best to instinctually play this part. And Tom and J.J. are so similar people, both in their humor and their enthusiasm and their ability to take a situation and create an imaginative scenario for these characters to exist in. Yet, at the same time, getting moments of who they really are.

 

This is the first time you ever see Ethan in this Mission Impossible series be a vulnerable person asking for help. People are always asking him for help in the other two Mission Impossibles. And this time he needs his friends, and his friends arrive there for him. And I think Ving Rhames was so good at playing Luther. There was an emotionality to him, a caring about the character of Ethan Hunt, and that was so beautiful to watch in the film. Because this is what J.J. did. He took a franchise that’s already established, a serious action movie, and then threw world class actors into it to give real performances. I mean Philip Seymour Hoffman, Tom Cruise, Billy Crudup, Laurence Fishburne, all in an action movie?

Q. And yourselves included.

JRM. Sounds like I want to see it.

Q. Indeed. Tell us a little bit if you will individually. Obviously you’ve got different roles within the team. But did you go through different individual training for the skill sets that you had to have? How vigorous was it? How long did it take? Equally, how much fun was it?

KR. I definitely did a lot of training for this. I mean months. We did months on the actual stick fight. The Philipino stick fight that Tom and I had to do which was really cool. It was a lot like dance, which I have a background in, because you’re basically learning choreography and learning to not hit the bamboo stick into Tom’s face and then get fired. (laughs) So that was interesting.

 

That took a long time which was very fun. And training with world class fighters which is also very cool. It’s so rare. When did you get to meet these people? So there was that. I also had a lot of weapons training. I had to learn to assemble a machine gun blindfolded within 30 seconds which was very fun.

Q. Your best time?

KR. My best time was 13 seconds. Thanks very much.

Q. 13 seconds?

KR. Harry was very proud of me. My gun trainer. Weapons trainer. Yeah, I had a ton of training. But that’s why you want to do an action movie. Because you do, even though you can’t really do that stuff. When you’re doing it, you feel like such a bad ass.

Q. And likewise, Jonathan, from speed boats, helicopters… Is it a tough life?

JRM. Yes, it was. All in a day’s work for a lad from Cork. But no, I didn’t have as much training as other people. Like there was physical training. I went to the gym every day, but that was because if you’re in a big action movie you want to look right. And I had a little training in the helicopter. But it’s very limited what you can do.

 

From an insurance point of view, they were never going to let me really fly the helicopter through those windmills. So that’s kind of difficult. I did feel a little bit like the pacifist agent because I never pull my gun nor hit anybody during the film. At one point, I almost suggested to J.J. that once I walked past the Vatican guard, I’d punch him just so I could hit someone in the movie. I wanted to just hit something. I wanted to be that tough action guy. But when I saw the film, then I realized that there was something else that he required from Declan that wasn’t…. Because he had Maggie Q who is all of that. She’s like Tom, female version of him. Maggie was throwing herself out of buildings, kicking people, punching people, shooting machine guns.

KR. That was so cool.

JRM. She actually did the out of the helicopter when she’s hanging off. That was more dangerous than you’d see. Even though it’s a helicopter within a studio, it’s under very extreme circumstances. She’s was actually thrown out of the helicopter, and she’s hanging on.

 

She’s been doing this for year. She told me that she did a film where they hung her out of a building 12 stories up by her ankles, and then someone passes her a machine gun, and she has to do a hit. But it’s in Hong Kong, and they do it for real there. So she was very well versed. So I felt kind of like the wimp agent. But it turns out that I didn’t seem like the wimp agent in the film. So long may it last. Thank you, J.J.

Thanks very much for your time this afternoon. Mission Impossible 3 is now playing in theatres so be sure to check it out. Also do not miss my earlier Tom Cruise Interview