AppleTV
AppleTV has another hit on its hand, as Widow’s Bay is being hailed as one of the best shows of the year. Much of the show’s enjoyability can be traced to its Emmy-winning star, Matthew Rhys.
While Matthew Rhys has made a name for himself as one of television’s best leading men over the last 15 years or so, virtually all of those plaudits have come via dramatic work in series such as The Americans, Perry Mason and The Beast in Me.
Widow’s Bay is a different kettle of fish entirely, though, as Rhys is tasked with portraying a unique blend of comedy and horror that often intersects and overlaps.
Speaking to BroBible’s Post Credit Podcast prior to the premiere of Widow’s Bay, Rhys explained how he and the rest of the team nailed the very specific humor of the breakout series.
Matthew Rhys tells BroBible how they nailed the unique comedy of Widow’s Bay, much of which comes from his physical reactions to things happening around him
Eric Italiano, BroBible: Something I was really impressed by — specifically in this show, and on the back of your work in The Beast in Me, where you’re a very suave, menacing figure — is that a lot of the comedy here seems to come specifically from your reactions. The way you’re exasperated, which isn’t necessarily something I imagine was on the page. And especially because you’re a classically trained actor, comedy is a bit outside your usual comfort zone. So how do you calibrate the comedy of reaction?
Matthew Rhys: Very good question, and I found it very difficult, to be perfectly honest. Hiro Murai’s big pitch to me was: “You don’t treat this as a comedy. You don’t treat it as a horror. We create a world and we play it for real.” And then sometimes within that, the reactions we would play around with on a scale of size and dynamic — sometimes more extreme, other times not. All I was trying to do was root the whole thing in a truth or truthfulness.
BroBbile: It’s definitely not slapstick, to be clear. I don’t think you pushed it too far. The clash of the tonality of the show and your character’s reaction just works so well.
Matthew Rhys: Yes. And I think there are moments where Tom is placed in very extreme circumstances, so the reaction to me is extreme — especially when those circumstances are pioneer moments he’s never experienced. I also thought: if at the beginning you’re seeing a more extreme reaction, then where does he go from there? What’s the trajectory? If he is like this at certain points, how does he then find his inner core, his inner steel? Where does the resolve come from?
The first seven episodes of Widow’s Bay are now streaming on AppleTV ahead of the release of the season one finale on Wednesday, June 3.
You can check out our full interview with Rhys — where we discussed more Widow’s Bay, one of The Americans’ most infamous moments, playing the legendary George Carlin, and more — below.