Actor Jonathan Rhys Meyers says the secret of his hit TV show The Tudors’ global success is sex

In an exclusive interview with the Sunday Tribune on the set of the show’s third season in Ardmore Studios Bray, the Cork man said sexual chemistry was a necessary ingredient to any successful film or TV show and The Tudors is no exception. “You have to reel them in, and sex certainly helps,” he said. “A bit of Tuesday-night naughtiness, I call it. The success of any TV show or movie has a huge sexual element to it. Why are movie actors and actresses famous?

“Well they’re not famous because they’re pug ugly, are they? They’re famous because they are good looking, interesting people most of the time and you get to have your little fantasies about it.”

‘A bit of Tuesday-night naughtiness’ is how Jonathan Rhys Meyers describes his hit TV show
Jonathan Rhys Meyers: ‘Henry would be about 40 by the third season but I’m playing him at 30 or 31′

Actor Jonathan Rhys Meyers says the secret of his hit TV show The Tudors’ global success is sex.

In an exclusive interview with the Sunday Tribune on the set of the show’s third season in Ardmore Studios Bray, the Cork man said sexual chemistry was a necessary ingredient to any successful film or TV show and The Tudors is no exception. “You have to reel them in, and sex certainly helps,” he said. “A bit of Tuesday-night naughtiness, I call it. The success of any TV show or movie has a huge sexual element to it. Why are movie actors and actresses famous?

“Well they’re not famous because they’re pug ugly, are they? They’re famous because they are good looking, interesting people most of the time and you get to have your little fantasies about it.”

However, Rhys Meyers said press coverage which centred on the show’s sexual element, particularly in Ireland, had been blown out of proportion.

“We always said we’re The West Wing set in the 16th century, but everybody in Ireland was like ‘there’s loads of sex in The Tudors. To me, that’s Ireland still reeling from its Catholic upbringing, to be honest with you, but I imagine season two will be even more popular on TV3 because we have a lot of different characters and they just happen to be even better-looking.”

He went on to explain why sex was so important to his character King Henry VIII. “In season one, you were looking at a very young, vibrant, almost post-adolescent, young-man king. Like any young man, sex is a vital part of his life, but also in this period of time, you needed to get some heirs. Your children were not only a tool for yourself to become richer, they were also your legacy.”

He warms to his theme. “Listen, six marriages do not a happy man make. He was a politician, and they never have the f***ing frown off their faces. This is the man who was absolute boss. There is no Dáil. There is no minister for f***ing finance or minister for f***ing health. It’s all him.”

Playing such a despotic monarch did not come easy. “I think every role presents its challenges. I put the same amount of intensity into most things, but it’s kind of difficult because you’re looking at regality, which is something you either have or you don’t. You have to try and get it into your headspace that you are very much born with it, even though I am not, obviously.

“That involves you thinking you are the king the whole time and the certain air of entitlement the king has.

But do I take the part home? “No. Jesus. No. I wouldn’t get away with it.”

Cast in the role following his Golden Globe-winning performance playing Elvis on US TV, Rhys Meyers (30) said he was actually too old to play Henry VIII, and not too young, as some people suggested.

“When I did Henry, people were like ‘well he’s too young.’ Actually, I was too old. Henry should have been 12 to begin with. He was married by 13 and had his first child at 14. What we have basically done is pull everything back by about seven years from my age point of view. Henry would be about 40 by the third season of The Tudors, but I’m playing him at 30 or 31.”

He doesn’t intend to go on playing Henry VIII forever. “At some point, the plausibility will become doubtful. For instance, in later years, he has an injury which results in him putting on weight, so by the time he marries his fifth wife Katherine Howard, it’s pretty much beauty and the beast. I don’t know how I could put on 200 pounds to match his appearance at that point.”

He remains committed to Ardmore Studios where the series made for US company Showtime and broadcast in 84 countries around the world is filmed. “Ireland needs Ardmore Studios. It’s essential to Irish films because so many great filmmakers have made films here. I know that people like Mel Gibson, Anthony Sher and Peter O’Toole would be very sad to see it close. For me, it’s very comfortable coming back to Ardmore and working with the same crew and production team.”

At the helm of the $40m production, which employs 300 people, is executive producer and local Bray man Morgan O’Sullivan. “It’s really important to have somebody in the background who takes care of everything, who knows the business,” Rhys Meyers said. “Without Morgan, The Tudors would have been impossible.”

However, O’Sullivan (62) himself said the cornerstone of the period drama was writer Michael Hirst, whose screen credits include 1998 Oscar- winning film Elizabeth.

“It’s Michael’s vision we’re trying to make happen,” he says. “But along with Michael, you have Irish directors like Brian Kirk, Ciaran Donnelly and Dearbhla Walsh, and a huge team, including Tom Conroy our set designer, and Joan Bergin our Emmy-winning costume designer.

Part financed by Section 481, which provides tax relief for Irish film and television, The Tudors is also providing a boost to the local economy in Wicklow.

“We have a press day coming up where journalists fly in from around the world, and while they’re here, we’ll organise a location visit where we’ll take them to all the local places featured in The Tudors, like Kilruddery and Powerscourt,” O’Sullivan said. “Everybody shares in The Tudors’ success.”