JONATHAN RHYS MEYERS was 20 days old when Elvis Presley died in 1977. Now he’s playing the King in a CBS miniseries that begins tonight.
To American audiences, Rhys Meyers, chosen over 60 other actors, is almost a complete unknown. His most famous role came in 2002 as a coach in the independent film “Bend It Like Beckham.” When “Elvis” director James Sadwith who directed the acclaimed 1992 “Sinatra” miniseries, saw Rhys Meyers in that film he thought he was “too skinny to play Elvis.”
But the Dublin-born actor had previously displayed his musical talents in a role that’s the polar opposite of “Elvis” – as flamboyantly bisexual glam rocker Brian Slade in the 1998 film “Velvet Goldmine.” Awash in glitter and sparkly, skin-tight costumes, Rhys Meyers was an androgynous tease who perfectly captured the attitude of a bygone era.
He accomplishes the same feat in “Elvis,” perfecting the body language – the sneer of the lip; the swivel of the pelvis – and, best of all, imbuing Presley with a yearning and innocence rooted in his dirt-poor youth in Tennessee.
“He was a people’s person. That’s why he became so successful,” says Rhys Meyers, 27. “To wake up in the morning and know that you are the most successful artist in the world and still be so gentle takes a huge amount of humility. I worked at that.”
So how did an Irishman step into the shoes of an American icon? “It was sort of drilled into me,” says Rhys Meyers, who lives in London. He watched tapes of Elvis, learned the songs (in the film he lip-synchs to master recordings) and read the definitive bio, “Last Train to Memphis.” Dialect coach David Dahlgren helped him with his drawl and actor Marcus L. Brown, who plays blues singer Wynonie Harris, taught him how to dance like the King.
The overall effect was so convincing that one tourist at Graceland, where exterior scenes were shot, thought Rhys Meyers was the King. “This woman walked passed with her Elvis earphones. I was walking past and she saw me and almost had a heart attack,” he says. “She had to sit down for a minute.”
Filmed mostly in New Orleans, “Elvis,” covers Presley’s life from ages 18 to 33 and details his meteoric rise to fame, his narcotics use, his rapport with his “Viva Las Vegas” co-star Ann-Margret (Rose McGowan), and his pristine courtship of jailbait Priscilla Beaulieu (Antonia Bernath).
Rhys Meyers believes that Elvis married the wrong girl.
“Priscilla was the perfect young girl who he could make into a perfect young woman. But he met his match in Ann-Margret,” he says. “She had that energy. If you think about it, he never should have married Priscilla, but he had this commitment [to her]. He had to sacrifice Ann-Margret.”
If “Elvis” doesn’t give you enough of the King, you can also watch “Elvis by the Presleys,” a collection of filmed interviews that airs Friday at 8 p.m. on CBS.
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ELVIS
Sunday, 9 p.m., Wednesday, 8 p.m., CBS
