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Welsh actor Rhys Ifans has had a storied career, running the gamut from comic book villains (The Amazing Spider-Man) to comedic sidekicks (Notting Hill), knights (House of the Dragon), and more. His latest film,Inheritance, sees him star as a traveling salesman with a mysterious past that becomes the subject of a globe-trotting conspiracy.
We at FandomWire got to speak with Ifans about his role inInheritance, how he, as an actor, felt about the film’s unique guerilla-style approach, and working with his co-star Phoebe Dynevor, among other things. Check out the interview below!
InheritanceRhys Ifans Interview
FandomWire: Obviously, one of the things that makesInheritancestand out is its guerrilla-style shooting method. How did this feel as an actor, and what were some of the challenges it posed?
Rhys Ifans:It was just really exciting. Challenges, I don’t know — I found it very liberating to just be out there with the general public doing something slightly illegal and shooting over and over again. Getting to just shoot, cut, shoot it again, cut. And no one knew we were making a movie. It felt very visceral and exciting. And to do it with Phoebe and Neil made it very easy because she’s so free and available and generous as an actor. So I loved it, yeah.
FW: This shoot allowed you to travel to several wonderful international destinations. But considering the high-anxiety nature of the story and shooting style, did you find it different than you usually find traveling for work?
Ifans: Well, it felt like we were doing the journey. Of all the films I’ve done, very rarely do you ever shoot a film in anything like chronological story order. But in this, more than anything else I’ve ever done, this was pretty much — not necessarily scene by scene, but act by act.
So the film starts in New York. We shot the scenes in New York. We got on a plane to Cairo, Egypt. While we were on the plane, we shot the scenes that happened on the plane. When we landed, we shot the scenes that happen in the airport. And then we shot all the scenes that happened in Egypt. And then my character disappears for a bit, and they went on to India and shot the scenes that happened in India. And then we all reconvened in Korea and finished the film.
So just for that alone, the question never arose, “Hang on, where does this scene come in the story? I can’t quite remember.” The scene happened, more often than not, after the scene that came before it and just before the scene that comes after. So that was really pleasing.
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FW: I think one of the most impressive things about your performance here is that you take a relatively small role and make a meal out of it. How do you manage to make every supporting role you do so memorable?
Ifans:Well, I’m very flattered. Thank you so much. I don’t know. I think in this case, it’s the way it’s shot. You know, it’s not about me. It’s about working with a great filmmaker who made sure I was seen and heard and often. Yes, he doesn’t have much to do, actually, in the film, but he’s very present. He looms through the whole movie, and he haunts Maya, so even when he’s not on screen, he’s kind of there. So I have the script and my director to thank for any footprint I may have left, but I’m very flattered to hear your words; thank you.
FW: Your character inInheritancehas several noms de plume. If you could use any character you’ve ever played as a nom de plume, which would it be and why?
Ifans:Well, I’ve often used Mr. Nice. I played Howard Marks, the international cannabis smuggler who used many, many noms de plume, with Mr. Nice being his most famous one. So Mr. Nice is one I’ve used on occasion.
FW: I think one of the elements to this film’s success is your dynamic with Phoebe Dynevor. How did you work to build this?
Ifans: A process like this, it can only work if all the actors — in this case, myself and Phoebe, because all our stuff was together — literally hold hands and say, “Okay, so we jump… let’s jump.” And we did, and we embraced the process wholeheartedly.
And it has to be fun. You cannot be precious. You cannot say, “I need to go again. This isn’t right. This is right. Those people are taking selfies.” Whatever. You’ve got to rough it. You’ve got to get in the trenches and take risks. There was no pampering on this film. It was like factory floor filmmaking, which is how I love it.
And Phoebe was open, generous, playful, mischievous, bang on the money every time, and just an absolute joy to work with. I could have gone on and on shooting with her.
FW: AndInheritancebeing a thriller, it’s very tightly scripted, so how did you balance between sticking to the script and adapting to what’s going on with this very unique, on-the-fly shooting style?
Ifans: Well, you could be shooting a scene, and at any given moment, someone could walk up to you with a tray of samosas and say, “You want to buy one?” And what do you do? You buy one. Not that that’s in the film, but there was a real sense of anything can happen, which I think any actor will tell you we love. We love that sense of something feeling alive and brittle and impermanent.
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FW: Like many actors from Europe, much of your training was Shakespearean in nature. How do you think that helped you prepare for a role like yours inInheritancethat’s anything but?
Ifans:Yeah, there’s nothing Shakespearean about this. But what there was about it, not in terms of the size of the performance, but there’s a theatricality to it. There’s an immediacy to it. Again, there’s a sense of you being in a live space, a theater where anything could happen. Someone in the audience could stand up and tell you to f**k off, or someone in the audience could have a heart attack or shit themselves, and the whole evening changes. And that’s the case if you’re shooting in an airport or marketplace.
It was a sense of anything could happen, and it reminded me a lot of being in a rehearsal room in theater where you run a scene and the director steps in and goes, “That was amazing. Try that again. Let’s explore that moment. Why don’t you elevate that part of the speech?” And Neil was able to do that with this.
And then on a normal film, you then have to wait another hour to relight, or to move the camera, or to move extras to a certain place, or this or that. And often, it takes great effort to retain the immediacy of something that happened 30 minutes ago. In this instance, as soon as we say cut, we were able to say action again within minutes — seconds, sometimes. And it was exhausting, because you could do up to 20-30 takes, but I loved it.
FW: Your filmography as an actor has been very diverse in terms of genre. What drew you to the espionage thriller genre specifically?
Ifans: I mean, the espionage thriller, yes, was something that excited me, but what excited me most about this was the methodology, the way we were shooting it, and the fact that we were shooting it on these iPhones in this exciting kind of way. But mostly because I knew there was a real, genuine auteur — a filmmaker with genuine cinematic balls and grammar at the helm. That’s Neil.
“Because we all have phones, we could all make a film.” That’s kind of bullshit. You’ve got to be a filmmaker to use any technology. And Neil’s a great filmmaker. I think we all were thrilled by the possibilities of this process and this way of making movies, and it’s something I would absolutely love to explore further. And if that was with Neil, I’d be even happier.
Inheritanceopens in theaters on January 24.
Sean Boelman
Managing Editor for Film and TV
Articles Published :441
Sean is the Managing Editor for Film and Television, working to determine editorial strategy for the critics team. He has been on the FandomWire team since 2022.In addition to writing reviews himself, Sean helps match writers on the FandomWire team with assignments that best fit their interests and expertise.
