Post by Kate on Apr 30, 2007 6:04:05 GMT -5
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Dylan to have posh English accent
Mar 29 2007
Claire Hill, Western Mail
ACTOR Matthew Rhys will reveal a startling side to poet Dylan Thomas - when he plays the role with a posh English accent.
The Cardiff-born actor has chosen to imitate the legendary figure's real dialect instead of choosing a Welsh twang that people might assume he had.
Starring alongside Keira Knightley,Lindsay Lohan (now Sienna Miller) and Cillian Murphy, Rhys is conscious that his portrayal will have to compete with the public's image of Thomas.
He said, "Everyone has their own take and their own idea on the image of Dylan Thomas.
"It slightly reminds me of the feeling I had when I said I was going to be appearing in The Graduate. Before it opened people would say, 'Are you playing the Dustin Hoffman part?'
"They had this immediate image of who he was, and it's the same with Dylan.
"Everyone's saying, 'Oh, are you are going to be really fat?'
"And then there's the voice. He had quite a distinct, posh, plummy voice that a lot of people won't know about.
"That is the voice I'll be speaking in. It's like Capote when Phillip Seymour Hoffman made the decision about his voice, it is quite a brave voice and you have to stick with it and engage an audience with it. People have to believe it."
Currently starring in American hit drama Brothers & Sisters, Rhys was immediately drawn to The Best Time Of Our Lives which focuses on a specific time in the lives of the poet and his wife, Caitlin.
He said, "To play Dylan is a dream come true. I came on board about a month ago.
"Keira Knightley's mother wrote the film and I'm bricking myself that I'm going to play Dylan.
"Dylan has never been committed to a film before and you're dealing with one of the ultimate Welsh icons so I'm going to be nervous."
Much has been said about the film already, with rumours of lesbian trysts between the two female characters, and Rhys himself even stoking the flames in a gossip column by mentioning the words "three-in-a-bed."
The 32-year-old admits that one was a little embellishment.
He said, "Ah, I'd had a few lagers that night ... and just said it. It's completely unfounded. It's not really raunchy."
When asked about the lesbian kiss that Lohan has already spoken about he said, "Has she said that? It's not a big deal.
"There's a new draft of the script coming out and I'm not even sure it will be in there. It is more ambiguous."
Focusing on a well-documented incident in New Quay, Cardigan Bay, when Dylan was shot by the husband of an old school friend, Rhys is glad it is not a straight forward biopic film.
He said, "We're not doing his life story, we're just focusing on a period in his life.
"It's very interesting in the parts where they've handled his poetry and I think they've really done well to humanise him." Rhys's Dylan Thomas will not be the only one fighting for the public's attention as a few more films based on the poet's life are getting ready to film in Wales.
The Rada-trained actor will be competing with fellow Welshman Michael Sheen and Trainspotting star Kevin McKidd. He said, "I am glad there's not two films spanning his life.
"Our's is a very specific script focusing on a specific time in his life."
It is to be seen whether the other Dylan Thomas films stick to the poet and writer's true accent.
Carys Eleri, of The Boathouse Museum, Laugharne, said that Dylan and his sister were sent to elocution lessons when they were children.
Despite their parents being Welsh speakers they were brought up with English accents as it was the time following the Welsh Not.
She said, "Dylan had a very ministerial and emotional voice, but it was a very BBC received pronunciation one."
I'm really looking forward to this one.
Dylan to have posh English accent
Mar 29 2007
Claire Hill, Western Mail
ACTOR Matthew Rhys will reveal a startling side to poet Dylan Thomas - when he plays the role with a posh English accent.
The Cardiff-born actor has chosen to imitate the legendary figure's real dialect instead of choosing a Welsh twang that people might assume he had.
Starring alongside Keira Knightley,
He said, "Everyone has their own take and their own idea on the image of Dylan Thomas.
"It slightly reminds me of the feeling I had when I said I was going to be appearing in The Graduate. Before it opened people would say, 'Are you playing the Dustin Hoffman part?'
"They had this immediate image of who he was, and it's the same with Dylan.
"Everyone's saying, 'Oh, are you are going to be really fat?'
"And then there's the voice. He had quite a distinct, posh, plummy voice that a lot of people won't know about.
"That is the voice I'll be speaking in. It's like Capote when Phillip Seymour Hoffman made the decision about his voice, it is quite a brave voice and you have to stick with it and engage an audience with it. People have to believe it."
Currently starring in American hit drama Brothers & Sisters, Rhys was immediately drawn to The Best Time Of Our Lives which focuses on a specific time in the lives of the poet and his wife, Caitlin.
He said, "To play Dylan is a dream come true. I came on board about a month ago.
"Keira Knightley's mother wrote the film and I'm bricking myself that I'm going to play Dylan.
"Dylan has never been committed to a film before and you're dealing with one of the ultimate Welsh icons so I'm going to be nervous."
Much has been said about the film already, with rumours of lesbian trysts between the two female characters, and Rhys himself even stoking the flames in a gossip column by mentioning the words "three-in-a-bed."
The 32-year-old admits that one was a little embellishment.
He said, "Ah, I'd had a few lagers that night ... and just said it. It's completely unfounded. It's not really raunchy."
When asked about the lesbian kiss that Lohan has already spoken about he said, "Has she said that? It's not a big deal.
"There's a new draft of the script coming out and I'm not even sure it will be in there. It is more ambiguous."
Focusing on a well-documented incident in New Quay, Cardigan Bay, when Dylan was shot by the husband of an old school friend, Rhys is glad it is not a straight forward biopic film.
He said, "We're not doing his life story, we're just focusing on a period in his life.
"It's very interesting in the parts where they've handled his poetry and I think they've really done well to humanise him." Rhys's Dylan Thomas will not be the only one fighting for the public's attention as a few more films based on the poet's life are getting ready to film in Wales.
The Rada-trained actor will be competing with fellow Welshman Michael Sheen and Trainspotting star Kevin McKidd. He said, "I am glad there's not two films spanning his life.
"Our's is a very specific script focusing on a specific time in his life."
It is to be seen whether the other Dylan Thomas films stick to the poet and writer's true accent.
Carys Eleri, of The Boathouse Museum, Laugharne, said that Dylan and his sister were sent to elocution lessons when they were children.
Despite their parents being Welsh speakers they were brought up with English accents as it was the time following the Welsh Not.
She said, "Dylan had a very ministerial and emotional voice, but it was a very BBC received pronunciation one."
I'm really looking forward to this one.