Matthew Rhys is sounding off on the public behavior driving him “bananas.”
“The Americans” star isn’t hiding his irritation with one modern habit that’s seemingly pushed him over the edge — people blasting videos, music and FaceTime calls in public like everyone else signed up for the experience.
“Do you have any pet peeves?” Rhys was asked in a Wall Street Journal interview.
“What is driving me bananas these days are people who watch things on their phones without headphones,” Rhys said. “I’m turning into my dad, but I feel like I have to start saying to people, ‘Excuse me, do you have headphones?’ Because if we’re not schooling people, it’s going to become more rampant than it already is, and it is out of control.”
The actor’s solution to modern overstimulation is about as unplugged as it gets.
“What do you do to relax?” he was asked.
“If it’s not on the water—if it’s not a kayak or sail or something like that—then horses are big for me,” Rhys explained. “You just get to be quiet and in nature. You can’t be on your phone. You have to be present.”
The Welsh actor’s latest project is “Widow’s Bay,” starring alongside Stephen Root.
The series centers on an ambitious mayor, Tom Loftis (Rhys), who tries to capitalize on a surge of tourists visiting the fictional island. His goal is to turn it into the next Martha’s Vineyard.
The two have been together since 2014 and, two years later, welcomed a son named Sam.
Their romance started while playing married Soviet spies on FX’s “The Americans” — turning their explosive on-screen chemistry into a real-life relationship that’s survived Hollywood for more than a decade.
“We were, like, hot and heavy in love, shooting the spy stuff at night in disguises and wigs,” Russell previously told Variety. “I mean, it was such a fun, sexy time.”
What started as on-screen tension eventually became a real-life relationship.
Part of what’s kept them together is that they couldn’t be more different.
Rhys previously told Parade that the secret to their success is that they “balance each other.”
“There’s usually that thing where you need one person to be the calm head — that’s her,” he said. “And then I’m the kind of fiery one. … We work well as a team; we have a good partnership and we make each other laugh.”
