Matthew Rhys and Keri Russell's Relationship Was Exposed on The Americans Set by the NYPD

0:01 -Welcome back, everybody.

0:02 Our next guest is an Emmy-winning actor, You know,

0:03 from shows like "The Americans," "Perry Mason" and "The Beast of Me."

0:06 He currently stars in "Widow's Bay," which premieres April 29th on Apple TV.

0:10 Let's take a look.

0:11 -I was talking to the guy on the ferry -Mm-hmm.

0:13 -And he said something odd.

0:15 -What was that?

0:16 -He said, bad things happen here.

0:21 -You know, Arthur, there is something about these seafaring towns.

0:26 The superstitions, their tall tales.

0:29 Maybe it's that stories help pass a long day at sea.

0:31 I don't know, but I find it charming myself.

0:34 -Was there cannibalism?

0:35 -No.

0:36 -Well, in the article behind you...

0:39 Laughter] "...Forced inside the church,

0:41 they immediately turn to cannibalism." -I-I don't think that's right.

0:45 -I mean, it's not a framed article inside the Historical Society.

0:48 -Yeah.

0:49 -Please welcome back to the show, our friend, Matthew Rhys.

0:52 Cheers and applause]♪♪♪♪ Hello, friend.

1:10 -How are you?

1:11 -We were lamenting backstage.

1:13 It's been three years since you've been on the show and.

1:14 -I thought I did something wrong.

1:16 Did I do something wrong?

1:16 -No.

1:17 Well, I think what you did wrong is you saw me socially in the world.

1:20 -And then I just assumed I'd been on.

1:22 -And I assumed as well, so I didn't go out of my way.

1:24 Well, because we had a very— -I told you stories and you laughed.

1:27 -And I was like— And I felt in my mind, I'm like, we've been we've done this.

1:30 -We danced.

1:31 -We had a very special evening.

1:32 You bought a boat from the 1930s.

1:35 -Yeah.

1:35 -It was called the Rarebit.

1:36 -It was a gorgeous boat.

1:38 -A gorgeous boat, and you— you decided to sell it,

1:40 and I went on your final voyage.

1:42 -You did.

1:42 You were on.

1:43 Yes.

1:43 The talisman for the final voyage.

1:45 -And it must have been heartbreaking to sell it.

1:47 Was it hard when that day came?

1:49 -What's happened?

1:51 Laughter] They withdrew from the sale.

1:53 -Oh, really?

1:55 -She's still currently for sale.

1:56 Should anyone wish to purchase an old antique boat,

1:58 please see me after the show.

2:00 -But Matthew, Matthew,

2:00 This is years ago that you— So you're saying this is not selling like hotcakes?

2:06 -This is not a hotcake that's being sold.

2:08 -When you now look back,

2:09 do you realize how excited the person who you bought it from was?

2:12 -Yes.

2:13 This is what I'm realizing.

2:14 So there's not many people in the world who buy very old wooden boat.

2:18 I restored the boat,

2:19 but there's not many people who'll buy them for this— for the sole reason.

2:21 This why it almost cost me my marriage.

2:24 Because you just kind of go, "I've just got to go back to the boat.

2:26 Something's happened again." -Yeah.

2:28 -Because...

2:29 I'm not doing a sales pitch here, actually.

2:31 -Yeah.

2:32 -It's a wonderful boat.

2:34 Laughter] She's sound.

2:35 She's sound.

2:36 I am not, but she is sound.

2:38 -Yeah.

2:39 Because I remember saying to your partner Carrie, like how I was,

2:42 so I'm like, "God, it's so cool that Matthew bought this boat." And she was...

2:45 -"Eh!" -Yeah.

2:45 She's like— She's like— -It was a very Larry David answer.

2:49 -Yeah, yeah, yeah.

2:50 -"Eh!" Yeah.

2:50 -We talked about how your mother's side of the family was very nautical.

2:54 Was she at least happy when you bought a boat?

2:56 No.

2:56 Okay.

2:57 -Because for the sole reason they're all sailors.

3:00 And when I said I, you know, I said,

3:02 "I've bought an old wooden boat," and they were like, "Oh, for a minute there,

3:06 I thought you said an old wooden boat."[ Laughter] I went, "Yeah, yeah, yeah.

3:10 That would be stupid, wouldn't it, yeah?" -So they're not that happy.

3:13 -They're not?

3:14 Well, they were like, "More fool you." -Yeah.

3:15 Yeah, "Good luck." This show, uh, this takes place on a New England island.

3:20 -Yes.

3:21 -It's a wonderful show.

3:22 -Thank you.

3:22 -Very nautical-themed as well.

3:23 Yes, yes.

3:24 Do you enjoy that element of it?

3:25 -I love it.

3:26 We got to shoot in places like Gloucester and Rockport.

3:28 You know, I was in my natural element.

3:30 But, you know, it's— I'm not saying it's an enormous departure for me,

3:34 but I don't— I don't do comedy.

3:36 This is— This is, you know, dare I say comedy horror.

3:39 -Yeah.

3:39 -A tough, tough tone to crack.

3:41 Um, I've done some horrific performances in my past.

3:44 -Uh, they were very funny to watch.

3:46 -And yes, people laughed in the wrong places.

3:49 -Yes.

3:49 -It's very funny.

3:50 You're very funny in it.

3:51 -Well, thanks very much.

3:52 -Um, do you feel like there's a— When you're in a New England town,

3:55 a seafaring New England town, do you feel a connection to your— to Wales?

3:58 Do you feel there's a similarity?

3:59 -I do.

4:00 Massachusetts.

4:00 New England, reminded me enormously.

4:02 The people reminded me, the place reminded me enormously of home.

4:06 So I felt— I felt right at home with those— with those salty people shouting,

4:10 "Get out of here!" -Yeah.

4:11 -And then I'm like, "Oh,

4:12 they're talking to me." -Yeah, that's like— -I'm like, "Oh,

4:14 sorry." -Nothing makes you feel more at home in New

4:16 England when people are yelling at you to leave.

4:18 -Leave!

4:18 Or if you say you live in New York.

4:20 That I found I should never say in Massachusetts.

4:22 -No.

4:23 -Yes.

4:23 -Especially when you have the benefit of a non-New York accent.

4:26 -They were just— -To bring it up is idiotic.

4:27 -They were just like, Oh, leave now.

4:29 -Yeah.

4:29 -Before, yes, before we burn.

4:30 -Did you, uh— It's a show, obviously.

4:33 There's a horror element.

4:34 -Yes.

4:34 -The people in the town are very superstitious.

4:36 -They are.

4:37 They are indeed.

4:37 Are the Welsh superstitious people?

4:40 -You couldn't throw a stone in Wales

4:42 without there being a superstition behind it.

4:44 Or some kind of myth or legend or fable,

4:47 or some kind of warlock and wizard that fought

4:50 a dragon that killed someone and was like, oh my God.

4:52 It's like, let's let it go with the myths and legends.

4:55 -You, uh, you mentioned this as a comedy.

4:57 It's very funny.

4:58 There's an episode where your character is on mushrooms.

5:01 -Yes.

5:01 -It's a very funny performance.

5:02 -Well, thanks very much.

5:04 -Did you do any research?

5:06 Laughter] -No.

5:09 -No?

5:10 -Yes.

5:10 Seth laughing] -I'm a fun guy.

5:12 -You are?

5:13 Everybody says you're a fun guy.

5:15 -Yes, that was the mushroom joke.

5:18 -Yeah.

5:18 Um.

5:19 You also...

5:20 Laughter] -Yeah.

5:22 Clears throat]-[ Laughing] -I watch a lot of YouTube videos.

5:26 See, I grew up in a time.

5:27 I grew?

5:28 Gruff voice] I grew up in a time...

5:29 Laughter] Before I began...

5:32 When I started acting, YouTube wasn't around.

5:34 We used to go to places to with a notebook and like a tape recorder.

5:37 Yeah.

5:37 Now you just go— You Goog— You look at YouTube and go,

5:41 "people on mushrooms," and it comes up.

5:43 -And so you just watched YouTube.

5:44 -Yes, I watched— I watched all kinds of tests on people with hallucinogens.

5:48 And I went, "Oh God, this is so cruel." But I stole all of it.

5:52 -You stole it?

5:52 -All of it.

5:53 -I think they'd appreciate it.

5:54 -Something good came of it.

5:56 -I think something good came of it.

5:57 -That's what I wrote to them.

5:58 Laughter] -In the comment section?

6:00 -Yes.

6:01 Seth laughs] -Thank you for your service.

6:03 -Alright, so you, uh, you know how to ride a horse,

6:05 which I'm shocked by, but this was not a skill you learned in Wales.

6:08 -It was a skill I learned in Wales.

6:10 -Oh, it was?

6:10 Yes, yes.

6:10 -I'm sort of counting that— On dad's side of the family, they're all farmers.

6:14 And they had some of them had horses and we

6:16 would just jump on and, you know, teach ourselves.

6:18 -So you— you knew enough about riding horses

6:20 that when you got invited to a rodeo competition...

6:23 -Yes.

6:23 -Recently?

6:24 -Yes.

6:24 -You said yes.

6:25 -I said, "Of course I'll do a rodeo.

6:28 Show me your American ways!" How did— How

6:31 did a rodeo invite even come across your desk?

6:33 -So a friend of mine— It's actually— It's Taylor Sheridan and his wife.

6:37 They do an incredible charity event for UT Southwestern.

6:40 And it's a cutting competition.

6:41 -You know what cutting is?

6:42 -Audience member: Yeah.

6:43 -I didn't.

6:43 -Very few.

6:44 -Yeah.

6:44 Well, they said come do cutting.

6:46 And I went, "What does that mean?" They said,

6:48 "We cut cows." I was like, "That's barbaric!" What about these poor cows?

6:52 I was like, I thought we'd have machetes and box cutters and we'd be like,

6:55 "Get the cows!" It's not, it's not.

6:57 You take— Yes, you cut one calf or steer from the herd

7:01 and then try and keep it away from the herd.

7:03 -Okay.

7:03 Gotcha.

7:03 -Yes.

7:04 -So this is more than just riding a horse.

7:06 -More than riding a horse.

7:07 I found out, yeah.

7:09 Yes.

7:09 It's like dancing.

7:10 It's like horse dancing.

7:11 -All right, so...

7:11 -Um, yeah.

7:13 -So here's like, these are photos.

7:14 Like you actually look like, you know what you're doing there.

7:17 -I looked like I knew more than on the boat.

7:19 Cheers and applause] -Yes, sir.

7:22 -Is this you shouldn't applaud because I dress up for a living.

7:26 -Is this you getting a—[ Laughter] Is this you getting a belt buckle?

7:29 That's what it looks like to me.

7:31 -Oh, you mean this old thing?

7:33 Laughter] Oh, my God, it's really amazing.

7:38 Cheers and applause] -Um, this is— -I have not taken that off in two weeks.

7:44 -Celebrity cutting.

7:45 So you were in Fort Worth, Texas?

7:47 -I know it was a— it was— it was— It was Taylor Sheridan and his wife.

7:50 It was a— It was a kind of pro/celebrity.

7:53 So celebrities were paired with real professional cutters.

7:56 And then your combined score was, uh, you know what won it.

8:00 What, what?

8:00 But the reason I was invited is because of a dear friend of mine who played

8:05 my brother on a show called "Brothers and Sisters,"

8:07 who's in a Taylor Sheridan show called "Lioness" said,

8:09 "You like horses, why don't you come?" So I came, and then in the tunnel,

8:12 before going out, I could see all these actors on Taylor Sheridan shows.

8:16 Just looking at me like, "What Taylor Sheridan show is he on?" -Yeah.

8:20 -So I sort of made one up.

8:22 -Yeah.

8:22 -I didn't, I didn't.

8:23 -There's a lot of Taylor— -I'm on "Yellowstone."

8:25 -You could make up a Taylor— There's so many.

8:27 -Right.

8:28 They wouldn't know.

8:28 -No.

8:29 -They wouldn't know.

8:30 Yeah.

8:30 I kind of went with that.

8:31 I was like, don't worry bout it.

8:31 -It's coming out.

8:32 It's coming.

8:33 I was in "Yellowstone: 1934." -Yeah yeah, yeah.

8:34 -They'd be like, "Oh, I can't wait to see it." -Yeah, 2048.

8:38 Laughter] -There's like there's one in the future.

8:40 -Yeah, yeah, but we don't like to talk about it.

8:41 -Wow!

8:42 -Yes.

8:42 -And not that far into the future.

8:44 -No.

8:44 Just enough.

8:45 Just enough.

8:45 -Yeah.

8:46 -But just enough to travel back and say,

8:48 "We bought the wrong bit of land!" Yeah.

8:50 -So there's actual.

8:52 So Yellowstone 2048.

8:53 There's actual time travel elements as well.

8:55 -Yes, I come back and warn them about things.

8:57 -Wow.

8:58 -Yeah, I don't.

8:59 -And Taylor's okay that you're gonna spoil this here.

9:01 -He doesn't know yet.

9:03 I'm gonna— I'm gonna pitch it, but I think it's a winner.

9:05 -Alright, we actually have video of you on the cutting horse.

9:08 Were you nervous?

9:09 Audience member shouting] -Were you nervous?

9:10 -Yeah!

9:11 -Alright.

9:12 -I was terrified.

9:14 -I would be terrified.

9:15 I'm not.

9:15 I'm not judging you.

9:17 I mean, I would never agree to do it,

9:18 but here you are, and let me just say, -Yeah.

9:19 -I'm very impressed that you, Matthew Rhys,

9:21 have a name that a rodeo caller can pronounce.

9:25 Laughs]♪♪[ Audience cheering] -Oh.

9:34 Thank you.

9:36 Matthew Rise.

9:38 Laughter] -Matthew Rise.

9:40 -Matthew Rise.

9:42 Cheers and applause] In fair—[ Laughs] Yeah, In fairness,

9:48 I don't have a vowel in my name.

9:49 -No, no.

9:50 -It was anyone's guess.

9:51 -Until I was taught, that's definitely how I said as well.

9:54 -I said it until I was 18 and my parents were like,

9:56 "It's not how we say our name." -Oh, really?

9:58 -What's wrong with you?

9:59 I was like, oh.

10:00 -Um, you and your partner Carrie met on "The Americans,"

10:02 one of my favorite shows of all time.

10:04 -We did.

10:04 -Uh, fantastic show.

10:06 Cheers and applause] I think a lot of us viewers

10:09 of that show kind of discovered over the run of it,

10:11 "Oh, you know, they're a couple in real life." -Yes.

10:13 -The way the crew and the other cast found

10:16 that out was not because of a, like some grand announcement.

10:19 -No, no, it was very unplanned.

10:21 And I'll try and make this brief.

10:23 What happened was it was quite terrifying, actually.

10:26 But we were...

10:28 together in an apartment and she woke me up and said,

10:31 "I think there's someone in the apartment." And I said,

10:33 "There's no one in the apartment." And then I heard someone saying something,

10:36 and I went, "Oh, there's someone

10:37 in the apartment." And then— -Oh, that is scary.

10:38 -And then I thought now, because it was early days and I thought,

10:41 whatever I do next might define the way she regards me for the rest of my life.

10:46 -Yeah.

10:46 -So I— There was a kind of a fire set, -So I picked up a poker.

10:51 -Yeah.

10:51 -Instead of locking ourselves in the bathroom, calling 911, which we should do.

10:55 I went, "You stay here, I shall go out."[ Laughter] And I think,

11:01 uh, my, my, my classically trained pipes make them— made them flee.

11:06 Thankfully, so they fled.

11:08 Anyway, they caught them very quickly, apprehended them.

11:10 Uh, Kerry filed a report and then the DA

11:12 I think was retiring and they were like, oh,

11:14 we'd love to bring you your things back and present them to you on set

11:17 and do a photograph of the DA and the NYPD officers that caught them.

11:20 And she's like, "No, no, no, no, that's all right.

11:22 I'll just come to a precinct to pick them up." They're like, "No, no, no,

11:25 we'll come to set and we'll,

11:26 we'll take a photograph and present them to you." And she's like,

11:29 "Please, please don't." So they very kindly and God bless them and thank

11:33 you for the service came to set and held up a bag and went,

11:37 "We caught them and here's her bag!" And then the young PA was next to me,

11:41 indeed went, "No, no, that's Matthew's bag!" And I was like,

11:44 "Shut up!" And then they take it out, "And here's her watch." And like, "No, no,

11:50 that's Matthew's watch!" I was like, "Shut up!" And lo,

11:54 it came to pass that we were together.

11:55 -I mean, that way you don't have to overthink it.

11:57 You know what?

11:58 You just leave it.

11:59 -Everyone knows one clean sweep.

12:00 Didn't have to hire a publicist.

12:01 It was great.

12:01 -I think any time you want to tell people about a new relationship,

12:05 just leave it to the NYPD.

12:06 -Leave it.

12:07 Let them turn up.

12:08 -Let the police turn up and explain it.

12:10 -Yes, exactly.

12:12 -Congrats on the show.

12:12 -Thank you.

12:13 -It's fantastic.

12:13 Thanks for being here.

12:14 -Thank you as always.

12:16 -Matthew Rhys.

12:16 -Everybody, "Widow's Bay" premieres April 29th on Apple TV.

12:20 We'll be right back with Sabrina Rudin.