Brothers & Sisters

AfterElton has a nice long interview with Matthew Rhys, who plays Kevin on Brothers & Sisters. Although it has the all-too-common flaw in online interviews of having questions that go on way longer than the answers, it still has some nice quotes from Rhys on playing, as interviewer Dennis Ayers puts it, “what may be the most substantial recurring gay character ever on network television.” Here’s a little of what the actor had to say. (And if you want to see what Matthew Rhys obsession looks like in Rhys’s native Welsh, check this blog.)

On Kevin’s commitment-phobia: “With regards to the commitment issues, I think they were careful with that because they didn’t want to give him specifically gay problems. And commitment-phobia, you know is a human and universal flaw. So I was happy about that character trait. There are elements of that aspect of Kevin that I can relate to [laughs]. Especially in your 20s. In your 30s, things do change.”

On Chad and Scotty: “I like the fact that they’ve gone for another universal theme in that you don’t necessarily fall for those people who are right for you, or you don’t choose the people you fall for. And with that comes conflict, obviously, then drama, which makes it all the more entertaining to see. … It’s like with Scotty. For Kevin, Scotty wasn’t what he’d have picked ordinarily, and the same has happened with Chad, and I think that’s a part of his makeup. He goes for people who are unavailable or not necessarily the right people for him.”

On kissing another man on-screen: “I don’t think it’s ever really problematic. I just think if you’re fortunate enough to be confident and secure in yourself, and you know it’s a role you play, I don’t see where the problem lies, really. Actually, my first theater job was a gay part with a lot of kissing it in it. So, I wouldn’t say it was a hurdle really, but I got over that really early on. You realize there’s nothing to it.”

On ad-libbing: “What tends to happen is that at the end of a scene, if they’re still rolling, then it does tend to kick off. And in scenes … where the end is slightly witty, then there’s a lot of ad-libbing. Also there was the one scene where we went into the desert and stayed at the army base with all the soldiers in the bar, and the soldier comes up to me in the bar. That was one where we shot it four or five different ways.”

On being a Welsh actor in an American show: “What has happened over many years is there’s quite a large group of British actors, and we all come out for pilot season in January, February and March because it’s the sort of quiet time at home. So we all trek out to L.A. and then start looking for work, and if we don’t get something, then we go home again. I’ve been doing that for eight years now, on and off, in sort of various degrees of success, but this is the first series that was picked up.”