WASHINGTON — President Trump on Thursday named Adam Telle, a civilian leader in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, as the acting Army secretary following the departure of Dan Driscoll amid widespread reports of tensions with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.
Telle is currently the assistant secretary of the Army for civil works. But he spent more than 20 years working for Republican senators as well as in the White House during Trump’s first term, serving as the president’s chief liaison to the Senate, according to an Army bio.
“He is a Great Patriot, who is respected by all,” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post.
Hegseth echoed that in his own post on X.
“Huge congrats to Adam. Strong and whip smart,” Hegseth wrote. “He is indeed a great Patriot — and will be an immediate asset to the @USArmy.”
Driscoll gave no explanation for his decision to quit this week as the Army’s top civilian official. His clashes with Hegseth have been widely reported, and some of Driscoll’s allies in the Army were ousted this year by Trump’s Pentagon chief.
Telle has been at the Army Office of Civil Works since August 2025, according to Legistorm, a website that tracks lawmakers and Capitol Hill staffers. Before that, Telle worked as chief of staff for Republican Sen. Bill Hagerty of Tennessee from 2021-25.
Telle spent 18 months working in the White House during Trump’s first term and 10 years working for the late Republican Sen. Thad Cochran of Mississippi, according to Legistorm.
Telle also worked as the chief staff member on the Senate Appropriations Committee’s Homeland Security Subcommittee, according to Hagerty’s remarks when Telle was nominated for the civil works job in May 2025.
In his most recent job, Telle focused on matters involving commercial navigation, flood damage reduction and permitting under the Clean Water Act. Telle issued a statement in August about the approval of a company’s plans to reroute an aging oil pipeline around a Wisconsin tribal reservation. In May, he was quoted in a story in the Forum, a newspaper in Fargo, N.D., about a $3.2-billion flood control project that will protect more than 200,000 people.
Telle will now be overseeing the nation’s largest fighting force at a time when the U.S. is still engaged in conflict with Iran and significant Army forces are stationed in the Middle East.
The war has significantly contributed to the U.S. military’s shortfall in critical weapons like the Patriot and THAAD defense missile interceptors systems, which are operated by the Army.
Driscoll, an Army veteran who served in Iraq, is a friend of Vice President JD Vance and had good relationships with both Republicans and Democrats in Congress.
His allies in the Army who were ousted by Hegseth included its top uniformed leader, Gen. Randy George. Gen. Christopher LaNeve took over as the Army’s acting chief of staff and recently pulled the plug on a drone modernization program that Driscoll had championed.
Driscoll spoke with Trump on the current state of the Army before he submitted his resignation, the Associated Press has reported.
Driscoll did not allude to any problems in the only public statement on his departure, saying Tuesday that it has been “the honor of a lifetime” to serve as Army secretary under Trump and Hegseth.
Democrats and Republicans lamented Driscoll’s departure, with some blaming Hegseth directly.
Sen. Thom Tillis, a North Carolina Republican who is retiring and sometimes has clashed with Trump, said on social media that Hegseth “is creating a leadership void at the top of our military ranks.”
Sept. 4 (UPI) — President Donald Trump has named Adam Telle, current assistant secretary for the Army for Civil Works, acting secretary of the Army amid an ongoing shakeup of the U.S. military.
In a brief statement posted on his Truth Social media platform, Trump announced that Telle would be assuming the position immediately, while describing him only as “a Great Patriot, who is respected by all.”
Trump named Telle days after his predecessor, Dan Driscoll, reportedly submitted his resignation following months of reported tension with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, an exit that has raised concern among some as there has been a steady stream of resignations, early retirements and firings among Pentagon leadership during the second Trump administration.
On Tuesday evening, Driscoll made his resignation public, saying in an online statement Wednesday would be his last day.
“As a third-generation Army veteran, it has been the honor of a lifetime to serve as the secretary of the Army under President Trump and Secretary Hegseth,” he said.
“Our soldiers, civilians and their families are our nation’s very best, and they have inspired me every day. I am sincerely thankful for their service and sacrifice.”
On Wednesday, Sen. Thom Tillis, a Republican from North Carolina, called on Trump to fire Hegseth, a former Army National Guard major who took office with less senior government and military leadership experience than any other secretary of Defense, saying he has “never witnessed more inept management of the brave men and women who serve our country.”
Hegseth has overseen a sweeping overhaul of the department, including a purge of two dozen generals, admirals and senior civilian defense officials who have either resigned, announced early retirement or been fired. Several left following reported clashes with the secretary, who has plunged into culture-war issues, eliminating policies he has characterized as “woke.”
“He is indeed a great Patriot — and will be an immediate asset to the @USArmy.”
Sen. Bill Hagerty, R-Tenn., was among Republicans quick to congratulate Telle for being chosen to lead the Army and Trump for picking him.
“This is a critical position for our nation’s defense, and I can’t imagine a better leader for the world’s greatest warriors,” Hagerty said in a social media statement.
“He knows how to inspire, lead and equip the Army for success. Given the challenges we face today, Adam is the ‘man for the moment.'”
August Wilson’s “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom,” the first of his plays to reach Broadway, catapulted the author’s playwriting career.
It’s the only drama in Wilson’s 10-play American Century Cycle not set in Pittsburgh’s Hill District. But the series might never have come to fruition were it not for the way “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom” heralded the emergence of a major new American dramatist.
Although it’s still one of his most produced works, “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom” has the hallmarks of an early piece. Wilson discovers his playwriting voice in this play, but he’s still working out his approach to dramatic structure.
I wasn’t champing at the bit to see another production of “Ma Rainey’s,” but I’m glad I didn’t miss this latest Wilson revival at A Noise Within, directed by Gregg T. Daniel. Acted with breathtaking ensemble naturalness, the play seems lived in rather than performed.
Francis C. Edemobi, from left, Amber Liekhus and CJ Obilom in August Wilson’s “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom” at A Noise Within.
(Craig Schwartz)
The voices of the characters come through as though we’re eavesdropping from a discreet distance on their banter and squabbles. There’s nothing more riveting on stage than the truth, and here we have human beings in all their flagrant, unadorned and seemingly irreconcilable complications.
Set in a Chicago recording studio in 1927, the play splits its focus between the title character, a fictitious re-creation of the great blues singer Ma Rainey engaged in a power struggle with her white industry overlords, and the exchanges of her sidemen, a quartet of Black men with markedly different ambitions and sensibilities.
Levee, the role magnificently played by Chadwick Boseman in George C. Wolfe‘s 2020 film adaptation, may have more of a claim on the protagonist role than even Ma Rainey, who’s the play’s thematic center. As she throws her diva weight around in defense of a talent born out of Black suffering, she crystallizes the racial politics that Wilson powerfully illuminates.
But Levee’s role is the most dynamic in the play. A trumpeter who wants to move the band in a more musically sophisticated direction, he’s written his own arrangement of the song “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom” that they’ve come to the studio to record. But Ma Rainey insists on doing it her way, even if Levee’s version is more interesting from a jazz perspective.
Overcome with anger from a traumatic childhood in which he witnessed his mother being raped by a mob of white men, he can’t tolerate slights, big or small. And his fiery temper, igniting at every possible moment with his older and more accommodating bandmates, turns this snapshot of history into genuine tragedy.
Kai A. Ealy, from left, Alex Morris, Gerald C. Rivers and Jamar Gilbert in August Wilson’s “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom” at A Noise Within.
(Craig Schwartz)
The bedraggled studio has been visually renovated with the wood-slatted elegance of Tesshi Nakagawa’s scenic design. Daniel’s production demands that we experience the play in a fresh light. The period is respected but never allowed to become stiff or artificial. This isn’t a waxwork staging.
Standing microphones, placed on different tiers of the set, never let us forget that Wilson was first and foremost a conductor of voices. He bestows on his characters arias, and Daniel’s cast delivers them as though the words were expressly made for these particular actors.
Jamar Gilbert’s Levee moves through the world as if it’s a battle zone, which of course for him it has been. Conflict has dogged him his entire life, and injustice is what he’s come to expect. His focus is on himself, his music, his sensual pleasures and his determination not to be anyone’s victim. He takes as much pride in the shine of his new shoes as he does in the flirtatious giggle of a pretty woman.
Toledo (Gerald C. Rivers), the philosopher and historian of the group, tries to broaden Levee’s perspective, but the two men have a knack for getting under each other’s skin. Their antagonism is fueled in part by Levee’s immaturity, but there’s also a divide in their worldview: Levee wants society to change in time for him to make good while Toledo is more concerned with the collective spirit of his people.
Meanwhile, Slow Drag (Alex Morris) mostly wants to get on with the session, collect his money and enjoy life as it was meant to be enjoyed, with whiskey, a little reefer and good-looking women. Cutler (Kai A. Ealy) tries to be a moderating influence, but he winds up as exasperated by Levee as Toledo.
Alex Morris, from left, Amber Liekhus and Jamar Gilbert in August Wilson’s “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom” at A Noise Within.
(Craig Schwartz)
The authenticity of the production encompasses the music. These actors don’t mime making music, as is often the case in revivals. They jam together, modestly but effectively enough to make their recording session real to us.
There’s nothing at all modest about Amber Liekhus’ musical talent. Indeed, Liekhus is the first actor who was able to convince me that the character of Ma Rainey really is a professional, jobbing singer. She doesn’t imitate being the mother of the blues, as her character is known. She earns the distinction through the wondrous depths of her soulful singing.
She refuses to be bulldozed by either Irvin (Bert Emmett), her manager, or Sturdyvant (Matt Foyer), the owner of the recording studio, knowing full well that they depend on her gift for their pile of money. Her insistence that Sylvester (Francis C. Edemobi), her nephew with a pronounced stutter, speaks the intro to her new record, is her way of asserting human control over corporate greed.
Liekhus’ Ma Rainey isn’t merely being temperamental, as Sturdyvant and Irvin assume. She’s using her limited leverage in whatever ways she can. There’s something touching about her imperiousness, a regal vulnerability that shines through even in her romantic interaction with Dussie Mae (CJ Obilom), whom Levee has his predatory eye on.
The honesty of the acting is so enlivening that I’m tempted to rank this production among the very best Wilson revivals I’ve seen. If there’s one slight misstep, it happens at the play’s violent climax. The moment makes perfect psychological and dramatic sense, but the confrontation needs a few more beats than Daniel allows.
But this encounter with “Ma Rainey” reveals that even early Wilson can, in the right hands, offer unadulterated playwriting greatness.
‘Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom’
Where: A Noise Within, 3352 E. Foothill Blvd., Pasadena
Naya Rivera and Ryan Dorsey’s son is making his film acting debut.
The “Glee” star’s 10-year-old son, Josey Hollis Dorsey, booked an on-screen role in “The Burning Valley” alongside his dad, Ryan. The two will play the role of father and son in the debut feature film from writer-director Evan Coury that started shooting this month northeast of Pittsburgh.
In an interview with the Tribune-Review, the filmmaker said the movie is about a steelworker who loses his job when the mill announces a shutdown. “It sets him on a journey as he wanders through his Rust Belt town,” Coury said. “My hope is to encapsulate the history of our region through one guy’s personal experience.”
The news of Josey’s big-screen debut comes six years after the tragic death of Rivera in 2020, when she accidentally drowned after renting a boat to take Josey, then 4 years old, fishing in Ventura County’s Lake Piru.
Josey’s foray into acting seems only natural considering his pro parents. Rivera is best known for her portrayal of the Afro-Latino queer cheerleader Santana Lopez in “Glee,” and Dorsey has acted in TV shows including “Justified” and “Palm Royale.” In a 2021 interview with “Entertainment Tonight,” Rivera’s mother, Yolanda Previtire, and sister, Nickayla Rivera, described Josey as the spitting image of his mother. “His tenacity, his drive, his zeal, his adventure for life. He’s just Naya in boy form,” Previtire said.
“He loves entertaining,” Nickayla added. “He loves singing at the top of his lungs.”
And last year, Dorsey told People that Josey, or “Jojo,” had already acted in a couple of plays. “He hasn’t had the the lead part or anything, but he’s so good,” he said, adding that Josey wasn’t “begging” to be an actor just yet.
“I’m just trying to expose him to all the things,” he continued. “He’s playing violin, he’s playing piano, he’s in the chess club, he’s pretty good at baseball. He’s not very good at basketball. He’s played soccer, but I want to continue to expose him to things. I think it could be an outlet for him as he gets older; he can have a good life being creative. It’s definitely in his blood.”
Speaking in June last year to British businesswoman and podcaster Emma Grede, Meghan talked about her Netflix lifestyle series With Love, Meghan, and hinted at a return to acting when asked if she missed that side to her life.
“Sometimes,” Meghan replied. “Being back on set with With Love, Meghan was great because I realised how much I miss my crew. I love being around a crew.”
But Variety’s chief correspondent Marlow Stern says when it comes to deliberations over a potential acting role for Meghan, “a lot of it has to do with scheduling, to be honest”.
“They’re maybe also negotiating the size of the role and how many days she’ll shoot, and also compensation for it. Both sides often play the media to try and push things along, and we could be seeing that.”
For Harry, the focus once back in the UK will be on the charity work and patronages he has kept hold of while living thousands of miles away.
He has now completed his final charity engagements in the US before flying back to the UK in the coming days.
In Washington DC, he met military veterans and their families and visited America’s main hospital for injured servicemen and women, Walter Reed National Military Medical Centre.
At Arlington National Cemetery, he visited the final resting place of many service personal killed in Iraq and Afghanistan wars where he himself served on two operational tours.
At the grave of Sergeant Michael Verardo, who died last year from complications related to injuries sustained in Afghanistan in 2010, he met Verardo’s widow Sarah – who now supports other military families – and their nine-year-old daughter, Elizabeth.
Kelvin Washington: Hello, and welcome to this week’s episode of The Envelope. Kelvin Washington, Yvonne Villarreal and Mark Olsen here. We’ve been talking about it now for the last couple of weeks, but we’re less than a month away from the Emmys. Mariska Hargitay is gonna be the host. I’m looking forward to that because who’s living a better life than her? She’s nominated, of course. She’s hosting. And her Knicks won the NBA championship — she’s at this point an honorary Knick. I mean, it’s like she’s on the team.
Yvonne Villarreal: And she went to the Taylor Swift wedding.
Washington: That’s a good point.
Villarreal: Don’t forget that. And starring on Broadway.
Washington: So she is living her best life, yeah.
Villarreal: She’s living a better life than I am.
Washington: So I’m going to answer the question first. I’m gonna ask you, what are you looking forward to [at the Emmys]? Maybe some things you’re excited for. For me, it’s just seeing this culmination of all these things for her and just having a big moment there. I think she’s gonna own that space and I think everybody’s gonna enjoy it as well. What are you looking forward to?
Villarreal: I’m really, really excited to see my beloved Philip and Elizabeth Jennings as nominees — Matthew Rhys and Keri Russell. Not to be parasocial, but I just love that they’re both nominated. I just want a magical night for them both.
Mark Olsen: I don’t want to be a bring-down bummer here, but, you know, I find that the Emmys in particular, even more than the Oscars, kind of play favorites, and the same winners can happen again and again. It’s not as bad as it may once have been, but I’m always rooting for new blood, first-time nominees, people that it’s exciting to see them kind of get this platform. So nothing against your beloved, but I would be excited to see an underdog or somebody kind of an outsider. Say, for example, the rest of the cast of “Widow’s Bay,” which as you’ve said before, really came out of nowhere, [and] it’s become a bit of a favorite this season. And there’s some other performers there, Dale Dickey, Stephen Root, Kate O’Flynn, and I think any of them winning would be really exciting.
Villarreal: I won’t argue with that.
Washington: I was waiting on an argument.
Villarreal: We fight off camera.
Washington: And by the way, Mark, I mean, can good be good? Or great be great? If I’m great 10 years in a row, can I just be great 10 years in a row and win? You’re putting limitations on my victories.
Olsen: Yeah, but at some point, your shelf is full.
Washington: That’s true. Don’t worry about what’s going on in my mantle, all right?
That being said, we got Matthew Rhys, who you had a chance to speak to. Double nominee here, “Widow’s Bay” and “The Beast in Me.” Tell me a little bit more about your conversation.
Olsen: Just a rare double nominee, lead actor in a comedy series with “Widow’s Bay,” and then lead actor in a limited or anthology series or movie with “The Beast in Me.” And I think what’s exciting here is that these are just two very different performances. He’s this manipulative, maybe psychopathic real estate developer in “The Beast in Me,” and then this kind of harried, put-upon single dad and mayor of a small, cursed New England island in “Widow’s Bay,” and I think both of these roles show new sides of Matthew to audiences. But then when you take them together, it just feels like something else entirely.
Washington: All right, well let’s take a look. It’s M&M — Matthew and Mark — here now.
Matthew Rhys.
(Ebru Yildiz / For The Times)
Mark Olsen: For the Los Angeles Times and The Envelope, I’m Mark Olsen. I’m here today with Matthew Rhys, who is nominated for an Emmy for lead actor in a comedy series for “Widow’s Bay” [and] lead actor in a limited or anthology series [or movie] for “The Beast in Me,” and another nomination as executive producer on “Widow’s Bay.”
Matthew Rhys: I forgot about the executive producer part. It’s an exciting time.
Olsen: And now being nominated for these two performances, which are very different performances —
Rhys: [whispers] They’re not really.
Olsen: Now tell me about that. You don’t think they are?
Rhys: Look, I think I was about to speak for a number of actors and I shouldn’t. I can only speak for myself. Sometimes there’s seemingly or feels like there’s very little difference in them. I’m not, I don’t pretend to be an enormously transformative actor, hunting for the “chameleon” praise.
Olsen: But do you consider yourself versatile? It’s so interesting to me to hear you say you don’t see these roles as that different.
Rhys: I wouldn’t say I’m versatile in that chameleon-like way or transformative way, I just try to work from a place… We’re already into it.
Olsen: That’s what we’re here for.
Rhys: I know. It always makes me nauseous. I do try to live in a place that feels real to me and that what we talk about, working from your center. So when I move away from that, things start to feel insincere, so I tend not to.
Olsen: With “Widow’s Bay,” a lot of the coverage around it has been talking about how it’s been a real surprise hit. And I’m just wondering, what is it that you think that audiences are responding to?
Rhys: You know, timing is everything. I do think there was a place that was ready for “Widow’s Bay,” whereby nothing of the sort had been around for a while. You hadn’t had “Twin Peaks,” although we were kind of slightly “The Office,” “Twin Peaks,” sprinkling of “Northern Exposure” maybe, but nothing I think of that sort had been for a while. So I think people were just ready for something different, and then we’re certainly different.
Olsen: Betty Gilpin, your co-star on the show, she is also a nominee, in a recent interview said that she feels like it’s as if audiences are rejecting this idea of a really sort of safe, algorithm-approved show. And do you feel the same?
Rhys: Absolutely, and it’s wildly refreshing to know that people are going, “No, we want something different. And we are intelligent enough to deal with it. So give it to us.” And that I found very, very inspiring, very encouraging — that television and film should be pushing itself continually for that original material and not relying on remakes.
Olsen: When did you realize that the show was connecting in the way that it is? I’ve seen in some other interviews you say that even when you were shooting it, you weren’t totally sure, didn’t totally think that it would connect with people.
Rhys: No, none of us — a lot of us were like, “Are we getting the tone right? Is this right? Is this going to work?” It was a swing. It was an absolute swing. A kind of beautiful one, nonetheless. But we were all concerned — not concerned, maybe just intrigued — as to how it would be received. And it was a little bit more word of mouth. Friends were saying, “Oh, I’ve seen your show.” And then throughout my career, it’s probably the job I’ve been stopped most for. And I’m not saying that happens often. But at least twice I’ve been stopped for it. So that’s been refreshing.
Olsen: And people are really talking a lot about this mix of tones. It’s a horror-comedy that’s both very much funny and scary. What was the challenge of getting that mix right?
Rhys: Making both real, ultimately. I know that sounds very obvious and stupid, but it’s true. And also Katie Dippold spoke to this, the creator and writer, where she said she kind of thought one can almost relieve the other. When there’s incredible tension from horror, when the laugh comes in, it’s almost a big laugh because it’s the relief of being allowed to laugh. So she says sometimes that can pay off in a way. It’s much harder the other way around, but it also works the other way around where you catch an audience off guard because they’re laughing and then you hit them with horror. So I think both bizarrely can help each other.
Olsen: I’m thinking about something like the episode that’s mostly on a boat, that gets very sort of slapstick-y at moments, but then there’s still something very terrifying about what’s happening there.
Rhys: Yes, we’ve hit the nail on the head. That kind of tone I found very hard. There are these borderline farcical moments of wrestling with a man who’s 400 years old and it becoming kind of very comedic physically and yet it has to remain that there’s this element of danger or threat that’s very real and palpable. And so those are the moments you try and ground in a way so that the extreme elements can also live in a real place.
Olsen: Because you mentioned a man who’s 400 years old, the mythology of the show gets more complicated as it goes along, right up until the very last episode. Were there moments where you had to sort of step aside and ask people to explain it to you?
Rhys: No, because I think the chronology is laid out beautifully throughout the series and you’re kind of led in a way where it unfolds very organically. So I was very relieved that to be the case that there’s no kind of, “Wait, where are we? What’s, who’s this?” So that I thought was kind of beautifully executed. And because of that, because of the detail in the backstory, then the story I think pays off far greater.
Olsen: The final episode really lands it so well as far as being both funny and scary and also the way that it sets up a next season, which happily is happening. The finale promises even more murder and mayhem for Season 2. I know the writers room is already hard at work. Do you have any insights on what at least you would like to see happen?
Rhys: No, I’m desperately intrigued as to what she has in mind because I wouldn’t have the first clue as to where to start Season 2. I’m very assured that the warped mind of Katie Dippold will helm us into a giddy storm.
Olsen: One thing I have to ask about “Widow’s Bay” is simply, in preparing to play this small-town mayor who’s very concerned about tourist season, did you refer at all to maybe the most famous other small-town mayor played by Murray Hamilton in “Jaws”?
Rhys: Well, I would like to say yes because “Jaws” is an enormous favorite of mine, but he’s a very different mayor, if you look at his mayor. He’s very assured. He gets a little frustrated with Brody, but he’s not that kind of cortisol-burning, wild-eyed panic that Tom Loftis is. He is far more assured of what he should be doing for the municipality than Tom is. I even said at one point, I said, “Can we get away with the jacket, you know, the anchor jacket?” And they were like, no, because that would be too obvious.
Olsen: I like that you had the impulse.
Rhys: A lot of my performances have some reference to “Jaws,” regardless of the piece, because I’m usually Quint. So I was very upset in the boat scene you referenced when obviously myself, Stephen Root and Hamish Linklater sat around and said, OK, Stephen Root, you are obviously Quint, what does that make Hamish and myself? Who’s [Richard] Dreyfuss and who’s Roy Scheider in this? And Hamish went, “Well, I’m Dreyfuss.” I was like, “I am not Brody.” They’re like, “You’re wearing the life jacket. Of course you’re Brody!” This is the kind of thing actors talk about.
Olsen: But you weren’t happy with that?
Rhys: I’ve always wanted to be Quint. I love Brody, but my heart lies with Quint
Olsen: Now, I came to realize that “Brothers and Sisters,” it goes back 20 years now that you were on that show. And I’m just so curious, working steadily in TV for 20 years now, how has the job of being an actor on TV changed in that time?
Rhys: I don’t think it’s changed, per se. From a personal point of view, it’s been incredible to play the wide variety that I’ve been allowed to. I think the scope of television has changed wildly in 20 years and the length and breadth of the variety there is kind of remarkable at times. And sometimes you wonder if it’s sustainable. If anything, it’s offered more opportunities, I think, for actors, but the kind of core fundamentals I think are still the same.
Olsen: Do you yourself watch a lot of TV?
Rhys: Yes, yes. I never watch myself, but yes. I tend to lean towards more documentaries than anything else. Fiction, I’m always like, “Oh, that’s the day job.”
Olsen: Because I know you’ve talked a lot about your interest in boats, and is there a lot of boats-and-restoration content out there?
Rhys: What, fiction or documentary-wise?
Olsen: I wonder what your algorithm is like.
Rhys: I don’t do much with Instagram but my algorithm is generally older men showing you how to kind of spile a garboard plank next to a keel, things like that.
Olsen: And are there a lot of documentaries about boats and restoration?
Rhys: There’s a lot on YouTube, none of which really hold your attention. What I think is like, where is the kind of “Chef’s Table” of boat restoration? That’s what I’m waiting for.
Olsen: I think you maybe have to be the one to make that show.
Rhys: I might have to, but I worry about the breadth of audience we’d have there. Or how to make boat restoration interesting to the masses. Therein lies the challenge.
Olsen: Well, they say niche markets sometimes …
Rhys: You can capture a zeitgeist moment.
Olsen: With your work on television, you have a really strong track record between “Brothers and Sisters,” “The Americans,” “Perry Mason,” now with “Widow’s Bay,” and also with “The Beast in Me.” For you, what goes into choosing a role?
Rhys: This is the real luxury of having a degree of choice. It’s not always choice, but more often than not, a project comes along that I’ll read and there’ll be a number of things. I’ll be like, “Ooh, I’ve never done it.” Like “Widow’s Bay,” I read it and I went, “The scripts are fantastic and I have never done anything like this in my life.” “Beast in Me,” the same, the writing’s so strong, but also that role is something I’d never done before. And the same, obviously, for “The Americans” and “Brothers and Sisters.” So if there’s an opportunity to try something very new, to me, it’s the ultimate luxury. And so that’s been a real driving force. And strong stories, the want of knowing how it ends, just simple storytelling.
Olsen: Do you find that your instincts have changed over the years? Are you looking for the same things that you feel like you were when you were starting in television 20 years ago?
Rhys: No, not necessarily. I always wanted, if I was fortunate enough, to do something that would challenge me, that would push me, that I hadn’t done, that’d scare me, that’d make me nervous every day on set, which a lot of these projects have done. I thought that would be all that I’d want.
Olsen: Because your character in “The Beast in Me,” again, I have to come back to this idea that you think these two roles are kind of similar, because your character on “The Beast in Me” seems so self-assured, like he has a confidence that Loftis does not have.
Rhys: Yes, that is very true and it was the observation of the wealthy that kind of led me there and especially uber-wealth, where there’s a real assurance of not having to try almost because there’s no need and this innate feeling that you will absolutely get your own way and people will bend to your will purely because of wealth.
Olsen: And now playing that role, getting a little taste of that, like, is that a nice place?
Rhys: What, self-assured?
Olsen: Is that a good position to be in, that people do what you want.
Rhys: Oh, I’m sure it’s great. I’ve never tasted it. It’s something I aspire to by the hour. And being riddled with all the cliched insecurities that every other actor, when you’re playing it, you go, “God, this feels great. To not even have to try with people must be so wonderful.” I’ve no desire to kind of glean the kind of affirmation from the person I’m talking to. Almost quite the opposite.
Olsen: “Widow’s Bay” has such a big ensemble, and then in “The Beast in Me,” really most of your scenes are just you and Claire Danes in this series of escalating conversations. Did you like that distinction? For “The Beast in Me,” did you like the pared-back intimacy of those scenes that the two of you have?
Rhys: Absolutely. I think that was the big draw of the piece, these two people who are kind of, they’re like two magnets in a way, they’re so drawn, they are so repulsed, they’re kind of images of each other’s shadow self, they see so much of each other while [being] polarizingly different. That to me was part of the great draw of that piece, with these two people and how they connected or seemingly didn’t.
Olsen: I don’t think you’ve worked with Claire Danes before?
Rhys: Prior to that, no.
Olsen: Because just in a practical sense, what is it like for two actors when you have so many of your scenes together? Like you sort of have to feel out not only how the characters are, but also how you as performers, as work colleagues, get through the day. What is that process like?
Rhys: I mean, look, with Claire, having known and watched her body of work, [I knew] she’s like a powerhouse and kind of brings that to set. And from day one of rehearsals, I kind of sat up and went, “Oh God, right, come on, let’s focus here,” because she has that laser that is on a switch. And when it’s switched, it’s on. And woe betide you if you haven’t prepared as well as she has. So that was very quick. The ascent of going, “Right, yes, A-game at all times, please.” Which is fantastic. It’s everything you want in a scene partner. It’s someone who kind of scares you and kind of raises your game and demands, you know, a kind of a better tennis game, although I’ve never played tennis. I’m sure it’s great.
Olsen: Do you feel like you’re that kind of actor too?
Rhys: No. I’m the one making fart jokes and then kind of going, “Will you concentrate?” I don’t think I have that kind of prowess, that kind of switch [that] is so alarmingly kind of night and day. I creak into it.
Olsen: Because there’s an intensity to your performance here. I mean, it goes big at times, there’s the “Psycho Killer” dance —
Rhys: The Achilles’ heel. I begged them to remove that scene because anywhere I see the scene direction “He dances” or “[Character] dances,” I can taste the vomit in my own mouth.
Olsen: And now did you choreograph that ahead of time?
Rhys: Nope, I just went for it. In fact a very charming woman came up to me on the street and she goes, “I love ‘The Beast in Me’ and I loved how camp your dancing was.” And I went, “Oh, it wasn’t meant to be necessarily camp.” Well, clearly it was to her. And also playing drunk, drunk and dancing, I was like, “Oh, some vicious planets are aligning.”
Olsen: And do you have a trick to drunk acting?
Rhys: Yes, I get drunk. It’s a very simple trick that most actors overlook. You just drink and then you’re drunk. The only time I venture into Method acting.
Olsen: But then about how many takes do you have in you?
Rhys: Two. No, no, I didn’t get drunk. I got tipsy. No, no it’s very different. It’s hard, it’s hard. That’s always a hard one because also we shot that over the entire day. So it started at like 8 a.m.And to be perfectly honest, sometimes you’ll do a take and it’s like, the drunk acting is too apparent. Let’s bring it back. Claire Danes nailed drunk acting from take one. And I was like, god— it! I mean, she’s done it again.
Olsen: And then also the chicken scene, how many chickens did you have to eat?
Rhys: I come into my own. Eating on screen is not and never has been a problem for me. I will take down any amount of food and I will not ask for a spit bucket. They were like, “Oh, we have a spit bucket.” I think, “No, I’m not spitting up perfectly good chicken” — and it was really good chicken. I think I went through about three chickens. What I loved about that scene, and this is what I love about all good writing, is when a brief element, usually it’s wordless, can say so much about a character or what the character is trying to do to the person in the room through a very simple action. So I loved that from what it did in that moment. He’s doing it overtly to try and intimidate her. It’s something which says so much about him and the way he does it, I thought it was an incredibly beautiful and shrewd piece of writing.
Olsen: Over the course of the series, how did you modulate how crazy to seem?
Rhys: Because it’s kind of present from the get-go. And that was a heavy reliance on the directors. We had some incredible directors on that. Antonio Campos, who kind of began and ended us, we had a little bit of a dial, and he was like, “Bring it back a bit” or “I think it needs a little more.” He was very good at truly kind of conducting in that moment. And we had the luxury of being able to do a few takes where he’s like, “Bring it up a bit” or, “OK, that’s good, let’s take it down a bit.”
Olsen: Were you happy with how that ended up?
Rhys: I don’t watch it. I haven’t watched myself in about 10 years. I get stuck on the wrong things. I become too concerned about the way I use my hands or how strange my walk is or the weird kind of idiosyncrasy of my mouth. So then when I’m doing it next, I’m like, “I am not going to do anything with my hands and I’m going to change my walk.” And then the director is like, “What is wrong with your walk and why are you sitting on your hands?” So I tend not to watch myself.
Olsen: You said 10 years ago. Did something really make you be like, “I’m not doing that anymore?”
Rhys: In fairness, it was more than 10 years ago. It was “Brothers and Sisters.” I started watching that and I was like, “Oh my God. Why has no one said anything? Look at my posture.” And then you become obsessed with sitting with better posture. And then everyone’s like, “Why are you sitting weirdly?” I was never clever enough to take from it a kind of positive critical foundation. I was taking the wrong things, usually physically attributed, that would get in my head when I was acting. And then that’s all I could think about while I was doing it, and I was on a road to ruin.
Olsen: So often you’re doing an American accent or a voice that is not your own and I know for myself I feel like I wouldn’t be able to think about anything but that, that’s all I would be able think about while I was performing.
Rhys: The accent is strange because I think in one way such an enormous part of my head is always working on the next sound to come out of my mouth. I think it stops you in a way from kind of acting, if that makes sense. It takes the self-conscious element out of you because you’re so busy working on something else. My acting teacher from drama school would always say, “Give yourself something to do to stop yourself acting.” It’s like you’re spending so much time thinking about the way you sound, it can relax you in a different way because you’re not thinking about acting.
Olsen: And then is it also a big challenge for you to try to make different American accents? How hard is it for you to do those different American sounds?
Rhys: It depends on the accent. I mean, sometimes the more extreme sounds are easier to hook into, like, you know, the Southern states or Boston or New York. Then you get, you know, California’s kind of softer, so it’s harder. It doesn’t have that extreme hook to find. And then there are just simply words in the American dialect that can take me down, like “murderer” or “world,” sometimes “girl” is tricky. But “murderer.” Which is unfortunate, because I played lawyers, spies who kill people. I’ve had to say it a lot. So I always go, “Can I say ‘killer’?” I just sound like I run out of battery.
Olsen: Do you find that living in America, has it helped you?
Rhys: Oh, without question, because going into a job, a couple of weeks before, I’ll be doing it — not at home, because it drives the kids crazy. They’re like, “He sounds so fake.” And then they’re like “Oh, here he is, he’s doing that again.” I’m like, “I’m not Dick Van Dyke, so I don’t know who you’re impersonating.” So yeah, you can go into the bodega and pretend to be American.
Olsen: On the day that Emmy nominations were announced, you did an interview with my colleague, Yvonne Villarreal, and you told her that you were meeting your partner, Keri Russell, also an Emmy nominee, at a mystery location. Would you mind completing that story? Where did you go?
Rhys: We went to the U.N. No, we didn’t, but I wish I could say that. We went to the Armory in New York with, oh God, I can’t remember the name of the exhibition. It was an incredible exhibition where three enormous tanks of water were filled with water and ceramic bowls and a current was introduced and then these ceramic bowls would clank into each other to make different noises in this incredible space. It was wondrous. Now, if the artist, for some unknown reason, watches this and goes, “I can’t believe he didn’t remember my name or the name of the exhibition,” I apologize profusely. But it was incredible.
Olsen: That sounds like a great way to spend the day.
Rhys: Yeah, it was. It was fantastic. And then we had a great dinner and celebrated and said, you know, “This is the high point, it’s downhill from here on out.”
Olsen: Well, the two of you were recently referred to as television’s first couple.
Rhys: I said that.
Olsen: And I’m wondering, I can only imagine you don’t walk around thinking of yourself —
Rhys: Oh, no, I do. I have a badge and a T-shirt, but no one believes me.
Olsen: But what does that make you think of when you hear yourselves referred to in that way?
Rhys: It kind of makes me laugh. You go, “Oh, God.” And also — and I hate to sound like I’m some bitter old fool, but I am — we’ve done it a long time. We’re of a certain age. You kind of know tomorrow there’s another first couple. So you go, “We’re today’s first couple, and it’s great. And we’ll take it and we’ll enjoy it.”
Olsen: Do you find, especially in the way that your personal and professional lives are intertwined, is it good that you have each other to keep yourselves in check?
Rhys: Yes, it also helps that you have a partner that fully understands what you do, because it’s a mad circus life and sometimes, you know, it’s hard, I think, for partners who don’t quite understand how crazy it is. So it is great in that respect that you fully understand what the other one is doing.
Olsen: And is that also part of where your interest in boats comes from? Is it something that’s totally separate?
Rhys: So she could kick me out of the house is why she bought me the boat.
Olsen: There’s something just totally separate from your work life.
Rhys: Absolutely, absolutely. And it’s something so other. … Opinions can vary so wildly, you know, critics can contradict each other in certain criticisms. The kind of more simple aspect, especially when I was restoring the boat, was that it felt a lot purer and simpler. That you can, at the end of the day, you look back at this piece of wood you’d be working on and go, “There we are, I did that.” And there’s no one saying, “Well, you could have done it this way.” You know what I mean? I always enjoyed the satisfaction it gave me in that sense.
Olsen: Wait, how many boats do you have?
Rhys: I only have one. She’s for sale, if anyone’s interested.
Olsen: Do you want to now find another boat to do this all over again?
Rhys: I don’t, because my wrists have given up. It was much harder than I thought it was going to be. It was an incredible journey, and it was kind of inspired by Hemingway, in a way, it was the same class of boat that he had. So I had all these giddy, kind of rose-tinted romantic notions of what I was doing until I was knee-deep in fiberglass, going, “Why did I think this was a good idea?”
Dubbed an ‘excellent movie all round’, the edge-of-your-seat war drama thriller has completely captivated audiences, with some fans declaring it’s ‘the best movie’ they’ve ‘ever seen’.
The ‘masterpiece’ film has a near-perfect rating on Rotten Tomatoes(Image: Entertainment One)
Dubbed an ‘excellent movie all round’, the edge-of-your-seat war drama thriller has completely captivated audiences, with some fans declaring it’s ‘the best movie’ they’ve ‘ever seen’.
Eye in the Sky is a 2016 war drama starring British acting royalty — and it’s currently available to stream for free on BBCiPlayer. The modern warfare thriller stars the late great British icon and acting legend Alan Rickman, and is considered his last live-action feature film — having released posthumously on April 15, 2016, just months after Rickman died on January 14 that same year. His last film overall though, is Alice Through the Looking Glass, which features him in a voice acting role only.
Eye in the Sky has been dedicated to the Harry Potter star, and while Rickman is definitely one of the highlights of the war drama, he’s far from being the only scene-stealer.
Directed by Gavin Hood with a screenplay penned by Guy Hibbert, Eye in the Sky stars the legendary Helen Mirren in the lead alongside Rickman. The pair are joined by Aaron Paul, Barkhad Abdi, Jeremy Northam, Michael O’Keefe, Phoebe Fox and Iain Glen in supporting roles to round out a talented cast.
Speaking to Collider about her co-star Rickman, Mirren shared: “I think that Alan would have been incredibly proud that this was his last movie. It is what I love about it, which is that the Alan you see up on screen is much closer to the real Alan Rickman that we all knew and loved. You see his intelligence, you see his wit, and you see his authority. I think that that was very much the Alan that we knew.”
With an almost perfect 95% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, Eye in the Sky seems to be loved by one and all.
One viewer was clear the film belonged to Rickman as they wrote on IMDB: “This is Alan Rickman’s movie. He is the star, the cast person who carries the movie. The movie itself is excellent. It tells a compelling story and succeeds in building dramatic tension without becoming contrived.
“The conflict is presented plainly. Every character plays an important role. Yet, Rickman drives this movie. His performance as the general in charge of the operation should earn him at least consideration for the highest official accolades.”
While another fan of the film said: “Excellent movie all around! I rarely give very high ratings, so take this 10 as solid approval. This is a very well-made movie. It’s dramatic (fitting the occasion), compelling, exciting, interesting, intriguing, well-paced, informative, insightful, well scripted, well acted, evocative, relevant, just, intuitive, comprehensive, and so on.
“All of these. I found it very enjoyable to watch, and I followed along and fully understood the situation presented and all of its challenges. It’s difficult to imagine any ways it could be improved.”
An audience review on Rotten Tomatoes states: “Genuinely one of the best films I have ever seen – could be a fantastic debating resource for schools, colleges and universities. Brilliantly communicated from every angle.”
While one viewer said in a glowing review: “I have to say: This film blows my mind. The combination of the suspense, the back-and-forth, and the frustration exceeds any out-of-the-world action sequences; not to mention Mirren and Rickman being superb as always.”
Critics were left equally impressed, with one writing: “It’s a tight thriller played out smoothly but tying the viewer in moral knots. A film to think about for days, with little hope of finding a comfortable answer.”
While another reviewer said: “Eye in the Sky is a disturbing, intelligent and very well crafted contemporary thriller with a solid screenplay by Guy Hibbert and seamless direction.”
A third critic added: “This is the kind of intelligent, thought-provoking mainstream film that’s in danger of becoming extinct. Eye in the Sky is miles above the average multiplex flick.”
Eye in the Sky is available to watch free of cost on BBC iPlayer.
