‘The King’s Man’ Star Rhys Ifans On How He Created One Of The Most Insane Villains In Recent Memory (Exclusive)
Disney
- Rhys Ifans stars as Rasputin in The King’s Man, the upcoming prequel in the Kingsman franchise.
- In a franchise known for its insanity, Ifans’ Rasputin is far and away the wildest character to appear in the series thus far.
- Speaking to our Post Credit Podcast, Ifans detailed how he brought the instantly iconic villain to life.
While the Kingsman franchise is known for its joyous sense of insanity, Welsh actor Rhys Ifans brings that gonzo sensibility to entirely new heights with his performance as infamous Russian mystic and self-proclaimed holy man Rasputin, who is easily the craziest character to appear in the series so far.
In an interview with our Post Credit Podcast, Ifans detailed how much of the performance was baked into Matthew Vaughn’s bonkers script and how much of the character was shaped by his own personal performance choices.
“A lot of [the performance] is on the page, but of course, you bring your own sense of mischief to the proceedings. Everything — all my choices — were inspired by the real man, by Rasputin himself, who was a fantastical, larger-than-life figure who loomed over the Russian psyche then and now,” Ifans told BroBible’s Post Credit Podcast.
“He looked different to everyone at that time — everyone in that period had the same haircut, seemingly except for Rasputin. Rasputin looks like this guy who runs a satanic wellness clinic. This is not a guy you want a colonic irrigation from, I’ll tell you that. He had to be mad, bad, and dangerous, which is how he was described in history. So, really, everything I bring to the screen is stuff that I read about Rasputin and it is slightly tweaked and twisted and magnified in order to suit the scene at any given time.”
Ifans’ choices certainly paid off, as his turn as Rasputin is far and away one of the most memorable aspects of The King’s Man, which is legitimately worth seeing solely for his electric portrayal of the mythic Russian figure.
