“The Americans,” a new espionage series set to begin on Wednesday on FX, stars Keri Russell and Matthew Rhys as Soviet sleeper agents posing as an average married couple in the Washington suburbs in the early 1980s. (You can read more about the series here.) The show, a spy thriller/domestic drama, requires the actors to balance violent fight scenes and other action set pieces with the more delicate work of portraying a coldly professional relationship that is evolving into something more.
“It’s a real acting challenge,” Mr. Rhys said. “You have these extreme moments hand in hand with the relationship they have that grounds it, or makes it a little more human.”
Ms. Russell and Mr. Rhys didn’t really know each other before filming started. But spend any time on the show’s set in Brooklyn’s Gowanus neighborhood and multiple people will remark, unprovoked, on the chemistry between them, something that became apparent during an interview with both actors in Ms. Russell’s chilly trailer (the heat wasn’t working). Mr. Rhys wore a thick black winter coat, earning mocking scorn from Ms. Russell: “Do you want me to get you some earmuffs?” Continue reading The Spy Who Married Me: Keri Russell and Matthew Rhys on ‘The Americans’