Category Articles & Interviews

“We’re making a f—ing TV show here!”

Matthew Rhys’ booming stage voice, imbued with Welsh-accented gravitas, fills the commuter train sitting at the edge of the platform at a station in Tuckahoe, N.Y., about 18 miles north of Manhattan. “The Americans,” the beloved FX drama series starring Rhys and Keri Russell, is filming a pivotal scene for its series finale under extremely cramped conditions on a chilly March morning.

The train, borrowed from New York’s Metro-North Railroad, will move back and forth 2,000 feet for three-plus hours while “Americans” director-executive producer Chris Long and his team gather the shots they need.

Rhys, Russell and the rest of the crew are charged up to deliver a powerful conclusion to the six-season saga of the Soviet spy couple masquerading as Philip and Elizabeth Jennings, embedded as a typical 1980s suburban Washington, D.C., married couple with two kids, Paige and Henry. The critical adoration showered on the show has raised the stakes for Team Americans, led by showrunners Joe Weisberg and Joel Fields, to stick the landing with the final season that bows March 28.
Continue reading The Americans: Inside Its Six-Season Journey to Critical Stardom and TV History

Goodbyes are hard. Us Weekly chatted with Keri Russell and Matthew Rhys at the red carpet event for FX’s The Americans in New York City on Friday, March 16, where they dished on filming the final scene of the show — and their responses may surprise you.

When asked if filming the was emotional, the 41-year-old actress quipped: “We were mostly just cold. I’m going to be honest.” Her on-and-off screen beau, 43, added, “It was a bad night here. It was freezing. It was snowing. Everyone was like, ‘We just want to get it finished. We don’t care about crying anymore.’”

Though Rhys reveals that “it wasn’t this heroic last scene everyone was expecting,” the duo thinks fans will enjoy. “You hope [fans will love it.] It was always going to be a hard show to tie up, I think,” he told Us. “There are various ways they could have gone with it. They did it incredibly well. I was incredibly satisfied with the way we wrapped it off.”

The two also explained how they’ll definitely miss the folks they worked with daily for the past six seasons. “It was tough. We had a number of [cast and crew] with us for [all] six seasons — saying bye to [them was hard],” Rhys told Us. “It’s a cliche, but it’s true — especially those who had slightly more personal relationship — the boom guys, the camera guys, the focus guys — the grips. You work with them on a physical level. You dance with them a bit. They’re as much a part of it as anything else.”

Russell added: “I think [it’ll be hard to say goodbye to] the crew. We do become sort of a family. Everyone moves on and scatters and does other things. Especially this series – we shoot a lot outside, in New York winter. It’s hard. It’s different than shooting on a stage. You get closer to people. I will miss our camera guys and our grips.”

But the couple, who play spies Philip and Elizabeth Jennings, won’t have to worry about missing each other following the shows end. Russell and Rhys — who have been dating since 2013 — welcomed son Sam in May 2016. “The glory is we will be with each other every day,” Rhys told Us in June 2017.

The Americans airs on FX Wednesdays at 10 p.m. ET.

Source: https://www.usmagazine.com/

Thanks to lilypoppy for the full article.

THE AMERICANS’ final season premieres March 28 on FX.

“I DON’T HAVE that feeling anymore. Pulling things off.”

“Don’t be ridiculous.”

“I’m serious.”

This exchange is giving Matthew Rhys and Keri Russell, who play married Russian spies working undercover in the Cold War–era D.C. suburbs on FX’s The Americans—which ends forever in May after six seasons—some trouble. The scene has them removing pieces of the disguises they’re wearing as they speak, which sounds easy enough on the page. (“They begin removing their disguises,” says the script for episode seven out of the final season’s ten.) But it requires Russell, as Elizabeth, to pluck out bobby pins and lift off a wig and Rhys, as Philip, to peel off a mustache and beard that need to stay intact for reuse later, while timing their movements and staying centered, sitting on a hotel bed in front of a mirror, so cameras can capture their reflections. Oh, and they have to look completely natural the whole time. Continue reading Keri Russell and Matthew Rhys aren’t as sad about the end of their show as you might think

In this week’s episode, Variety‘s executive editor of TV, Debra Birnbaum, talks with “The Americans” stars Matthew Rhys and Keri Russell about what’s in store for the acclaimed series’ final season. And in the second half of the podcast, “Trust” stars Donald Sutherland and Hilary Swank and director Danny Boyle discuss why they wanted to tackle the story of the Getty kidnapping.

“Everyone dies,” jokes Rhys about “The Americans” finale. “Knowing that it’s coming to an end hasn’t quite sunk in yet.”

While they won’t reveal any specifics about the Jennings’ fate, Russell reveals, “We just read the end, and I have to say it’s incredibly satisfying.”

Agrees Rhys, “I thought it would be difficult for them to tie everything up in one neat parcel [but] I don’t personally believe any real stone was left unturned.”

The final season opener, which is set in the late ’80s, finds the couple at odds with each other — distanced by Philip’s decision to leave the family business.

“There’s a thawing in the Cold War, where there’s this freezing between Philip and Elizabeth,” says Rhys. “That thawing affects directly their relationship.”

What further complicates their relationship is that Paige (Holly Taylor) is even more engaged in the family business, training as a spy, with each of them on opposite sides.

“I wonder if Elizabeth even questions if Paige is right for this,” says Russell.

Source: http://variety.com/

“The Americans” finally broke through at the Emmys with a Best Drama Series nomination for its fourth season, but the Cold War thriller is back to being the underdog two years later, as it gears up to contend for its final season, which premieres March 28 on FX.

By the time that “The Americans” received its Best Drama Series nomination, it had amassed 12 nominations from the Television Critics Assn. — more for its first four seasons of any show ever, except “The Sopranos.” “The Americans” then fell out of the Emmys’ Best Drama Series lineup last year for its fifth season. For the first time, “The Americans” received only one nomination from the TCA, no Critics’ Choice Award nominations and it was not listed among the annual American Film Institute’s Top 10 Programs.

Based on the first three episodes of the 10-episode sixth season, “The Americans” is continuing with its more intimate pace. These episodes are light on watercooler developments, so no plot points are embargoed from mention in advance reviews. For the most part, both KGB operative Philip Jennings (2016/2017 Best Drama Actor nominee Matthew Rhys) and FBI agent Stan Beeman (Noah Emmerich) are out of the spy game, leaving Keri Russell (2016/2017 Best Drama Actress nominee) with the meatiest acting material, as her character — KGB operative Elizabeth Jennings — trains her and Philip’s daughter Paige (Holly Taylor) under KGB handler Claudia (2015/2016 Best Drama Guest Actress winner Margo Martindale).

“The Americans” is positioned well for Emmys nominations by virtue of this being its last chance. The Emmys are infamously stingy when it comes to awarding final seasons, but continually give “goodbye hugs” at the nominations stage. The finale of “The Good Wife” was divisive at best, but earned the show its first Best Drama Writing nomination in six years, since its pilot. The final season of “Downton Abbey” that same year got the show back into the same category for the first time in three years. Maggie Smith also won Best Drama Supporting Actress, having been snubbed altogether the year before for the first time in the role, which had previously won her two Emmys.

Like Smith, Margo Martindale of “The Americans” was nominated for each of the first four seasons, including two wins, then was snubbed for the penultimate season. That Martindale has finally joined the main credits sequence this season suggests that she will have more material than ever before.

If “The Americans” adds a first-time nomination this year, it might be Noah Emmerich, who scored a Critics’ Choice nomination as Best Drama Supporting Actor for the first season. The Emmys continually nominate performances for final seasons that they had wholly ignored prior, including Becky Ann Baker (“Girls”), Ann Dowd (“The Leftovers”) and Laurie Metcalf (“Getting On”) in the past two years.

Source: http://www.goldderby.com/

As spies for Soviet Russia, Philip and Elizabeth Jennings have spent years trying to undermine Reagan-era America from the inside, and now their great game is coming to a close. The latest teaser for the final season of The Americans, which jumps ahead three years to 1987, indicates how much things have changed on the show.

The brief collage of clips is set to Elizabeth (Keri Russell) talking about a successful mission — but at the end of the teaser, it’s revealed she’s not talking to Philip (Matthew Rhys) at all, but rather to their daughter, Paige (Holly Taylor), now wearing her own spy disguise. Like mother, like daughter.

Bringing Paige along on her spying missions represents a dream come true for Elizabeth, as The Americans executive producer Joe Weisberg recently told EW.

“This is what Elizabeth has wanted for a long time, and it’s finally happening,” Weisberg said. “She’s getting to bring her kid along and go out and work with her sometimes and do things with her. She sometimes makes mistakes and that’s a little worrisome, but other times Paige really does well and is successful and that feels great.”

Watch the teaser above. The Americans season 6 premieres March 28 on FX.

Source: http://ew.com

Keri Russell isn’t ready to say goodbye to The Americans.

Currently halfway through production on the sixth and final season of the FX spy drama, the 41-year-old actress took a moment to reflect on her six-year journey playing Elizabeth Jennings, a KGB officer posing as one-half of a married couple opposite real-life partner Matthew Rhys.

“I had no idea from the beginning the experience that it would turn into. I relish this experience,” Russell said at FX’s Television Critics Association press tour during The Americans’ farewell panel on Friday. “It’s been such an enjoyable, creative [time]. I know we’re set in this 1980s spy show, but it’s truly one of my favorite marriage stories, couched in this Cold War spy world. It’s just really sparse, interesting storytelling.”

“For me, playing Elizabeth, I just think as a woman, it’s been an incredible feminist role to get to play,” she continued. “It’s so rare to be so single-minded and she’s so successful at doing it. I’ve really enjoyed it. I’m happy it’s ending on such a high note while I’m still so excited and interested in the storylines. It’s been a great ride.”

Russell admitted that because they still have “two months” left in the filming schedule, she hasn’t had the opportunity to look back on this era in her life and career with any particular significance.

“It’s such an uphill sprint in a great way — that type of work lends itself to the show, the cold and the struggle of it all. I feel like heads are still down, charging up that hill. There’s not a lot of time for reflection. It’s about getting through these last few months,” she said. “It feels really good and satisfying, what [executive producers] Joe [Weisberg] and Joel [Fields] have created.”

The Americans returns for its sixth and final season on Wednesday, March 28 at 10 p.m. ET/PT on FX.

Source: http://www.etonline.com/

One of television’s great series will wrap up a spectacular six-season run this year when The Americans airs its final episode. It’s been called the best drama on television, even during this period of amazing television, and you won’t find any disagreement here.

But the end is coming, and as much as we’d love to see how the story of Philip and Elizabeth Jennings ends, there’s a bittersweet feeling that it will all be over later this spring. Fortunately for the actors, they’re too busy putting together a big final season to worry about it yet.

“The perennial struggle of The Americans, and I’m sure I’ve bored you with this, is where to land these huge momentous moments,” star Matthew Rhys, who plays Philip, said. “And I think one element of trying to restrain yourself in the final season is preempting any of that [feeling of an end] or if there’s a sort of temple to an impending end or such, you have to remember that it is the present. You’re not working toward the end. So that’s a process I’m still grappling with.”

“We shoot the dead of winter in New York, and it’s such an uphill sprint and I think that type of work lends itself to the show, and the cold and the struggle of it all,” said Keri Russell, who plays Elizabeth. “But I feel like heads are still down charging up that hill, and there’s not a lot of time for reflection yet. It’s about trying to get through those final months. But I will say, because we’ve read a lot of scripts, it feels really good and satisfying what Joe and Joel have written.”

Russell continued later in the panel: “I relish this experience, it’s been such an enjoyable, creative — I love the storytelling of it. I know we’re set in this 1980s spy show, but it’s truly one of my favorite marriage stories couched in this Cold War spy world. I think that it’s just really sparse, interesting storytelling. And for me playing Elizabeth, I just think as a woman it’s been an incredible feminist role to get to play.”

As for the final season itself, it will take place after a three-year time jump with Philip and Elizabeth seeing new tests in their relationship. And of course, there’s always the chance that everyone can die, given the severity of the show. Even the subject of the safety of Henry (Keidrich Sellati), the youngest member of the Jennings family and the one not involved in spy games at all, came up. And the producers wouldn’t say anyone would be safe.

“Don’t get too comfortable about anyone turning out well,” said Joel Fields. No, not Henry!

The Americans begins its final season Wednesday, March 28 at 10/9c.

Source: http://www.tvguide.com

The sixth season of the spy drama will bow Wednesday, March 28 on FX.

As The Americans heads into its sixth and final season, FX trekked out the cast and creators of the critically-beloved spy drama to the Television Critics Association press tour for the very last time on Friday.

On hand to field questions about the upcoming episodes, which will begin airing this Spring, were executive producers Joe Weisberg and Joel Fields, along with actors Matthew Rhys, Keri Russell, Holly Taylor, Keidrich Sellati and Costa Ronin. The panel quickly turned sentimental when reporters began asking about how the castmembers were feeling about the show ending, though Russell acknowledged that they haven’t quite gotten there emotionally yet as they are only about halfway through filming.

“We shoot the dead of winter in New York and it’s such an uphill sprint — the cold, the struggle of it all. I feel like heads are still down charging up that hill so there’s not a lot of time for reflection yet,” she said of the series, which centers on the complex marriage of two KGB spies posing as Americans in suburban Washington D.C. during the Reagan administration. “But I will say, since we’ve read 11 scripts, it feels really good and satisfying what Joe and Joel have created.”

For Rhys, he’s still figuring out how to not think about the end of it all. “The perennial struggle of The Americans has been knowing where to land these huge momentous moments as an actor. And I think one element of trying to restrain yourself in the final season is pre-empting any of that. You have to remember that it’s the present,” he told the crowd at the Langham Hotel in Pasadena. “So that’s a process that I’m still grappling with.”

Looking back on her time on the show, Russell noted that when she first signed onto the project, she had no idea what it’d turn out to be. “I have relished this experience. It’s just been such an enjoyable, creative one, and I love the storytelling,” said the actress, who alongside Rhys landed an Emmy nomination last year, even though the series didn’t manage to crack the outstanding drama category. “I know we’re set in this 1980s spy show but it’s truly one of my favorite marriage stories couched in this cold war spy world… and as a woman, it’s been an incredible feminist role.”

The final season of The Americans will debut March 28 at 10 p.m. on FX.

Source: https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/