Jonathan Rhys Meyers interview

Jonathan Rhys Meyers talks exclusively to marieclaire.co.uk

Hot from playing Henry VIII in The Tudors, Irish actor Jonathan Rhys Meyers, 30, stars in August Rush, the New York-set fable of the titular musical prodigy (Freddie Highmore) searching for his parents.

Do you think August Rush is about the therapeutic power of music?

Well, music is therapeutic. But for August it's beyond therapy. It's his air. It's his lifeblood. It's his food and his water. He hears things to such a perception that we never will. He hears music on a completely different level. He's kind of like a little Mozart.

You play August's father, Louis, who is also a musician. Did you have to practice?

I would play on my off time. I would hang out with musicians and play music with them, but I didn't particularly try to become a master guitar player. Louis is not Eric Clapton. He's just a singer-songwriter.

You've made a big bang recently as Henry VIII in The Tudors. It's a pretty sexed-up version, don't you think?

It's a little bit tongue-in-cheek but this is entertainment. We're not making a documentary for the History Channel! It's meant to be sexual. And when people say, 'The sex is a little bit too much', well listen guys, they didn't have a hell of a lot else to do in the evenings!

You've just turned 30. How are you coping?

I like it. I like being 30. I wouldn't want to do the twenties again. They are their own entity. You don't feel any older or younger. But then I noticed that in the last two years how people view you. You're now one of the grown folks. When little kids come up to me, I'm a fully-grown adult, and that's always weird to me.

So the best is yet to come?

Yes! I completely believe that I will produce my best work and my best work will come in my thirties.

August Rush is out on 23 November