In “The King’s Man: First Mission”, Rhys Ifans delivers a crazy performance as the mystical Rasputin. The actor lets go in particular during a strange rapprochement with Ralph Fiennes. A hilarious sequence to shoot but also a bit sickening.
The King’s Man : a prequel at the dawn of the First World War
In 2021, Matthew Vaughn tells the creation of the famous agency Kingsman, to which the charismatic Harry Hart (Colin Firth) and Eggsy (Taron Egerton) belong. The King’s Man: First Mission begins at the dawn of the First World War, when the leader of a dark organization wishes to trigger the conflict with the help of Rasputin (Rhys Ifans), Mata Hari (Valerie Pachner), Gavrilo Princip (Joel Basman) or again Erik Jan Hanussen (Daniel Brühl).
Aware of the threat hanging over Europe, the Duke of Oxford (Ralph Fiennes) does everything to thwart the enemy’s plans with his servants Polly (Gemma Arterton) and Shola (Djimon Hounsou). He also trains his son Conrad (Harris Dickinson) in combat and the art of espionage. After the attack in Sarajevo, the latter wants to join the army, even if his father tries to dissuade him.
Tom Hollander, Matthew Goode, Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Charles Dance round out the cast of The King’s Man: First Mission. An opus which, like X-Men: The Beginning by the same Matthew Vaughn, builds its plot around historical facts. The director also alternates between dramatic sequences, breathtaking action scenes and touches of humor that clash with the seriousness that the feature film tries to have.
A strange healing session
Before fighting Rasputin during a rousing dance number, the Duke of Oxford and Conrad attempt to poison him with a bakewell pie. To convince the mysterious healer to taste it, Conrad tries to charm him. But the self-proclaimed prophet sets his sights on the duke and invites him to spend some time alone.
Rasputin then wants to soothe the duke’s leg pains, in his own way. He starts to lick his scars which he has on his thigh but before that he gobbles down half the bakewell pie in seconds to give himself some energy. Shortly after, the already very bizarre situation escalates even further.
Quoted by the daily website The Irish NewsRhys Ifans looks back on the shooting of this sequence and declares with humor:
Someone asked me what Ralph’s leg tastes like. And I said: ‘The one of an Oscar’.
Ralph Fiennes launches in stride:
I haven’t washed my leg since.
Asked by the site Comicbook.comRhys Ifans ensures that the shots of this passage have made his partner a bit uncomfortable. He also reveals that they were able to improvise at the request of Matthew Vaughn, which resulted in one of the most commented scenes in the film. The actor adds:
Ralph is such a generous and inventive actor. We had a lot of fun shooting this scene.
Close to indigestion
Rhys Ifans, on the other hand, was much less pleased with the fact of having to eat six bakewell pies at top speed. During a press conference quoted by CBR.comhe explains :
I felt like a goose stuffed for foie gras that day. But we got away with it… I had never eaten so much cake.
According to his remarks, the actor and the film crew also put three weeks shooting the delirious confrontation where Rasputin launches into a frenzied choreography. An actor definitely very invested…
