Iwan Rheon is a 38-year-old Welsh actor and singer-songwriter. He has appeared in the E4 comedy-drama Misfits, as the despicable Ramsay Bolton in Game of Thrones and as Mötley Crüe guitarist Mick Mars in the 2019 film The Dirt. Next up, Rheon stars in the BBC feature-length drama Men Up, about the unlikely origins of Viagra in south Wales. He also has a lead role, alongside Anthony Hopkins, in Roland Emmerich’s 2024 sword-and-sandals TV series, Those About to Die. Rheon lives in north London and has a five-year-old son.
Men Up tells the improbable – but mostly true – story of how one of the first clinical trials for the drug that became Viagra took place in Swansea in 1994. What drew you to the project?
When I first read it, I was about 20 pages in and I was like: “I’ve got to do this film.” Obviously, you’re tackling a subject that is the butt of many jokes and it’s a bit of lads-in-the-pub kind of humour. But it’s been approached in such a sensitive way: it’s funny, but not silly.
At the centre of the story are five men on the trial, and the bonds they form. The mix of heartwarming and funny – and the male companionship – reminded me of The Full Monty. Do you see the parallels?
Yeah, definitely. It’s a bunch of blokes who might pass each other on the street, but they’re never going to be friends. And they are brought together by this one thing. So yeah, the Full Monty comparisons are quite true. But obviously, they’re not stripping… Well, they are stripping, but for different reasons, for medical reasons.
Men Up suggests that men are terrible at admitting vulnerability or talking about their problems. Do you still think that’s the case?
Without a doubt. If you look at suicide rates in young men, it’s so high, it’s ridiculous. This is set in 1994, so we’re nearly 30 years in the future, how much have we improved? And I don’t know, man. I don’t think we’ve come that far.
Are you a sharer or a bottler-up?
Well, historically, a bottler-up. I recently went through quite a huge breakup and I think one of the main reasons for that was because I didn’t talk about how I actually felt. Let’s not get the violins out. I’ve got a tiny one here, a tiny little violin. But it’s something that I’ve had to work on and I’ve had therapy to do that which has really helped me.
Men Up has a Welsh cast and was filmed in Wales. Was that appealing to you?
Well, I bloody love Wales! But yeah, it’s just great. Culturally, we’re great storytellers: there are loads of stories in Wales that haven’t been told; this film is a great example. And every actor in this film is amazing and the locations we have in Wales… I’d love to just work in Wales to be honest with you. I’d absolutely love that.
Speaking of great Welsh actors, how was it working with Anthony Hopkins on Those About to Die?
Obviously a dream, but I didn’t directly work with him. He’s probably the only character in the entire series that I don’t actually have a scene with. He plays Vespasian, an emperor of that era, and my character is very much coming up from the underbelly, from the streets of Rome. But I did get to meet him and he’s an absolute legend.
Do you play a gladiator in the series?
No, I play a character who is described as the king of the underworld. He’s running the gambling on the chariot racing and the gladiators, so he’s very ambitious and throughout the series you see his ambition growing. I’m known for playing a couple of villains or one particular villain. And on paper, you might read the character as being the villain, but really he’s a product of his environment. And as the series progresses, you see he’s not what he’s seems. I think it’s going to be pretty epic.
You were recently in the BBC series Wolf. The (very complimentary) Guardian review described yours and Sacha Dhawan’s performances as police officers as having “a mesmerising Wallace-and-Gromit-meets-A-Clockwork-Orange vibe”. Are you happy with that note?
That’s fucking brilliant, yeah. That’s very much what we were aiming for actually. When we started, Sacha and I came up with the idea that we should be like a comedy double act. Then I was like: “We should be like Ant and Dec, where we are always on the same sides.” So I would always be on his right shoulder, to have that continuity throughout. Which is a stupid idea and I don’t know if it works or not, but you always see them in the same situation, until things starts to change, when I start to not be on his right shoulder. I don’t know, it’s a psychological thing maybe.
You mention being known for “one particular villain”: the sadistic, dismembering rapist Ramsay Bolton. Do you consciously think of choosing roles that are different to Game of Thrones?
Yeah, definitely. But with Wolf it didn’t matter, because there’s so much fun to be had in those scenes. When you’re going through that arc and you are just like: “Who is this fucking idiot?” There’s a real satisfaction there. It is quite fun playing the idiot, it’s a good laugh.
Your debut album of folk-pop songs, Dinard, came out in 2015. Has making music taken a back seat for you?
Yes, but it’s very much just jumped over the seat and got into the driving seat recently. I’ve written a whole bunch of songs, they need to be released, otherwise they only exist in my head. Music, for me, it’s complete freedom. As an actor, you turn up and you do your job. You’re part of something but you’re not really in control of most of it. With the music, it’s all on me: it’s my song, it’s my ideas. Which is really exciting and scary.
For the 2021 Sky film A Christmas Number One, you sang a duet with Cerys Matthews. How much of a kick was that?
Well, I never actually did it with her though, I just went in and sang it.
Like Anthony Hopkins all over again?
That’s true, it seems to be that way. It’ll be me and Richard Burton in heaven missing each other. Or probably hell actually!
Men Up is on BBC One at 9pm on 29 December
