Rhys Ifans Explains The Correct Way To Flirt With Rasputin For The King's Man - Exclusive
In the Kingsman prequel "The King's Man," there is a problem and his name is Grigori Rasputin (Rhys Ifans). Tsar Nicholas (Tom Hollander) is under Rasputin's influence and Rasputin is working within a shadowy organization whose goal is to pull Russia into a war which will ultimately topple England. The war in question is World War I.
There's another problem which is figuring out how to stop World War I and reduce the bloodshed as quickly as possible. Lord Orlando Oxford (Ralph Fiennes) wants to do that (and will eventually form the Kingsman organization), but his issue is that he has sworn to be a pacifist.
What to do in this scenario? Lord Oxford assembles a team of covert operatives to meet with Rasputin at a party and poison him. However, in order to get Rasputin to consume the poison, first someone has to flirt with him. You heard that right — in order to poison Rasputin and remove his influence from the czar, someone has to play proverbial footsy with one of the most evil men in history.
Looper sat down with Rhys Ifans to ask him what the proper way is to flirt with Rasputin — just in case any of us suddenly comes into possession of a TARDIS or a DeLorean and finds themselves in this situation.
Flirting with Rasputin is like flirting with a wild animal
The person with the unenviable task of flirting with Rasputin is Lord Oxford's son Conrad (Harris Dickinson), and, spoilers: he is not a rousing success. However, that only raises the largest question of all: is there a correct way to flirt with Rasputin? And, if there is a proper way to flirt with Rasputin, what exactly would that entail?
"Yeah, I think to flirt with Rasputin, you'd have to cease using language and embrace the animal kingdom," explains Rhys Ifans, star of "The King's Man" and resident Rasputin expert. "I think Rasputin is a kind of canine creature. Yeah, and I think you'd have to go to your basest, darkest pits of seduction to even get close to turning the great Rasputin on."
In fairness, Rasputin does basically devour an pie with his bare hands by hungrily shoving huge chunks of it into his mouth — and if his eating habits and his flirting habits are anything alike, it's safe to say that you'd have to embrace your most hungry id in order to get it done.
"The King's Man" is now playing in theaters.