Jonathan Rhys Meyers has a lot in common with his 16th century alter ego, Henry VIII. Photo / Supplied

Jonathan Rhys Meyers has a lot in common with his 16th century alter ego, Henry VIII. Photo / Supplied

Jonathan Rhys Meyers is feeling playful. We're on the set of The Tudors, and as the director dishes out instructions to the cast, Rhys Meyers pretends to stab him with his sword. Then he leans over and whispers to one of the pretty young actresses on his right. "How's your sister?"

This could be taken the wrong way, especially coming from a guy who has been linked to a string of Hollywood beauties, and whose alter ego is King Henry VIII, who had six wives. But Rhys Meyers is just being polite. The actress updates him, then introduces the actress next to her, who happens to come from Virginia.

"Oh, you're the Yank?" he says, flashing her a grin. "Virginia! Land of corrrrn! You like corn?"

His fake American accent sounds a bit silly but it has all the girls in fits of giggles. It's suddenly apparent why Rhys Meyers, initially a surprising choice for this role, got the part.

"When I first heard that they wanted me to play Henry VIII, I laughed," he says. "I was like, you've got to be kidding. It's ridiculous."

It's a day earlier, and the actor has arrived at Dublin's Ardmore Studios, dressed in black skinny jeans, black singlet and black geek-chic glasses.

He looks more rock star than royal.

"I thought, they're going to want a proper Henry VIII. And I said 'guys, I'm not like that. I'm not your guy'. And then they explained what they were going to do."

The idea was not to portray Henry as the fat, ageing tyrant of the history books but the young, athletic figure of emerging power in the 16th century.

Rhys Meyers didn't have the weight or physical presence you'd expect for the part but he has a lot in common with the notorious monarch, says The Tudors creator and writer, Michael Hirst.

"From what one reads about the young Henry VIII, he's not dissimilar in temperament. He's not dissimilar in looks either, but that was when Henry was young. But he lives kind of on the edge. He has a very small attention span and Henry did too. He's very bright and Henry was incredibly clever."

Rhys Meyers can thank his short attention span for kick-starting his career. His father left the family home when his son was just 3. The eldest of three brothers, Rhys Meyers didn't exactly take on the paternal mantle. After he was expelled from high school at 16, he was discovered while hanging out in a pool hall in Cork. Later he went on to star in a series of commanding roles: a football coach in Bend it Like Beckham with Keira Knightley, a version of David Bowie in Velvet Goldmine, Elvis Presley in Elvis, for which he won a Golden Globe and a cheating husband in Woody Allen's Match Point with Scarlett Johansson.