Matthew Rhys

The Toronto International Film Festival has grown into a behemoth on the festival circuit, obligatory industry nexus, North American launch pad for studio and world films alike and all-around celebration of the love of cinema. All with some of the nicest people you’ll ever meet.

A few hundred of our closest friends came to help us celebrate the Toronto Film Festival at the annual HFPA party which this year was produced in conjunction with the Hollywood Reporter. Ramzy Malouki was there to ask them what keeps the coming back to TIFF.

While we wait for Season 6 of their Golden Globe-nominated series, we look back to our chat with The Americans themselves, Keri Russell and Matthew Rhys, about the part music plays in the show - and how the Fleetwood Mac's iconic 'Tusk' set the tone for their work. Keri: You love music! (Keri to Matthew)Matthew: Yeah, yeah, God you've really caught me off guard.

The fascinating tale of two Russian spies – “Elizabeth” and “Philip” – living in the United States as a regular American family in the last years of the Cold War, the FX series The Americans has received several accolades, including Golden Globe nominations for its stars Keri Russell and Matthew Rhys. While people may have wondered about Cold War themes in the new millennium, the talk of a possible Russian shadow in America’s last election and on-going questions and innuendo between the two countries, has made the show almost prescient – and hotter than ever.

Last year Matthew Rhys and Keri Russell earned Golden Globe nominations as the titular Soviet spies in deep suburban cover in Reagan-era America. The series created by former CIA officer Joe Weisberg has earned wide critical praise as one of the best in TV and its fifth season coincides with renewed interest in the real-life relationship between Russia and the US.

Matthew Rhys is one half of a KGB spy couple, along with Keri Russell (also nominated this year), in the Cold War era show The Americans airing on FX.   Rhys explains the appeal of the show to the HFPA.