Matthew Rhys on 'Perry Mason' role: 'It terrified me but I said I have to play it'

It's "Perry Mason" with a twist. Matthew Rhys as "Perry Mason" in the new HBO series is not the "Perry Mason" of the 50s and 60s. And that's just the way Rhys wants it.

When Rhys found out an updated version of the show would not simply be a reboot, he was all in.

"They said, 'we're interested in an origin story in how Perry Mason became Perry Mason," Rhys said on "Popcorn with Peter Travers." "And it stopped me dead in my tracks. And I thought, 'Oh yeah, that would be interesting. How did he become Perry Mason?'"

"A lot of the original 'Perry Mason' show is Perry Mason out and about, kind of like a private detective," Rhys said.

But Rhys also said when he met with producers of the new series, they proposed delving into the characters' pre-detective life.

"They said they want to load his bases so when you meet this guy, he's not just any one thing," Rhys, 45, told Travers. "There's an inordinate amount of things on his shoulders, all these things against him. There's all these things going on, all these things in his past. And the story and the scripts were fantastic. And I was incredibly attracted."

Download the all new "Popcorn With Peter Travers" podcasts on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Tunein, Google Play Music and Stitcher.

Rhys said he was nervous about taking on the role of the iconic character. But he had selfish reasons for pursuing.

"I read this part because I had the opportunity to play it," he said. "It terrified me. But I said, "Well, I have to play it because it's such a challenge."

"Also in a very vain, selfish way, being a kind of old school kind of Jimmy Stewart, James Cagney, Humphrey Bogart man, I was reading the scripts going, 'I get a play out boyhood fantasies here where I get to throw the cigarette, throw the one-liner, tip the hat, get into a car and drive off. I'm box-checking all these boyhood dreams of watching movies."

Be sure to watch the full interview with Peter Travers and Matthew Rhys in the video above.