Actor Matthew Rhys credits the most important decision he made while playing Daniel Ellsberg in the Golden Globe-nominated film "The Post" to director Steven Spielberg.

On "Salon Talks" the actor, who plays a Soviet spy on the hit FX show "The Americans," shared the experience of playing Ellsberg, who was responsible for leaking the Pentagon Papers and revealing to the world the lies that the American government was telling its citizens about the Vietnam War. Rhys also revealed to Salon some of his misconceptions of Ellsberg and how filming in isolation from cast members Tom Hanks and Meryl Streep helped build his character.