Why couldn't Jonathan Rhys Meyers sleep during 'Roots' making?

Jonathan Rhys Meyers, who plays Tom Lea, a poor farmer of Irish descent from the impoverished Carolina hills country in the second episode of 'Roots,' had sleepless nights during the shoot.

Reportedly, the reason for this was the evil man and his brutality Meyers had to portray, says Channel24.

"It was not the easiest part to play. I have to tell you that the things I had to do and the brutality which I had to show were not very easy to go home and sleep on in the evening. I didn't sleep very much during the making of 'Roots,' but that was okay, because that's what I had to be," he said.

For the uninitiated, the character Tom Lea, the 38-year-old actor had portray is a representation of what happens when greed and ignorance get the better of a complete people.

"He is a manifestation of everything that was wrong about the 19th century. He is the physical embodiment of the sociopathic sort of plantation owner. He's a ne'er-do-well, he's a drunk, a gambler. He is brutal to his wife, he is brutal to his slaves, and then something happens which changes his world completely," said Meyer.

"There's a duality there the whole time. You know, I could feel heartbroken, I suppose, in many ways, for a character like Tom Lea, falling prey to the foulest practices of his time," he added.