Opening this weekend is director James McTeigueâs (V for Vendetta, Ninja Assassin) The Raven. If youâre not familiar with the film, the story takes place in 1840s Baltimore where a series of grisly murders appear to have been inspired by the works of Edgar Allan Poe (played by John Cusack). Poe and a detective (Luke Evans) must team up to find the killer before he takes out the woman Poe loves (Alice Eve). The film also stars Oliver Jackson-Cohen, and Brendan Gleeson.  For more on the film, hereâs the trailer and 40 images.Last week I did an exclusive phone interview with Luke Evans. We talked about how he got involved in The Raven, his research, what it was like to work with John Cusack, the graphic violence in the film, how much changed during filming, his process as an actor, his favorite movies, and more. In addition, with Evans currently filming Peter Jackson's The Hobbit in New Zealand, we talked about how that's been going, how long he has been filming for and when he wraps, filming on the RED Epic in 48fps, and future projects like Amateur American and more. Hit the jump for what he had to say.Collider: How are you doing?Luke Evans: Very well, very well.Where are you right now?Evans: Iâm in New Zealand and itâs 10:30 Thursday morning.Thatâs crazy.Evans: Thatâs really crazy.I usually try to start every interview off with a fun question. Iâve asked you the Karaoke question before, so I will not do that. My new question Iâve been asking people is: Do you have a favorite movie, a favorite director, and a favorite actor? Or if not one favorite, do you have some favorites?Evans: Yeah I do have some favorites. I donât have one specific favorite. I do have a few. You want me to name them to you I suppose?Well, if you donât mind, yes.Evans: Well, directors: Quentin Tarantinoâs a big one. Spielberg. All the biggies. Clint Eastwood. And actors: Anthony Hopkins, Leonardo DiCaprio, ah God, the list goes on. Itâs very difficult to categorize a couple of names, you know.No, totally.Evans: And movies is a hard one. Iâll leave the movie one out âcause thatâs just too difficult.I understand. How did you first get involved with The Raven? Was it a project you went after, or did it come after you?Evans: No it was something that I was aware of. Iâd read the script, theyâd sent the script. It was cast by two lovely ladies in London, who had cast me in my first ever film, Clash of the Titans. Elaine Grainger and Lucinda Syson were the casting directors in London and theyâd cast me in two other movies and this was it, this was the third movie of the batch that theyâd cast me in. So thatâs how I was brought on board. To meet James, I was in London for a few days between shooting Immortals and Three Musketeers. And, yeah, I went and met him and got myself on tape, and the rest happened after that.When youâre playing in the world of Poe, did you feel the need to do a lot of research and learning about the period? How much research do you put into the era when youâre doing a period piece?Evans: Well whatâs great about when you do something that has an essence of history or factual evidence or anything like that, which this movie does, even though itâs a fictionalized story of the last five days of his life, they are talking about a real person. There is so much information and fantastic biographies out there on Poe, and obviously his work. So I had plenty of reference. I read some of his more famous works and I read a fantastic biography, Peter Ackroydâs Poe: A Life Cut Short, which is fantastic, just really, really great.Talk a little bit about working with John Cusack. Did you guys develop a rapport off set? Were you able to enjoy hanging out?Evans: Yeah, we were. Johnâs such a versatile actor, heâs worked on everything. He does comedy, drama, thrillers; he can turn his hand to any sort of genre. When he took on the role of Poe, you can see from his performance in the film that he really did his work and he did a huge amount of research on the character of Poe and his personality and in the way he spoke and all the idiocracies that made up Edgar Allen Poe. And as an actorâI still think of myself as new to this film business, itâs only been like 3 and a half years, maybe 4 yearsâto be able to be able to work opposite somebody like John is a gift. Itâs just a gift. Itâs like sitting in a Master class and watching how slight nuances in their performance can change the whole scene. So for me it was a real pleasure to work with him. The guy is great on and off the screen. We had great dinners when we werenât working, good chats. Heâs a real great guy. I hope we get to work together again one day.One of the things I admire about the film is there is some blood and guts, especially with the fact the Poe wrote a lot of pulp, he was a blood and guts guy. There is always the PG-13 neutering of a lot of different stuff. Are you happy that the rating is an R and that they are not shying away from blood in the film?Evans: I think itâs absolutely essential, out of respect for Poeâs work, that this fictionalized story of those murders were told in the graphic portrayal that they have been. I think that it would have been such aâit would have been dishonorable if we had done anything but make it an R and allow people to squirm in their seats.When you first got the project, I would imagine the script looked a certain way. And then obviously when youâre on set, things change during the rehearsal process, or things change on set. Can you talk about, with your character, how much changed, if anything, from when you first got involved to what audiences are going to be able to see on screen?Evans: Not a huge amount, not a huge amount changed. I think the only thing that might have changed slightly during was just the emotional journey that my character took and where we took him. Myself and the director, James, talked an awful lot about how his character is juxtapositioned against the Poe character, and how one is still a straight man and whoâs trying to keep the crazed, incensed Poe character on the straight and narrow, trying to keep him from losing it and not being able to be an asset to finding this killer. After that, I donât think the script changed a huge amount while we were working on it. Obviously as the film goes on your character develops and sometimes things need to be tweaked and certain lines donât really benefit the character anymore, so yeah they will sort of edit as we were going along, but nothing crazy.A lot of people like the Clint Eastwood method of two takes, and some prefer the David Fincher method of fifty takes. What do you prefer for the amount of takes, and what are the most youâve ever done?Evans: Oh, I think Iâve done about 30-35 takes in one go. You know, sometimes the scene needs that amount of takes, often action shots and fight sequences need a lot of takes because youâre moving so fast and the camera has to follow you and has to be in a certain angle when the blade flies or the arrow flies, and if it does work exactly, take after take, theyâll finally get it. And when they do the cutting theyâll find one. I understand, certain scenes have to have a lot of takes. As an actor I think itâs quite nice to have a handful of takes, because you donât want to do it once or twice, I think once or twice sometimes is quite terrifying because you donât really feel like youâve given them what you want. I like a handful of takes where you can try it a couple times and change a few different things. Lets find a level ground in the middle there.You mentioned at the beginning when we first started talking that youâre in New Zealand. Lord of the Rings are some of my favorite films of all time, and I am so, so excited to see Peter Jacksonâs take on The Hobbit. How has it been going for you and how exciting itâs been for you to be involved in such a production?Evans: Itâs been immensely exciting. It feels like all the work Iâve done so far has been building up to this job and to work with the master himself on a project which has been his baby since a long time ago. I feel very lucky to be here, you know. Iâm watching this being made, and then watching Pete do his thing. Because you only have to read any articles about the boys who were in the first 3 movies and how they talked about the experience being in New Zealand and working with Pete and the long period of time that you spent here. I was just very jealous of them, in a healthy way, but it was something I was envious of. And now Iâm here, and now Iâm actually one of those boys. Iâll always remember this as one of those experiences in my life. Itâs been fantastic, absolutely fantastic. Weâre here âtill July, so Iâve still got a few months left, some insane, tense months as well. So, yeah, itâs been great.When did you arrive in New Zealand? Because I know youâre in both parts, was this one of these things where youâre committing to being there for eight months, have you been able to leave? Whatâs this production schedule like?Evans: Iâve been here since last August; I arrived August the 1st last year. But, you know, on a movie of this scale there is a lot of down time, so Iâve had chances to go home a couple of times. But this block, Iâve been here since February and Iâm here âtill the end, so this is the longest stretch for me.Iâm going to ask you a nerdy question: One of the thing Iâm so excited about is that Peter Jackson is shooting The Hobbit movies on the Red Epic, with the 48 frames a second, rather then the 24.Evans: Yeah.Iâm not sure if youâre a film nerd like me.Evans: Itâs the first time itâs ever been done. And itâs, well, even if youâre not a nerd you can absolutely see the difference, itâs extraordinary. Have you been looking at any of the playback on any of the monitors? Because one of the things I think casual fans will not realize what 48 frames a second does is reduces the motion blur. Have you seen any of the action without the motion blur and what does it look like through your eyes?Evans: Yeah, Iâve seen myself in action and itâs incredible. It really is. Itâs the closest to your own eye speed that weâve ever seen on screen. And it takes a little while, when you first put the glasses on, to just appreciate what it actually is thatâs going on. Because youâre eyes are not deceiving you, there is no blur. Itâs absolutely so effective, especially for the lack of blur, which is something that weâve always had to deal with in shooting in 3D, and now we donât. So, yeah, weâre making history with technology as well as with film. You have a few other things; you filmed Ashes and No One Lives and you might be doing The Amateur American. Can you talk about these other films and what you might have coming up after you wrap on The Hobbit?Evans: Well, there are those movies, they are the ones that I know will be definitely coming out. Amateur American is definitely there and Iâm very interested in it, but there are several other projects which have come to me in the last six months that Iâm now focusing on as well. But right now, I finish in July and then Iâll make my decision. Iâve still got three months left, itâs a long time, and then weâll work out from there where I want to go. Thereâs a few things floating about now, just working out the next step, the correct step to make as an actor after doing a movie like The Hobbit. I think Iâll probably do some down time, first of all, just to acclimatize back to the real world after I leave New Zealand.In the last few years your career has taken a huge trajectory upwards, being in a lot of high profile projects, can you talk a little about what itâs been like for you? For most people it might be like winning the lottery.Evans: Yeah, you could say that, because it was never really part of my plan to be in films, it was really sort of a dream, like a dream job. When it happened and the ball dropped and started rolling very fast, it too a few jobs before I took a breather and sort of put everything into perspective. It has been an incredible last few years of my life. My friends back at home are still in shock as to where I am and what Iâm doing and that it actually is happening to me and not somebody else. But, no, itâs brilliant, itâs brilliant, it is like winning the lottery, and Iâm having the best time. I mean who wouldnât? This is the best job on the planet.The Raven opens tomorrow at theaters everywhere.
Luke Evans Talks THE RAVEN, Filming at 48 Frames Per Second on THE HOBBIT, and More
Luke Evans Talks THE RAVEN and THE HOBBIT. Luke Evans talks about starring in The Raven with john Cusack and The Hobbit for director Peter Jackson.