It’s the night after the Girl On The Train London premiere, and I’ve spent my day chasing Luke Evans around London. This is more reflective of the pressures of his job than mine - but eight hours of TV appearances, interviews and city traffic have not left their mark on the endearing and very easy on the eye Welsh actor.
If Luke Evans isn’t already a name in your household it soon will be. The 37-year old’s latest role is possibly one of his biggest yet, as he takes a turn across from Emily Blunt in this year’s most talked about book adaption.
For fans of Paula Hawkins’ best-selling voyeuristic tale of suburban commutes, alcoholism, murder and betrayal, the casting of Evans as one of the main male protagonists, Scott Hipwell, will not be a controversial decision. Tall, dark, mysterious: Evans ticks all the boxes - although fortunately he’s a lot friendlier in real life, as is apparent when he speaks of co-star Blunt. ‘She’s special, she’s a very nice human being. She’s full of happiness and warmth and weirdly the character she plays is the complete opposite. I admired her effort. It was full on with her, psychologically.’
It can’t have been easy for Evans either. Preparing for a role as complex as the jealous murder suspect turned (spoiler alert) grieving husband is no mean feat, especially when the eyes of the world are on you. Fortunately, Evans has experience of stepping into roles that legions of fans have opinions about. In 2013 he played Bard in Peter Jackson’s The Hobbit, although he says that GOTT fans aren’t quite as passionate as The Hobbit fans. ‘They don’t dress up as Scott Hipwell’ he offers, wryly. ‘Not yet anyway, maybe at the 10th anniversary. It would be a very dull costume party though.’
Evans admits to not being a big reader, but he’s one of those actors who’s appreciative of the stories he brings to life. ‘I think that’s why the book is such a success, you can relate to those things’ he says. ‘Love, loss, inebriation, being cheated on, all these things that float around society today. And we’ve either experienced it first hand of observed it second hand.’
Thanks to The Hobbit, Clash of the Titans and other mega Hollywood blockbuster roles, Evans has garnered an impressive and loyal fandom. And unlike his GOTT co-star Emily Blunt, he’s constantly in touch with them on social media. ‘I think it’s interesting to see the amount of people that follow you and think, wow! These people are obviously people that follow my career and have liked what I’ve done’ he muses. ‘So in a way it’s nice to interact with them and speak from my mouth. I can talk to them, not necessarily about my life or my films but about charities. I’m an ambassador for Save The Children and I like being able to bring that onto someone’s phone.’
It’s refreshing to speak to someone in the public eye who’s not been burned by the internet. It’s safe to say he’s either never been trolled, or wouldn’t waste time reading what his trolls said anyway. ‘I think they’re all very sweet and very supportive and very protective of me’ he continues of his followers. ‘I feel a sense of love and care from this big group of people that support me.’
The voyeurism that social media provides is a central theme to Hawkins’ novel, although she trains her eye on a more sinister side of the web. "On social media, everyone's curating their own happy lives, presenting their happiness for everyone else to look at’ Hawkins told The Hollywood Reporter. ‘On Facebook, everybody's always looking great, and their children are always smiling. It's so unreal. I can understand how it makes some people feel terribly lonely, insecure and sad about their lives.’
Evans explains that this cultural obsession with voyeurism was in turn quite helpful when it came to preparing for the role. ‘The media coverage of this nowadays is so prevalent, there’s so much footage’ he says. This helped him see what a character like Scott’s must be going through, but how else do you get inside such a nuanced, complex character? ‘We talked about many things about him, where he should be seen last in the film? Is that a man that’s still angry with her? Does he understand her? He understands that she really did something bad, but I think there’s closure.’
The Girl On The Train finishes neatly in print and on screen, with Blunt’s character being given a real sense of closure. But for Hipwell, its more open-ended. Did Evans imagine what Scott did after the credits roll? ‘Yeah, I wonder what happens to him…’ says Evans.
Sequel, perhaps? ‘Who knows….’
Like this? Then you might also be interested in:
Hangover Cures And US vs UK: We Speak To Emily Blunt About Girl On The Train
Podcast: Listen To Us Get Drunk And Talk About Paula Hawkins' New Book Girl On The Train
Should Girl On The Train Really Be Set In The US Instead Of The UK?
Follow Tabi on Twitter @Tabijgee
This article originally appeared on The Debrief.