BETWEEN TAKES

LUKE EVANS ON INDIE SETS, FRESH UNDERWEAR AND SWIMMING WITH SNAKES…

What’s the first thing you do when you get to set?

If it’s a morning shoot, the first thing I do is eat. A lot of people eat while they’re having their hair and make-up done. I can’t imagine anything worse.

Do you have any on-set superstitions?

No, but because I come from theatre, I was always used to being provided underwear. They don’t do that on films, but I request it. I just prefer to wear different underwear to the ones I go home in [laughs].

Do you sleep on set? I can sleep anywhere. In theatre, on a matinee day, I would just go into the stalls and sleep on the floor because it was the only peace and quiet I could find.

What are the main differences on independent film sets like Our Son compared with a blockbuster?

It feels like you have more time, even though you don’t. There’s a lot less worrying about if that tank is going to explode in the background or if that dragon is in the right place on the CG screen. Independent films, I often find, tell stories that wouldn’t necessarily be picked up by a studio. They are more about character, story and long dialogue scenes. That’s the joy of doing indies. It’s why I did Our Son, because it’s all about those three characters: the son and the two dads and what they go through. I knew that it was going to be a very intimate, emotional journey.

What’s been your worst on-set experience?

I did a horror film in New Orleans where I play a psychopathic killer [No One Lives]. There’s one scene where I climb out the back of a giant man’s cadaver because I gutted and climbed inside him. He was about seven foot tall and they made a prosthetic version of him. Then they made the cavity in the back of his body, and that’s where I climbed inside and was covered in blood, which was really fun. But with the blood, they make that colour from dye. I was bright red for about a week. It dyed my fingers, my fingernails; my hair was slightly red.

‘IT WAS MY FIRST TIME ON AFILM SET, WITH THIS LEGEND, AND ICOULDN’T REMEMBER MY LINE!’

Then on another day, I had to go into a lake, which was stagnant, in the swamps of Abita Springs. We had firemen on the sides and I asked why. They said, ‘Oh, because there are water moccasins. [Those] are swimming snakes and they’re venomous and very aggressive. If they see the water rippling near you, [the firemen] are going to put the hose on to scare them away.’

And your most embarrassing?

The first ever time I was on a film set was Robin Hood. I was [a] henchman. I had one line and it was, ‘Didn’t give his name, demands an audience with the sheriff.’ That morning, Ridley Scott came up to me and because we had the same agent at the time, he said, ‘You’re George’s boy, aren’t you?’ I was like, ‘Yes, nice to meet you.’ He’s like, ‘Great. You’re Welsh, right? I think you should do it in Welsh. Gimme the line.’ And I went… [very long pause] ‘I’m so sorry, Ridley, I’ve forgotten the line.’ I was so nervous. It was my first time on a film set, with this legend, and I couldn’t remember my line! It’s only happened once in my whole life and it was on the first job I ever had.

Have you ever taken anything from set as a memento?

I have all my swords. I did lots of fantasy and period action films early on in my career, and managed to convince the prop masters to give me all of them. The only [sword] I didn’t have was Aramis’ from The Three Musketeers. And then maybe about five years ago, I went online to see if I could find it. It was owned by a prop-auction company and I bought it. I have Bard’s ancestral sword and the black arrow from The Hobbit, Dracula’s sword, Girion’s sword… A lot of my characters, weirdly, have had jewellery, so I have the rings as well. Lovely things. I wear them sometimes.

OUR SON IS AVAILABLE TO RENT AND OWN DIGITALLY FROM 25 MARCH.