Luke Evans Quotes
Actor
A longbow takes a massive draw for the arrow to go anywhere.
One funny thing is, though, I wear my watch on my right hand and I'm actually right-handed. People always wonder why - I don't know myself, I've just always done it that way and I like it the way a good watch fits on my right wrist.
I come from the countryside. I come from a bunch of horticulture family members. My best friend was a farmer's boy.
Basically, Apollo was more of a mediator between Zeus in Olympus and Perseus on Earth. He played much more of an active role.
Everybody knows about Peter Jackson, 'The Hobbit' movies and 'The Lord of the Rings' films being made in New Zealand, and to actually have been part of it for such a long period, to live there and to have friends that I will have for life because of that experience, is an amazing thing.
It is a very beautiful story, 'The Crow.' It is a very tragic story with huge emotional themes.
My mother did like to make clothes, and in I think the worst picture I've ever seen of myself - I must have been eight or nine - she'd dressed me in a matching t-shirt and Bermuda shorts ensemble which I think looked like somebody had thrown up all over it. I was so glad when that sewing machine stopped working, I have to say.
And I love to cook! I've impressed hundreds of women with my cooking. And they always come back for more.
When I left school, I got a job in a shoe shop and I used to save 15 quid a week and pay for my own singing and acting lessons.
I always find cardio the most monotonous. Running on a treadmill shows me why hamsters are so crazy.
You can read 50 great things about yourself, but the one bad thing will be what you remember most.
Good suits don't come from anywhere, though - I mainly wear Armani, Louis Vuitton and Burberry.
People want to hear your stories about these wonderful experiences you have, and that's what press tours are for.
A watch is a fashion statement, and it says something about the person wearing it.
I felt alive when I read a script and acted out a scene, or sang a song. It was my dream. I'm just very lucky that I'm still doing it and able to earn a living from it.
I think the best directors provide you with a safe environment where they can instill you with confidence and allow you to try things out and not feel like you're failing or that you're doing it wrong.
I come from a country that lives and breathes rugby, and I didn't think there would be anywhere else in the world that could be the same. But New Zealand takes it to another dimension. It's extraordinary how much passion Kiwis have for the game.
I've had letters from people who have read my articles and said, 'I'm a guy, I'm 18, and I've not come out to my mom and dad yet, but it was so nice to hear your story, and you know, I wish your article would have been longer, because you gave me hope for the future.'
I used to take my car and go down to the South Island for five or six days and climb glaciers and jump out of planes and jump off bridges and go white water rafting - a bit of thrill-seeking.
You never get over an ex, but you learn to live with it.
Wales is blessed with some truly magnificent castles, full of history and a must see for visitors.
If you ask an actor what he'd prefer to act on, he'd probably say a tangible, real set, or even better, a real location out on a mountainside or by a river. It's just easier because you don't have to imagine anything.
I was a weed. Such a skinny little weed. I just couldn't put on weight; I couldn't put on muscle. I was the oddest shape. And I thought that was it: that's how I'd look for the rest of my life. And I'd beat myself up about it so much. But you change an awful lot. You're 16. Your body's not even halfway to what it'll end up being.
Before the 'Fast & Furious' promo in Manila, I went on a vacation in the Philippines 10 years earlier. I loved it. My 'Miss Saigon' friends showed me around.
I don't carry off 'quirky.'
Being involved in 'The Hobbit' has been a huge boost for me. It's really put me on the map and helped me be taken more seriously as an actor.
The gym is somewhere you can go to just forget for an hour what you do for a living, what you are doing on a daily basis. You just turn up and get on with it.
I had a role in 'Crossroads' when I was about 21, and then I went on to perform in 'Small Change' and then 'Piaf' in the Donmar Warehouse, London, and it was when I was there that some casting directors spotted me.
I don't think you should spend that much time in the gym. Don't sit around between sets too long. If you want to burn some calories, keep the sets tight. Give yourself 30 seconds to a minute between each set. Supersetting is brilliant.
From the big mountains in the north to the valleys in the south, all through my childhood and teenage years, my family would always holiday in Wales.
A guy's biggest style mistake is definitely trying to look too cool. As long as you've got a good pair of jeans, a good pair of boots and a few good shirts, you're fine.
I moved to Cardiff when I was 17 and never needed a car. When I came to L.A. for my first job there, I needed a car, so I had to pass my driving test.
It's just hard to get an independent film made.
In all honesty, I should have given up this acting lark years ago.
To me, growing up in South Wales, a pair of Diesel jeans were the thing to have - if you could afford them.
I always wanted to sing, as a child.
In 10 years, I'd love to live near the sea, in a warmer climate. I could see myself with three dogs... and it'd be great to share them with someone else.
I think sandals should be burnt. I hate them - purge them!
It's good for your body to have a break. Even when you're training, you have to have a cheat day every week. The body reacts better to training if you give it intervals of not training, or you relax the diet.
And I knew that, being an actor, you have to take the rough with the smooth and the highs with the lows. That's how it is.
British actors are renowned for being great villains in movies, like Bond films, all the rest of it.
Most men have an insecurity of some sort. But we're brought up to believe that we can't show them.
There are certain films you want to see on the big screen.
I don't see enough theatre.
I really loved 'Fast Five.' I thought it was a brilliant movie. I thought it was so well done, well directed. The action sequences were really well thought out. It looked fantastic.
I guess once you've been acting for a long time, you glean the great bits of good directors and the bad bits from other directors, and you know the way that you would like to be directed.
Gemma Arterton in 'The Master Builder' at the Almeida - she was absolutely brilliant. Ibsen is difficult and quite hard to follow, but she just brings the stage to life.
I have seen 'Fast Six,' and it's awesome.
Directing is something I've sort of always felt like I'd like to do at one point, and I thought the best way to start it is to write something myself or with someone and I'd go from there. My own material.
There's a lot of directors who were actors, so they have the sensibility of an actor, which sometimes helps.
It was never really part of my plan to be in films; it was really sort of a dream.
The Sixties was all about style and a certain look. But what was interesting about 1963 was that it was pre-Beatles, so the clothes of that time, especially the suits, were very different from the clothes post-Beatlemania.
I understand, certain scenes have to have a lot of takes. As an actor, I think it's quite nice to have a handful of takes, because you don't want to do it once or twice; I think once or twice sometimes is quite terrifying because you don't really feel like you've given them what you want.
Miranda Kerr is absolutely lovely.
Voices are always a challenge. I always have to work at each accent I do.
In theater, you sometimes can only do one or two jobs a year because they're long periods. In film, you can shoot so many. It's quite interesting.
I don't necessarily pay extreme attention to what I wear on a daily basis, but I do love to wear something special for an important occasion or when I feel happy.
The percentage of people that go to drama college in the U.K. is probably just like anywhere in the world. It's a very hard business to work in. They say that, at any one time, there's only 5% of actors in the world that are actually working and getting paid, which is a shocking percentage, really.
You have to have a lot of money to go to college. It's not cheap.
I think every role you take on, you should take on the responsibility of doing the best representation of that person or that character or that role. When it is a human being that has actually existed, and it is a person that people know of, yeah, you feel an even more amount of pressure to do a good job.
I'd like to make a film musical. That's really my dream.
My style is determined by the mood, the period and the circumstances which I'm going through in a given moment.
I've dabbled in period films in my career, and I've enjoyed each one.
Living in New Zealand, it's like a different world - it is a different world. It's very, very cool.
I certainly didn't want to make another movie that's 'just another Dracula film.'
The fascination for the Great Train Robbery has never diminished.
I would love to be able to tap dance.
'The Desolation of Smaug' stands alone as an action/adventure epic movie. It's visually stunning, and the 3D is incredible. Plus, it's directed by Peter Jackson, and he's extraordinary.
I research the role, and if it's a literary character, I read the book, and if it's an historical figure, I research documents and biographies. If it's a fictional character, I work off the script.
When you get to work with people like Ian McKellen or directors like Peter Jackson, you sit and watch.
Most of the time, you do films and they can be big films, but you are rarely aware of the fan base that comes with it.
I think heroes are the people that go into houses when they're on fire and save people in hospitals.
One thing Tolkien does incredibly well - and this is from a lay person's point of view; I am not scholar or anything - is that you don't have to make an effort to envisage the worlds that he writes about.
If you train too much, it can rule your life, and I don't think that's healthy - for men or women.
It was very weird because for a long time no one really recognised me from my films, but 'The Hobbit' has totally changed that, and I've had some really special moments, especially with youngsters.
I wouldn't say being in a film with The Rock was 'motivating.' 'Terrifying' would be a more accurate description.
When I'm training hard, the diet is miserable.
I'm not one of those superstitious people.
I don't need to be super-ripped all year round. That's a pretty miserable way to live your life.
I feel that New Zealand is my second home.
I've always said that theater was where I began, so everything I do now has a bit of my theater background in it. It was my training.
I'm not a 'Twilight' boy; I'll never be as good looking as those lads, and that's fair enough.
I'm this dude that can play a farmhand and a handyman and sometimes a Greek god.
When I didn't get a job, I thought, 'Don't worry, there'll be another one.' I still live by that now. Nothing really fazes me any more.
I just love the sound of a black woman's voice.
It's good for people to look at me and think, 'This guy is doing his thing and enjoying what he's doing and successful at it and living his life.' And that's what I'm doing, and I'm very happy.
It's a lovely thing to be able to sing.
I was often looked at as a leper by kids at school because I was a Jehovah's Witness. They didn't like it - you were 'weird'. And on Saturday mornings, you'd be knocking at their doors. I remember standing there with my mum and dad, thinking, 'Oh my God, I know whose door this is, and I'll have to see them on Monday.' It was terrible.
People come up to me in pubs - gay pubs, mind you - and can't believe that I'm gay.
I guess maybe directors see a face that seems to have been lived in. I know that my face has been lived in, yeah.
For my part, if the audience wanted to see Dracula again, I would be happy to reprise the role. It is an immortal character that can appear anywhere because it lies beyond time. Possibilities are endless.
Everybody knew me as a gay man, and in my life in London, I never tried to hide.
To be able to work with people who I have respected and admired, to be a part of something like the Cannes Film Festival, is surreal and brilliant.
I had a very difficult upbringing.
If you decide you want to work in the film industry, you just have to bite the bullet and take other jobs until the proper jobs come in.
I've had some pretty awful jobs that I don't miss, like working on a nightclub door, or compiling VIP lists at 3 A.M. in the morning, but sometimes it's just got to be done.
I come from south Wales. A place called Aberbargoed.
I was bullied at school, so I didn't much like it.
As much as my parents were worried about me moving to London at 17, they could see that I was hungry to find my path. And it probably helped that they saw me succeeding at it, slowly but surely.
The first time I was flown to L.A. for a screen test was an incredibly nerve-racking experience.