LIANA CORNELL
Chris Evans explains how he got into his Knives Out character
The 29-year-old actress – daughter of TV icons John ‘Strop’ Cornell and Delvene Delaney – stars as Ania in Season 2 of historical drama Britannia (continues Tue., Dec. 3 at 9.30pm; Fox Showcase).
Growing up, did your parents encourage you to become an actress?
They were the opposite. They would say, “You love science, dive into that world.” Or: “You should be a writer.” They’ve been really supportive since I decided to be an actor. But there was a conversation where they said, “You will have no privacy.”
You grew up in Byron Bay. When you’re overseas, do you miss the ocean?
I miss it so much. I think eco-therapy is becoming more and more a great way to cure anxiety, PTSD, all these things. Overseas, I live near Hampstead Heath and I’d often hug a tree. Did you spend a lot of time around TV sets as a child?
It was very normal. Mumma and Dad almost knew everyone on the TV. But it didn’t make me hungry for that world. And I didn’t see anyone on TV as special. They were just an everyday human.
Ania becomes more enmeshed in the Druid world this season on Britannia. What was it like filming that?
I was so happy when they got more magic into the show. I did lots of research. I was booked to go to a festival at Stonehenge, where all the Druids meet, but I didn’t get to go. I did go into the desert [in the US] with a guy who taught me how to track animals and tell the time by where the sun was. And then I went with shamans, who live in Peru, who taught me about that kind of world. They said they wanted to initiate me so I could correctly represent this on television.
After nearly a decade playing Captain America, Chris Evans does a complete 180 as Ransom Drysdale in the clever whodunit Knives Out. And it’s exactly his character’s terrier-kicking, fisherman’s sweater-wearing evilness that attracted him to the role. “I’m usually tasked with playing guys who are a little more noble, and this guy is a little bit more vile,” says the actor, 38. “It’s fun.” Here’s how Evans liberated his inner jerk.
1
HE DREW INSPIRATION FROM REAL-LIFE TWERPS
“I’d be lying if I said I didn’t know people who are just like [Ransom],” says Evans. “He’s born into privilege and he’s also equipped with a victim’s mentality, and I think that combination is very dangerous. You don’t have to look far to find people who operate in this constant victimised, indignant state of recreational outrage where everything is never their fault. It just opens the door to a lot of s--tty behaviour.”
2
HE TOOK UP ALL THE SPACE “There’s a certain physicality of a person who is soaked in confidence, truly marinated in that kind of entitlement,” says Evans. “And it involves minimal eye contact, a constant state of recline, whether they’re sitting or standing … an unapologetic physicality [where] they make the space their own. They’re gonna put their f--king feet up, they’re gonna own their oxygen in a way that is not just confidence, it’s an active indifference to the people around them. Which is a real weaponised trait.”
3
HE EMBRACED CASHMERE
“It’s been a long time since I’ve done a movie where I got to wear nice clothes! I usually wear such boring s--t. The clothing, the hair, all of it helps tons [with getting into character].