THE BIG TICKET
FROM ‘THE ALIENIST’ TO ‘BEAUTY AND THE BEAST,’ THE ACTOR SAYS LITTLE PRODUCTION DETAILS MAKE A BIG DIFFERENCE
Luke Evans discusses the new season of “The Alienist” and all the rings he’s kept from roles
LUKE EVANS has quite the jewelry collection, thanks to his career in Hollywood. “I started to collect the rings of my characters because I seem to have a ring with all my characters,” the 41-year-old Welsh actor tells Variety. Evans has pieces acquired from playing Dracula in “Dracula Untold,” Gaston in “Beauty and the Beast” and most recently the newspaper illustrator-turned-new York Times reporter John Moore in “The Alienist.” Set in the 19th century, the TNT drama is an adaptation of Caleb Carr’s book series. The second season, titled “Angel of Darkness” and premiering on July 19, also sees the return of Dakota Fanning as Sara Howard, now a private detective, and Daniel Brühl as Dr. Laszlo Kreizler, the city’s most regarded alienist, or criminal psychologist. “I had the crest on John Moore’s ring, so I kept that,” Evans says. “I mean — I asked for it. I’m a good boy. I don’t steal props.”
The attention to detail on “The Alienist” is so incredible, from the wardrobe to Dakota Fanning’s office. I want to pause it just to see all the little things that are in her office.
It’s absolutely magical. I remember walking onto the set for the first time — and I’ve worked on some incredible sets, and very lucky to work on huge productions where I’ve seen that kind of detail — but that production blew me away. It was as good as, if not better than, some of the big movie sets I’ve worked on. [For more on the production design, see “Re-creating Fin de Siècle New York in Budapest,” page 106.] I even had insignias on my hankies in my pockets. And I had a beautiful drawing kit because obviously he was an illustrator in the first season. They made this incredible folder with handmade paper inside, and all the things that an artist from the late 1800s would have had. They were all authentic — real historical pieces.
And your wardrobe, with the high-waisted pants and vests.
And the hard collars. It was this cardboard collar and braces. You can’t get dressed alone. No gentleman from that time would have been able to dress themselves. They all had to have somebody to help them.
Do you want another season?
I don’t know. I know the three of us are extremely busy over the next couple of years. I know that our schedules are very tight, but never say never. It’s always very sad when you like the people you work with and you like the character that you’re playing. I think if people like it enough, and there’s a good story to tell, and another murder to solve, we might see that threesome pop up again maybe.
You’re going to Australia to film David E. Kelley’s adaptation of “Nine Perfect Strangers.” It’s based on a novel by “Big Little Lies” author Liane Moriarty and stars Nicole Kidman. Are you feeling the pressure to live up to “Big Little Lies”?
Yeah, no pressure there. [Laughs] It doesn’t feel anything like “Big Little Lies” at all. I don’t feel there is any comparison to be drawn there. It’s a very funny story. It’s very dark, but it’s incredibly funny, which I’m excited about because I like comedy and I like dark comedy, and I don’t get to do very much of it.
You and Josh Gad are also starring in the “Beauty and the Beast” prequel series for Disney Plus about Gaston and Lefou. Tell me everything.
Josh and I have read two or three episodes now. We’ve heard some of the new songs written by Mr. [Alan] Menken himself. We are so excited about this. It’s going to be a joy to work with Josh again. Me and Josh have chemistry. As friends we had it, and luckily it transferred to the screen and people got it. It’s all come together very nicely, rather quickly actually, and hopefully production will start sometime next year.
Who are we going to see making cameos from the movie?
Oh, my God. I mean a smorgasbord of cameos — can you imagine? [Laughs] You never know who will pop up on this show.
Did you ever think when you were making the movie, “You know what? There’s a limited series in here for a backstory.”
Because we were sort of the fun characters that people laughed at, we would often talk about doing an at-home with Gaston and Lefou, or Lefou and Gaston go on a road trip, or Lefou and Gaston have a cooking show, or a men’s [gym]. It went on and on and on. Fans put our names together and made us Gafou. No, we didn’t think it, but we joked about it a lot.