A week ago at this time, few people had any idea who Luke Evans was. Over the weekend, $61.4 million worth of people saw him play Apollo in "Clash of the Titans." With several more movies coming up in the next year — and another high-profile role as a god in "Dawn of War" — could the 31-year-old British actor become 2010's Sam Worthington?
"I keep getting text messages and e-mails from friends in London and L.A. saying that ['Titans' ads] are plastered everywhere," Evans said recently when we spoke to him about his high-profile blockbuster debut. "It's very exciting.
" 'Titans' was a childhood film I remember very fondly," he said of why he took on the role. "So it was nice to hear that they were doing it again. Redoing it with modern technology and a new slant, a new script and a great cast was very fun to do."
The only downside of the gig was the expensively uncomfortable outfit he wore for most of his days on set. "I was in 22-carat, gold armor; it was hot and heavy," the actor recalled. "I'm sure [the suit was worth more than my salary]. I know how much it was, and it was very expensive. It will probably end up in some Planet Hollywood somewhere, behind a glass case."
In "Dawn of War," Evans plays Zeus, but he's not concerned about being typecast as a Greek god. "I've done another seven films between 'Clash' and 'Dawn of War,' so it's not like I've directly gone from Apollo to Zeus. I've had a year off [between them]."
Among those projects is "Robin Hood" with Russell Crowe, "Blitz" with Jason Statham and "Tamara Drewe" for director Stephen Frears. "As for 'Dawn of War," this is a very, very different take on the [gods] story; it's a very different story, actually," Evans said. "But now I'm the king of the gods — and it doesn't get much better than that."
Check out everything we've got on "Clash of the Titans" and "Dawn of War."
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