Out’s Luke Evans issue! The actor talk about his carrer, Fran Tomas, James Bond, BDXY and Gaston-centered prequel series!
This July, Luke Evans was vacationing on Mykonos with his partner, Fran Tomas. Picturesque scenes filled their social media accounts, showing boat rides, windmills, and a visit to the gay bar JackieO’, where they enjoyed drinks and a drag performance.
“The place is very special,” Evans says via phone from the gay-friendly Greek destination. “The old town is so pretty and very, very unique. And the food is great. I’ve only been here twice — this is the second time in, I think, about 10 years. So lots has changed.”
Evans was soaking in the sights while he could. In just a few days after this interview, he was set to begin filming his next project, Prime Video’s Criminal, an adaptation of the popular graphic novel series by Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips. In the TV show, formatted as an interwoven series of crime stories, Evans will portray a lead character, Tracy Lawless, a former outlaw who becomes (almost) reformed after years in the military. He stars opposite Emilia Clarke (Game of Thrones), who will play Mallory, an armed robber.
“It’s gonna be a very intense journey,” Evans predicts. “But I love the role, and I love the direction that they’re taking it in. And I think the fans will be very happy with what we’re gonna deliver…. It’s always cool bringing, like, a fictional character that people know to life. You feel a sense of responsibility to do a good job.” He was also looking forward to working with Clarke, whom he had not yet met. The cast also includes Charlie Hunnam and Richard Jenkins.
Booking a lead in a major Amazon project — particularly amid the relative drought of productions following last year’s writers’ and actors’ strikes — would be a triumph for any actor. That Evans is an out leading man (still a rarity in 2024) makes his casting and standing in Hollywood extraordinary.
And it’s far from the only project on Evans’s plate. His film Weekend in Taipei is set to debut in theaters later this year. In the action movie directed by George Huang, he portrays an über-dedicated DEA agent who reignites a love affair with a woman on the other side of the law (played by Gwei Lun-Mei).
Weekend in Taipei has “some of the best action sequences I’ve ever seen in film,” Evans praises. “It has a romantic side to it, and it also is quite funny. I loved shooting it…. Usually, I struggle watching my own films. I’m very critical, and for the first time in 16 years, I watched the film and literally, absolutely loved it. It just ticks all the boxes.”
