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Tamara Drewe Breakout Isn’t Arterton: It’s Luke Evans

Stephen Frears’ bucolic romantic romp Tamara Drewe stars fetching Clash of the Titans star Emma Arterton in short-shorts, but with Frears’ leading lady stuck in America promoting Prince of Persia, the breakout star from the film at Cannes was hunky Welsh newcomer Luke Evans. He’s made eight movies in the last year, including Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll, Clash of the Titans, Robin Hood and the upcoming Jason Statham actioner Blitz. Now he’s set to play Aramis in Summit’s The Three Musketeers as well as the title role of Vivaldi.
Why is everyone falling over themselves to cast him? He’s rugged, manly and sensitive, a fearsome combination. Frears was tearing his hair out as he sought a D. H. Lawrence man-of-the-earth type as Drewe’s country neighbor and childhood crush. “We couldn’t cast the part,” said Frears over lunch at the Carlton Beach. “He came in the room and it was what we were looking for. A hunk like you used to see in westerns, like Gordon McRae.” Why are such men in short supply? “Feminism,” joked Frears. “There aren’t many men like that.”
I’m not sure if Evans will ever be as gifted an actor as fellow Welshmen Richard Burton, Anthony Hopkins and Michael Sheen, but it’s something to aspire to. At Cannes, I was not the only woman taken by his charms. Check the video below.

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