From Academy Award-winnerMark Boal(Zero Dark Thirty,The Hurt Locker), the Apple TV+ original seriesEcho 3, tells the high-intensity story of what happens when scientist Amber Chesborough (Jessica Ann Collins) is kidnapped along the Colombia-Venezuela border. Acting very quickly, her brother Bambi (Luke Evans) and husband Prince (Michiel Huisman), both of whom are highly skilled in their military experience, set out to get her back, whatever it takes.
During this 1-on-1 interview with Collider, Evans talked about why Boal is so well suited to handle a project like this, the mental and physical preparation that the role took, the key to figuring out his character, ensuring that everything seemed as real and authentic as possible, developing the bond between Bambi and Prince, and the biggest challenges of the shoot. He also talked about his experience working withDan Levyon his directorial debut,Good Grief.
Collider: When you tell a story like this, is there anyone better to tell it with than Mark Boal? It seems like he would demand a certain level of excellence that you might not get anywhere else.
LUKE EVANS: When you’re doing something with a geopolitical canvas like this, with a sweeping story about military personnel of the highest elite level, really there is no one else better to helm that than Mark Boal. His body of work is testament to that, and it was the main reason why I wanted to do the show.
Is he someone that you also felt like you could go to with any questions? Is he someone that’s very open to that kind of collaboration?
EVANS: Absolutely. I class Mark as a friend and a brother in arms. He was an extraordinary person to be around. He’s such a fascinating guy. He’s highly intelligent and so knowledgeable about many, many things. He’s just the best person to have dinner with because he’s full of so much fascinating information. And also, if I ever had a question, or I wanted to talk about script, or anything like that, he was there. He was present, the whole time, on the show, which was really good.
When it comes to doing a project like this, is it something that you also find yourself having to mentally prepare for, along with the physical side of it? Is it a mental grind to do something like this?
EVANS: Oh, yeah. The physical nature of this show was incredibly taxing, but the mental nature of it was equally as demanding. You’re not just doing the physical stuff, you’re playing a character who’s going through those physical things. Each episode, these guys are living out of a backpack, and they’re surviving and having to hide and disappear and work out solutions, and next steps, as to how they’re going to find this important person in their life, who potentially is going to be executed at any moment. The jeopardy of that is really taxing. But as the character, I just piled it all onto Bambi and allowed the character to deal with it.
When you play someone who is so driven, is it hard to peel that away and figure out who he is underneath all of that? Was there a key to figuring this guy out for you?
EVANS: I think his childhood definitely plays a huge role in who he has become, as an adult. Formative years of a child can really affect you, as an adult, and what happened to him, as a child, with his sister and his mother set the ball rolling as a protector, a defender, and somebody who wants to make people safe. And what did he do? He went and joined the Army, and he rose to the top of the Army to the elite forces of Delta. He’s a man who has spent his whole life serving his country and has probably experienced traumatic things in his life, and he still carries them with him and still gets up in the morning with ambition to do something good and save his sister.
It’s one thing to have training for a role or to look like you can use a gun. It’s a whole other thing to portray an expert with the highest level of skill and training, and really come across as that. What was the training for this like? Was it something that you were doing throughout the production? Were you always aware of the extent of what you needed to do, to make this look as real as possible?
EVANS: Yeah, absolutely. We were surrounded, from day one, in the prep time with ex-Navy SEALs, Delta Force and Mark Boal throwing copious amounts of information, tactical maneuvers, weapon training, handling a weapon, the physicality of a Delta Force soldier in this day and age, how things have adapted, and how things have changed historically. There was so much information that I was absorbing, through the whole process. And then, when we were on set, we had professional military personnel with us making sure that we were doing it correctly, every step of the way. Taking over the facility was a huge undertaking, and took days and days of rehearsal to get it absolutely right, as to how a Delta Force unit would take over a facility like that.
Were they also the type of people that would let you know if you were doing something that didn’t come across as believable enough?
EVANS: Oh, yeah, absolutely, including Mark Boal. As the months went by, the notes were just more supportive because it became second nature, but they would tell us when we were doing it wrong.
What was it like to find and develop the relationship between Bambi and Prince? These guys are not just friends, they’re essentially family, but they also have to really be in sync and be able to work fairly wordlessly together. What was it like to figure that out and to figure out how that would have evolved over time?
EVANS: That came with a lot of bonding, off-screen as well as on screen, but also a lot of questions as to how it is in real life. We would speak to the soldiers and the ex-Navy SEAL who would basically guide us through how these men would talk to each other about tactical situations and problem-solving. It works because they communicated, but they speak in a very different way. It’s very specific. I spent many, many, many hours going through the process of how you would deal with each other, how you would speak, and how you would handle a situation in a jungle when there are two of you. How little would you speak? What movements, what actions, and what physical gestures would be used? We wanted it to feel as authentic and visceral and real as possible, and I do feel that we achieved that because we put so much work into it. It was a daily discipline that we adhered to, from start to finish.
These guys really almost feel like they speak telepathically, in some ways, when they’re on a mission.
EVANS: Yes, because every step that a Delta Force soldier takes has been planned, and if something changes, they’re equipped and trained to such a high level that they can survive in very dangerous, difficult situations. They can adapt very, very quickly.
This seems like the type of shoot that would’ve been exhausting just for the length of a movie, but you guys voluntarily signed on to do 10 hours of TV for this. What were the biggest challenges in doing this shoot? Was it the physical side of things, or was it the environment and the locations that you were working in?
EVANS: It was a bit of both of those things, really. There’s a certain physicality to these men. For me, I wanted Bambi to stay extremely fit. I needed him to be fit, just for myself, because the days were long, and the heat and the humidity of the jungle was incredibly taxing. The altitude of Bogota, and into the mountains and the snow of New Mexico, and then the desert islands that we worked in on the Rosario Islands, the heat was something that became part of the character. You had to use these environmental situations to the best of your ability. It was not easy, and it was very taxing and exhausting, but you put it all back into the character. That’s how I work.
You also were working with actors, crew, and directors that were from different parts of Latin America. What was it like to work with the directors that were from Latin America? What sort of insight did they bring? Were there things that you found particularly helpful about having that perspective while you were there?
EVANS: I just loved the fact that we did have a Peruvian director, an Argentinian director, and a sway of incredibly talented South American actors on the show, speaking in their native language, which I thought was really wonderful. I got to speak Spanish to them in several episodes, which was also wonderful for me. What it provided was a real sense of authenticity and ownership of their culture. It’s such an integral part of the story that, without them and without their insight and their cultural way of directing, and how they directed the Spanish-speaking cast, it was such a gift to the show, for sure.
I love that you can also then go do something like Dan Levy’s directorial debut,Good Grief. What was it like to work with someone like him, who’s directing his first feature, but also has that acting background. How did you find him, as a director?
EVANS: I found him wonderful. He’s an absolute joy of a human being. He’s fun to be around. The script is so beautiful. He is such a talent, and I was just so happy to be part of it. He’s incredibly gracious, and he’s a team player. He’s on camera, but then he’s looking at the screens. He does it with such panache and calm and grace. It was just wonderful to see. I hope that he asks me to be in everything he ever does, for the rest of my life.
