The Desolation Of Smaug introduces Luke Evans' character, Bard the Bowman.

We find out his thoughts on The Hobbit, acting, 48fps and more…

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[Luke Evans sits down with a loud Urggh of fatigue]

Exhausted?

Ahh, its okay, you know.

Just ask nice questions and Ill, you know, be fine.

[Laughs] Youll get really good answers if you ask good questions.

I take it this is much tougher than Middle-earth, then?

Much tougher, yeah, yeah.

Give me an Orc any day!

[Laughs]

People were already lining up yesterday to see you and the other stars at the premiere.

Have you thought about how fans might react to the film?

Its a funny thing.

Some people do get nervous.

I mean, maybe Pete [Jackson] is more nervous, I dont know.

At this point, youve done all the work, youve done everything you’re able to do.

Its like sending your kid off to school for the first time.

You hope they enjoy it, and hope they go and see it again.

I think that might be the best metaphor Ive ever come up with in my whole life.

[Laughs]

But you know what I mean?

I mean, I enjoyed it.

Theres much more going on in this film.

Lots of sub-stories, also, which keep you interested.

And theres no lull.

I think weve managed to take out any instance of pausing and resting.

Theres no rest periods in this film at all, which I think is important.

What did you think of Evangeline Lillys character [Tauriel], and also her performance?

I think theyve all done really well with their roles.

Its interesting; her character fits in extremely well into the story without spoiling it.

Shes such a great actress, and brings a lot to the story.

Its nice to have a glamorous woman on set, in amongst all these burly, ugly Dwarves.

[Laughs]

And this was an opportunity to use your own accent.

Which was really special.

That was something that happened really early on, before I even got the role.

Ive done 20 films, and Ive never been asked to do my Welsh accent.

I did use my own accent in a play once.

Its a very freeing, liberating experience.

Ive put Wales on the Middle-earth map!

No, I knew who I was going to be playing.

Bard the Bowman I knew he was going to be a human.

But its a real gift.

He goes on such an extraordinary journey, which has only just begun.

He doesnt realise that hes capable of quite extraordinary things.

He wants to just get on with his life and look after his children.

Its a really interesting role to play.

What made you want to become an actor?

Ive always wanted to perform.

Even as a child, I always wanted to sing and act.

I always re-enacted scenes from films or TV programmes or musicals.

It never really diminished it was always clear that that was what I wanted to do.

This past five years have been the most eventful of my whole career.

Weirdly, like the first couple of times, its completely alien.

You feel quite self-conscious, because youre surrounded by people in green outfits.

Its very, very odd.

But Pete comes on and doesnt see any of that.

He just says immediately, Okay, weve got this here and this here.

And up there theres going to be a big mountain.

Youll need to look up there.

He just points to everything.

So very quickly, it becomes normal even though it isnt normal at all.

Literally, like different species nobody mixed.

That was probably the most bizarre experience of the whole trip.

[Laughs]

How did you get on with the green screen process?

Its just easier because you dont have to imagine anything.

So you know the scene where I bring the weapons to the table in my house?

I was alone on a green screen.

There was not one thing that wasnt green except me.

And they worked on that, so when they sat at the dinner table, they were really small.

They were all at different heights, like the actors.

The Dwarves would have to look at a cross on a stick to represent me.

Isnt that like theatre, in a way, that style of acting?

Where its all in your head?

No not really, because in theatre you still have sets.

You have to stagger yourself.

You do things that you wouldnt naturally do in the real world.

So there is that awareness about the superficial stuff that you wouldnt think of normally.

But its very unique.

[Laughs] Sometimes all Id have is a voice in my ear.

So its very strange.

Im looking at Gloin when he talks, and Im thinking, thats magic.

How did they do it?

Thats something they designed in New Zealand.

We dont do that anymore.

Its called Slave Motion Control.

Would it be a different kind of acting if you were standing in front of them?

So it wasnt like I was completely in the dark.

I knew how they were responding, so it wasnt too difficult.

So that was quite difficult.

But I think we managed it; I think Pete captured it well.

In the last movie, there was a lot of discussion about this new 48 frames-per-second technique.

Is that something youve thought about yourself during the production?

I didnt think about it once not once.

The technique watching The Hobbit, for everybody, it was the first time theyd seen it.

And I think it was very weird.

I think people were, like, Woah.

This is like HD television or something.

It was weird and it was hard for people to process.

This one didnt have that feel.

But then they watched it again, and they didnt run out of the cinema.

They get used to things.

Weve had 24 frames for a hundred years, so it takes time to get used to things.

But its great to be part of something so innovative, and so forward-thinking.

Luke Evans, thank you very much.

The Hobbit: The Desolation Of Smaugis out now in the UK.Our review is here.