Luke Evans Heading to New Zealand

Luke Evans, currently making the rounds to promote Immortal, spoke briefly with MovieFone about what his next on his schedule - The Hobbit. He will be spending the next year filming the role of Bard the Bowman, suggesting that the character will have a much more central role in events than he had in the book.

Have you been practicing your archery skills?
Yes, I was trained for three weeks in New Zealand with a stunt coordinator, learning my new weapon. I've gone from swords in 'Musketeers' and a bow -- a long bow at that -- for 'The Hobbit,' so it's been a really interesting education, because there's very different ways of using a bow and arrow, so I've learned lots of them to make it look realistic.

The actors who made 'The Lord of the Rings' films had this amazing camaraderie, are you experiencing that on 'The Hobbit?'
Yes, I am. It's interesting because the boys -- and when I say the boys, I mean the dwarves -- have been there since February, so they already had their team set up. But there's a lovely energy when you go to Wellington and you meet the whole team, including Fran [Walsh] and Philippa [Boyens] and the whole crew. Everybody. It's a Kiwi quality which I absolutely love and they immediately embrace you and you're part of the family. It just sort of transcends all the way through the layers [of the production], from the runners up to the top. Everybody's there loving the fact they're doing something incredibly special and I feel very honored to be in this family. I feel part of it now and I miss them very much and I can't wait to go back, to be honest.

How much longer do you have to film your part?
I'm there until the middle of next year. It's the longest job of my life.