'Pinocchio' Star Luke Evans Compared His Coachman To Gaston & He's 'Proud' Of His Villains

Luke Evans might have the chiselled jawline of a fairytale prince, but the Welsh actor is happy to play the bad guy as he’s now done in both Beauty And The Beast and Disney's new Pinocchio movie.

Evans stars as a reimagined version of the evil Coachman in the new live-action Pinocchio film, and he's the "most different character in the whole thing," the actor says.

"There was a moment I did worry that (director) Robert Zemeckis was gonna put me in a fat suit and give me white hair and a big button nose," Evans told Narcity in a recent interview. "But that clearly was not the case."

The Coachman in the 1940 film was a larger man with a devilish smile who tempted children to do bad things at "Pleasure Land," where their wicked actions cause them to slowly turn into donkeys.

That second part is still true in the 2022 version of Pinocchio, but Evans' version of the Coachman definitely got a glow-up. He's more like an evil version of Jack Sparrow crossed with Willy Wonka, and Evans says the more youthful take allowed him to showcase his singing and dancing skills.

"We got to create this amazing creature with rotten teeth and a sweaty face and dirty nails (...) and this big, ominous wax coat and big hat. And it was really, really fun."

He added that this version of Pleasure Land is especially "magical," and the many kids on set had a blast.

"You really feel the energy and the excitement of being in a place where they can just cause chaos," he said.

Evans also compared his Coachman to Gaston, the boastful villain that he played in the 2017 live-action version of Beauty And The Beast.

"Completely different," he said of that experience. "The Beast (...) it was full live action," he continued. "It felt very much more like we were living with in the real world."

He says Pinocchio was much more CGI-reliant, partly because of its puppet main character and the monsters that the Coachman deals with.

"When I'm riding the beasts chasing Pinocchio to the edge of the cliff, if you could have seen what that really was, it would ruin the whole thing," he said. "It takes a big commitment to believe it yourself for the people that are watching you to believe that it's all real."

He added that he's "very proud" to have played two villains in two different Disney live-action movies so far.

Evans also played it coy when asked if he'd want to play other villains for Disney in the future — including something in Star Wars, or perhaps Doctor Doom in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, as some fans have hoped.

"Yeah, why not?" he said. "I do love those films. I love those series and those franchises.

"Who knows what they're thinking, if they're thinking anything at all?"

The live-action adaptation of Pinocchio is out now on Disney+.

In addition to Evans, the film stars Tom Hanks as Geppetto, Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Jiminy Cricket, Cynthia Erivo as the Blue Fairy, Keegan-Michael Key as "Honest" John, Lorraine Bracco as Sofia the Seagull and Benjamin Evan Ainsworth as Pinocchio.