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The fantasy life of Evangeline Lilly

 Courtesy of Disney/Marvel After exploring Middle Earth in The Hobbit, Evangeline Lilly is back to kick some ass in Marvel’s latest superhero flick, Ant-Man

Novia D. Rulistia (The Jakarta Post)
Jakarta
Sat, August 1, 2015

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The fantasy life of  Evangeline Lilly

 

Courtesy of Disney/Marvel

 

After exploring Middle Earth in The Hobbit, Evangeline Lilly is back to kick some ass in Marvel'€™s latest superhero flick, Ant-Man.

Her portrayal of Peter Jackson'€™s warrior elf Tauriel in the second and third films in The Hobbit trilogy caught the attention of movie lovers, and her new role as a strong female character is not to be missed.

In Ant-Man, Lilly plays Hope van Dyne, a scientist and board member of a big technology company, and also a martial artist who trained Scott Lang (Paul Rudd) to become the new Ant-Man.

Although Lilly was not at first a fan of Marvel comics or familiar with its superheroes, she later enjoyed her existence in the Marvel cinematic universe.

'€œWhat I love about Ant-Man is that it'€™s so intimate because the heart of the movie is in the characters, stories and the emotion,'€ Lilly said.

'€œSometimes the characters and the stories of many superhero films nowadays are lost in the technology and the degree of CGI [computer-generated imagery] used to explore fantastic ideas and great special effects.'€

When Lilly was approached to lend her talents to the part, she admitted that she had a lot of homework to do.

'€œI did some homework on Marvel, a name that I was fairly ignorant about, until I discovered that they are fantastic filmmakers who have incredible grasp of story arc and character,'€ Lilly said.

'€œWhen I signed up for this, I knew I would be in very good hands.'€

Lilly also trained herself in some basic boxing skills to be able to show off some convincing punches on the big screen. But more importantly, she did extensive character building as Hope is a complicated role.

'€œHope is a very wounded, angry woman, who has a very hard exterior, a very hard shell because she has been hurt inside. She is very capable and very intelligent, but can also be a little bit bitchy and pretty vulnerable,'€ she said.

Such characteristics were developed from Hope'€™s childhood as she was raised by two superheroes '€” the original Ant-Man who was her father Hank Pym (Michael Douglas); and the Wasp, who was her mother, Janet van Dyne.

When Hope'€™s mother died, Hank sent his young daughter to boarding school as he was lost in his own grief, leaving her wondering about the real cause of her mother'€™s death.

In the film, Hope and Hank have a very complicated relationship, showing an incredible degree of tension between them.

Lilly said that being able to share scenes with Douglas had improved her performance in some ways.

'€œWhen they call '€˜action!'€™ Douglas would begin to speak; [it] literally changed the energy of a room just from his presence, from the energy he brought to a scene. And for me, it really swept me away so that I felt like I could become so immersed in the character and in the moment,'€ she said.

'€œYou don'€™t get that with every actor; that'€™s a very gifted special experience to have.'€

The 35-year-old Lilly was born in Canada to a make-up artist mother and economics teacher dad. She first entered showbiz as a model when she was low on funds to finance her international relations study at the University of British Columbia.

She appeared in several commercials and in the Smallville TV series in 2001. She rose to fame when she played a lead female role in the ABC drama Lost.

She also made several appearances in films, such as 2009'€™s The Hurt Locker with Jeremy Renner and Real Steel with Hugh Jackman in 2011.

Her star shone brighter when she played Tauriel in The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug in 2013 and in The Hobbit: The Battle of Five Armies a year later.

Lilly has played many kick-ass female characters, but it was never her intention to pick up such roles.

'€œIt was just a coincidence, really. It happened to work out that way,'€ she said, adding that she usually chose characters that totally drew her in and were enjoyable to play.

She said that strong female characters featured a lot in film and television nowadays and that fact excited her.

'€œFilms and television are refining what the idea of a strong female character means. And to me it means having a fully realized, multidimensional human being who is at once capable and vulnerable, compassionate and flawed, physically strong and makes mistakes,'€ said Lilly, who is expecting her second child.

'€œSo the characters that we portray on screen give women the same kind of respect in society that the male characters give men.'€

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