In the film ‘The Raven’, the character of Edgar Allan Poe meets his intellectual match in the form of Detective Fields, the fictional Baltimore police detective leading the investigation into a string of bizarre crimes that appear to be linked to Poe. For that character, the filmmakers behind the newly released movie sought an actor who could match John Cusack’s manic intensity with quiet strength.

“Fields is very, very precise,” says writer Hannah Shakespeare. “He believes in logic. If he can’t explain it scientifically, it doesn’t exist. On the other hand, Poe studies human nature. He’s empathic. The way we saw it, Fields is doing the precursor of forensic science and Poe is the prototype for today’s profilers. He’s getting into the mind of his antagonist, while Fields is studying the effects.”

They cast Welsh actor Luke Evans, who recently graced the screen as two ancient Olympians, Zeus in director Tarsem Singh’s Immortals and Apollo in Clash of the Titans. “We didn’t want a father-son or a mentor relationship between them,” says producer Aaron Ryder. “Fields is probably the youngest guy in the room, but he’s the guy in charge. He needed to have the confidence to carry the weight of the investigation. It takes a strong persona. The minute we saw Luke we all felt we’d be pretty lucky to have him.”

“When Luke walks in, you say ‘here’s a movie star,’” says director James McTeigue. “He also brings a real intelligence to his character. There’s a lot going on behind the eyes. And juxtaposed against John Cusack as Poe, he is quite interesting. They’re so different looking, but also complementary in the frame.”

A performer with a strong background on the British stage, Luke Evans was attracted to the volatile mix of Fields’ cool analysis and Poe’s white-hot intuition. “These two characters have fantastic chemistry,” says Evans. “They spark off each other in a negative way and they don’t really like each other at the beginning. They don’t bond at all but they have to work together.”

The first time the audience meets Fields, he is at a crime scene that seems oddly familiar. Gradually he realizes the scenario is drawn from a story written by Poe. “His mistrust and disgust for Poe’s work are apparent,” says Luke Evans. “That makes the writer Fields’ first suspect.”

But Poe’s alibi is easily proven and an uneasy alliance is born between the pair. “They’re the light and the dark of each other’s characters,” says McTeigue. “Fields is a little more patrician and uptight. He faces the horror of everyday murders in his job. Poe is only writing about that world, not having to be confronted with it. They butt heads, until they realize that they need each other. Fields can investigate in a very methodical logical fashion, but he needs Poe’s crazy creativity to jump into the mind of the killer.”

“John is just a brilliant actor,” says Luke Evans. “He really invests a huge amount of time and energy into the role. You could see he loved playing Poe. He stayed in character a lot and it’s really interesting to play off that. I never thought, ‘There’s John Cusack.’ I always thought of him as Edgar Allan Poe.”

Image Courtesy of   The Raven

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