Evangeline Lilly felt South of Heaven role was a 'great liberation

Evangeline Lilly thought her role in ‘South of Heaven’ was a “great liberation” from the parts she is usually cast in.

The crime drama tells the story of parolee Jimmy (played by Jason Sudeikis) who – after serving 12 years for armed robbery – vows to give his childhood sweetheart and terminal cancer patient Annie (Lilly) the best year of her life.

Despite the heavy subject matter, the 42-year-old actress admitted that it was “fun” to play because it was so different to her usual kind of role.

She said: “It was it was so fun. And it felt like such a great liberation. Because I didn’t have to play the sort of stoic, capable, heavy, like take control of the situation, bada** chick that often I find myself playing, but instead got to play somebody who was just so totally at ease in her own skin, and completely in love with life in a way that surprises you over and over and over again and continues to surprise the other characters around her to the point where she brings out the humanity in the worst of the men who surround her.”

The star – who has previously starred in big budget movies such as ‘The Hobbit’ and ‘Avengers: Endgame’ – relished in the chance to star in the independent film, noting that she finds it “freeing” to act in a film with a lower budget than some of the Hollywood blockbusters.

She told HeyUGuys: “The thing that I find that is so freeing about those is, is it’s always about the acting. So everything the whole day is designed around making sure that the performances are everything they need to be because they’re going to carry the film, because they don’t have the budget for the big special effects. They don’t have the budget for the great locations, they don’t have all the bells and whistles. And so really, it comes down to us and we have to make it sing. And and that’s like, it’s a beautiful energy because it all becomes so much more artistic in the space of the acting.”