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Scott Evans Says He Has Beard Contests With His Brother Chris

The "Almost Love" star also knows who he'd want to play in the “Tiger King” miniseries.

Who better to hunker down with during a pandemic than Captain America?

Gay actor Scott Evans has been doing just that, chillin' with his Marvel superhero brother, Chris Evans, and stoking the country’s thirst with their haircutting social media hijinks.

Off screen, Scott has teamed up with another hottie, his former Into the Dark: Midnight Kiss co-star Augustus Prew, for a new collaboration: the theatrical-turned-VOD release Almost Love.

Vertical Entertainment

Scott Evans in "Almost Love."

Scott Evans in Almost Love.

Written and directed by actor Mike Doyle, the ensemble gay rom-com stars Evans as Adam, a broke, frustrated painter whose relationship with a famous fashion influencer, Marklin (Prew), has hit the seven-year-itch period two years early. Attending couples therapy, the pair grapple with economic inequity, jealousy, deteriorating passion, and the nagging question "Is this all there is?" Meanwhile, their straight besties Cammy (Michelle Buteau) and Haley (Zoey Chao) are stuck on their own roller coasters: The former learns that the unpolished guy she’s dating (Colin Donnell) is homeless, and the latter is tutoring a dim yet hunky teenager (Christopher Gray) with the hots for her.

Originally titled Sell By during its film festival run (and for its U.K. release), Almost Love is wickedly funny and soberly probing, peppered with all the rom-com feels you need right now. Speaking with NewNowNext from the Evans brothers’ coronavirus compound (a.k.a. Chris’ house), Evans discussed his own recent breakup, bro-y beard competitions, and his current obsession with—what else?—Tiger King.

Have you ever experienced the sort of crisis that Adam and Marklin go through in the film?

I personally never had a relationship that lasted as long as that. When we first started shooting the movie in 2018, I had just started dating Zach [Volin], so I was in a fresh relationship going into work every day dealing with all this turmoil [between the characters]. It’s a bit of an ominous feeling—does one want to get to that point? We’re acting, but you feel that moment of "we have to progress this relationship forward or let it be."

And how are things going with Zach?

Here’s a little inside info: We actually just broke up a few weeks ago, but it’s not a bad breakup. Nobody cheated, nobody hates each other. We’re at a point now where you tell people and everyone’s like, "Oh my god, the coronavirus is tearing relationships apart!"

Sorry to hear that, especially the timing of it. How are you dealing with the pandemic?

My brother and I are keeping a quarantine movie list, and a lot of them are from our childhood. We watched Three Ninjas the other day, which was a big-time throwback, and we can still quote the whole thing. And I just binged Tiger King, which is the wildest thing I’ve ever seen.

Who would you like to play in the dramatized version? Kate McKinnon has already been cast as Carole Baskin.

Joe Exotic’s campaign manager, Joshua Dial! I love him! He’s adorable. I think he’s a sweetheart.

Have you ever been jealous of a boyfriend’s success or financial status the way Adam is of Marklin's?

Oh my god, I’m jealous of somebody walking down the street! I’m a nightmare! I can hide it well, and don’t think I would ever outwardly be that kind of psycho, but I’ve been known to do my fair share of Facebook stalking and searching old boyfriends and figuring what’s going on with everybody.

Almost Love/Vertical Entertainment

Augustus Prew (left) and Scott Evans in Almost Love.

Did you seek out anyone’s personal experiences to help get into Adam's mindset?

I have friends I could ask, but honestly Mike Doyle was there for me. Mike had relationship experiences and friends who went through this. While not necessarily personal to him, he knew how to navigate the story. And having a director who knows what it’s like to be the actor made it so much easier for me. It’s almost like he held my hand through it.

How was Augustus as an onscreen boyfriend? This was shot before Into the Dark: Midnight Kiss, so I assume it was your first time working together.

I'd never met him before and didn’t know anything about him, and I'd never met Mike before, although we were friends on Facebook. The first day we went in, we read scenes together, and you could instantly tell Augie is so much fun—up for anything and prepared. With this particular film, our scenes were more heavy and serious; we got to have more fun in Midnight Kiss with all the horror and action and fighting.

In Midnight Kiss, your character’s an asshole, and although he’s not the mystery slasher, he commits a murder. Do you like playing shady characters?

I do. I think it's more fun to play a character that has secrets or something hidden underneath. Actually, the script we shot for Midnight Kiss was completely different from what I auditioned for and read at the table read. In the original version, my character Joel was the killer. Something wasn’t working, though, and after the first day of shooting we had a weekend and got a new draft of the script that Sunday night.

Patrick Wymore

Into The Dark -- "Midnight Kiss" - Episode 204 - A group of longtime gay best friends and their resident fruit fly head to a beautiful desert home to celebrate New YearÕs Eve. One of their annual traditions is to play MIDNIGHT KISS, a sexy but ultimately dangerous challenge to find that special someone to help you ring in the New Year. As friendships have grown strained with secrets, jealousy and resentment, the group faces another challenge when a sadistic killer wants in. Relationships are put to the test and truths are revealed as the night turns into a fight for survival. Joel (Scott Evans), shown. (Photo by: Patrick Wymore/Hulu)

Evans in Into the Dark: Midnight Kiss.

Augustus said you had some major spider issues going on in the house during the shooting of Midnight Kiss.

Oh my god, yes. I remember the very first day we were shooting at this really nice house in Santa Clarita, but out there it’s all desert. On the call sheet there was a snake wrangler. I was like, "Oh shoot! That’s pretty serious if you need someone like that on set every day. Are we gonna see a snake?" We didn’t see a snake—only snake holes—but it rained one day, and I guess that’s what brings spiders out. These were full-on tarantulas, black widows, and wolf spiders.

You have a supporting role on Netflix’s Grace and Frankie as Oliver. Will he be back for the upcoming seventh and final season?

I am not back in Season 7. I don't think they need to wrap up Oliver’s story—people want to see the main cast. That show is so iconic now, because those two ladies and two gentlemen are something else. It was all I could do not to quote 9 to 5 every day with them because I watched it almost every day as a child.

Who would you like your next onscreen boyfriend to be? A Hemsworth maybe? Liam?

I don’t want to be on screen next to one of the goddamned Hemsworth brothers! I’ll be like the ugly duckling! It depends on what the script is, because nobody would believe I’m dating a Hemsworth brother unless my character’s got money or something. But if we’re casting straight people, I’d choose Giovanni Ribisi because I’ve been in love with him for my entire life. And I think Nyle DiMarco is adorable.

You get quite a few thirsty comments on Instagram, especially when you’re rocking a beard or buzzing your head.

The thirst is more than I’ve ever experienced! Everyone needs that sort of hug right now, and if that’s the way I’m getting it I’ll take it.

Do you and Chris ever have beard contests? When I saw Avengers: Endgame, someone in the audience actually moaned in sorrow during that scene when we see that Captain America has shaved his.

Well, about four years ago, around Thanksgiving, we didn’t have anything to do for the rest of the year and were going to Disney for New Year’s Eve, and we said, "Let’s not shave until Disney and see who gets the better beard." Our genetics are very similar, and our beards grow the same. I think we both ended up looking like Alaskan bush people.

Main image: Chris (left) and Scott Evans.

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