Evans seized the chance to be bad

Chris Evans admitted he had jumped at the chance to play a villain in new film The Iceman.

The 31-year-old actor has played the hero in comic book tales Fantastic Four, Captain America and Avengers Assemble, and admitted it felt freeing to play a bad guy in his latest film, the true story of Richard Kuklinski, the notorious contract killer.

Chris said: "Acting in general is freeing but to go that deep and be that different is a special type of liberation.

"It's fantastic, that's kind of why I jumped on board because it's an opportunity to do something that I don't always get to do."

Michael Shannon stars as Kuklinski in the film, alongside an all-star cast including Winona Ryder, James Franco, Ray Liotta, David Schwimmer and Stephen Dorff. The film shows how Kuklinski managed to live a double life as a hired killer and a family man.

Chris said: "Acting itself is a bit of a double life, but I don't know if the varying ends of the spectrum are that extreme."

The 31-year-old actor feels his character, a criminal associate of Kuklinski, adds a little light relief to the dark drama.

"I think in the movie he kind of provides a little bit of humour. The movie is pretty heavy, the movie is pretty dark and I think my character is a little bit of a wild card, so hopefully there's a few laughs."