Ray Willmott chats with Scott Adkins about his latest film, The Legend of Hercules…
Ray Willmott: What does the Legend of Hercules mean to you? Is it a Greek legend you’ve always enjoyed? Are there other Greek legends that you enjoy?
Scott Adkins: To be honest, I haven’t seen any of the previous Hercules films or the TV series either. I was a fan of Clash of the Titans and Jason and the Argonauts. You know, the old Ray Harryhausen films. But now seemed like the right time to do another, absolutely. After all, Hercules is the original super hero.
RW: You’ve tackled various physical roles over the years, from The Expendables, Bourne and Universal Soldier to this. I just wondered whether you prepared any differently in terms of dietry requirements and work out regime?
SA: In this film, I play the young king and then the old king. Luckily, the sequences as the young king were firmed up at start of shoot, so I got into good shape for them, put on some muscle and tried to recreate that 300 look, if you like. Then, as soon as I was done filming the young king, I started eating whatever I wanted, and tried to change my appearance. I kept the bulk, but wasn’t too concerned about being cut or looking too heroic. Other than that, I worked quite extensively on the voice, how the character is going to look, how he’s going to move. It was quite a different experience to other characters I’ve played before.
RW: From an acting perspective, how was it acting out a younger interpretation of your character and how difficult was it to prepare for the alteration of your diet during the shoot, did that present any challenges?
SA: Not really, I’m used to shedding fat and putting on muscle. That was okay. Acting-wise, I just worked on reactions, and tried to make him move as an older guy, which doesn’t read so much when you’re filming the action. At the end of the day, you’re required to make a fight look good, but also work out the small details, in terms of how he’d move, walking around the hall and how he would address other characters. But I mainly focused on the voice, I took that down a few levels as he got older.
RW: How were the conditions for filming? Was the heat difficult to deal with?
SA: It was fine, I’ve done a lot of films in Bulgaria and I know a lot of the crew, so it always feels like home whenever I am filming there. But wearing a pair of sandals and a skirt while doing a fight scene was interesting. Obviously we’re shooting in 3D and also using the phantom camera, which shoots the action at super slow motion. After we finished doing fights, we would watch replays on the monitor. And as you might expect, while we were fighting, my skirt was coming up. So everyone crowded around the monitor was watching a fight but also looking at my ass in 3D and also seeing it in super slow mo, so that took a bit of getting used to. But yeah, the problem with sandals is that your feet can slip around when doing the action sequences. That wasn’t pleasant. I had always wanted to do a sword and sandals movie. I’m not so eager to do one again due to the costumes.
RW: When you look at the source material, Hercules is filled with physicality, brutality and occasionally blood and gore. Was it a challenge working towards 12A rating?
SA: I don’t think it’s a challenge, you can get away with a lot of action as long as you don’t show the blood. Captain America, for instance, had a 12a certificate, and there were plenty of brutal fights going on. As long as you’re not seeing blood everywhere, you can get away with a lot of things. So I don’t think it was that much of an issue.
RW: Even though there were two Hercules films shooting at the same time, there were two different interpretations, with Dwayne Johnson getting into incredible physical shape for the role and Kellan Lutz toning it down in comparison. When you look at both adaptations, what are your thoughts on the portrayal of Hercules? How different are they from one another?
SA: Well, I haven’t seen the new Hercules yet, but obviously I have seen some pictures of The Rock. He was already in great shape before filming Hercules. I’m a huge fan of The Rock, of course, he is an incredibly charismatic presence on screen and I know Kellan is a huge fan as well. You know, we don’t want to compete, we hope there is room for both movies. It is a very different storyline, I believe, in that our film concentrates on the birth of Hercules, finding out who he is, whereas The Rock’s film is focused on Hercules already being the legend and the myth surrounding him. Sometimes that happens when you get two films come out at the same time and with the same subject, you know, but there’s room for both, and I look forward to seeing the other Hercules film. I’m a huge fan of The Rock.
RW: In The Legend of Hercules, there are clear nods to the likes of 300 and Gladiator. Was that a clear focus while filming?
SA: That’s probably a question for Renny Harlin, but he was definitely shooting for some sort of 300-style. As soon as you’re using these slow-motion cameras, you’re going to have that effect. And even though he had not worked with 3D before, he really enjoyed it. People say you don’t want to make 3D gimmicky, but I think it’s quite nice when it is a bit gimmicky and you’ve got something coming out of the screen. You have the whole immersion of that. I mean, when you have the spear shooting towards the camera and you have that 3D moment , I think it’s all part of the fun. Renny loved it.
RW: I know you’ve worked on 3D in other films. Was this experience any different to those previous? Did it affect your time in front of the camera?
SA: It doesn’t really affect you as an actor, as you’d still do the same things as you would before. But when you do fight sequences, things are different. We didn’t bother with Hercules, but when I did a film called Universal Soldier, somebody told me that we had to get closer to one another with kicks and punches, as the audience can see the depth. So, for instance, if my fist is 4 inches away from the guy’s face, I need to make sure it’s 1 inch. That’s all well and good, but the guys behind the cameras don’t have Andre Arlovski, former UFC Heavyweight Champion, throwing punches at their face. So that took a bit of getting used to and I did get hit a few times. I’m not even sure we need to do that, but we did do that on Universal Soldier. It’s a tough day at the office!
RW: What would be your dream role and have you ever auditioned for it?
SA: No, I know what my dream role is. It’s a project I’ve wanted to do since I was 14 years old. I’m not going to say what it is, but one day it’s going to happen.
RW: What’s next for Scott Adkins?
SA: I’m in Cape Town at the moment filming Grimsby with Sacha Baron Cohen and Mark Strong, that’s a lot of fun. Cape Town is beautiful. This is the first comedy I’ve done, and it’s very funny so far. I look forward to that coming out next year.
RW: Thanks very much for your time and all the best shooting your new movie.
SA: Thanks for interest and hopefully we’ll do it again some time.
The Legend of Hercules is out now on DVD and Blu-ray.
Ray Willmott is a freelance critic for various outlets and even runs his own website. He even writes novels – Follow him on Twitter.
