Director Renny Harlin and his stars Kellan Lutz (Hercules, son of Zeus), Scott Adkins (King Amphitryon, Hercules's father on earth), Liam McIntyre (Sotiris, Hercules' comrade) and Gaia Weiss (Hebe, Hercules' lover) presented HERCULES THE LEGEND BEGINS at NYCC. Thanks to Youtube User Gareth Von Kallenbach, we now have video from the panel which you can see below.
A transcript of the above quotes.
On the Physical Look of their version of Hercules
Renny Harlin: Let me put it this way, we started every morning stretching together and then I would spot him (Kellan Lutz) and then he would like me to rub tiger balm on his muscles. But to be completely serious, my one advice to Kellan was, because he already looked so awesome, I said, 'Let's not create a stereotype of Hercules who is just a guy with giant muscles and carries big rocks. Let's create a real character.' And I said, 'Get cut, look great, but I don't want you to be giant. Who likes that (anyways)?'
Kellan Lutz: There's another Hercules (The Rock) and already, that guy has a lot of muscles. I thought I'd make my guy a little more real and, you know, a little more slimmer.
On the Experience of presenting Hercules at the New York Comic Con
Renny Harlin: How awesome is it to be at Comic Con? This is my first Comic Con, and I came here yesterday, and I walked through the halls, and I saw the banners and the posters and the stands and the costumes and the fans, and I was like, ‘Oh, my God.’ This took me right back to where I started from and gave me back that feeling of inspiration and excitement about creating illusions and stories and creating dreams. I think it is so exciting to be here. And I think this is the perfect movie to be talking about here, because it really is for all of us a childhood dream. I personally grew up loving Greek mythology and movies like Ben-Hur and the original Spartacus.
On Hercules being a dream project
Renny Harlin: I think every director has two dreams, one is to make a Western one day, and one is to do a historical epic, and this is my dream come true. It’s a huge canvas, huge historical story with a love story in it. So it’s kind of like everything I loved as a kid, as I was growing up and watching movies, and what I still love when I go to the movies, to be taken into a foreign land, a new world, and put into a situation or story that is fantastical and exciting and beautiful.
Kellan Lutz: Like Renny said, you have dream projects, and for me growing up, born in the Midwest, you play a lot of pretend. And Hercules was always that hero to me. I think he is the first iconic hero and the story’s told over and over again. And for me, meeting Renny, seeing his vision, seeing where he wanted to take this story, I was just so excited for the opportunity and to get to work. And again, it’s every boy’s dream to ride horses and fight Spartacus (co-star Liam McIntyre) with swords. So it was an honor to be a part of it. Then Gaia… she’s a good love interest, that’s for sure. So it’s very much a blessing to be part of this movie and to be Hercules.
On Casting the beautiful Gaia Weiss as the female lead
Gia Weiss: He actually went all the way to Europe to look for actors and found me in London.
Renny Harlin: We had auditioned hundreds of young actresses from all around the world, in America, Australia, all through Europe, everywhere, and we were desperate.
Gia Weiss: I was helping a friend taping for Hercules and it was for one of the male parts and I was running the lines and he was like, 'Well, actually, you could audition for the princess.' I was like, 'Well, I don’t have an agent in London. It's impossible for me to even be considered for this part.' A few days later, my French agent goes, 'I have an English casting for you. Would you like to do it?' And she goes, 'It's Hercules.' I trained for this, I read the lines for my friend and this is how I got the role.
Renny Harlin: It’s really one those miracles because she didn’t have an agent in America or in London, she was living in France and only had a French agent. She had done a lot of theater work but no big movie role. She’s a complete newcomer, but that’s exactly what we were looking for.
Additional quotes can be read at Comic Book Resources.
Below are 1080p HD Screenshots from the trailer. Click to enlarge.