Interview with Kevin on Amazon.co.uk

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With the release of the region 2 DVD"s see what Kevin had to say.

From Hercules to Andromeda

An interview with Kevin Sorbo



A role model is a rarity on TV these days. Actor Kevin Sorbo was always acutely aware of this all through his tenure as the mighty Hercules. Now with the huge success of Gene Roddenberry's Andromeda, the birth of his son Braeden, and the foundation of his A World Fit for Kids charity, Sorbo hopes to be filling that gap in some way. Amazon.co.uk's Paul Tonks talked to him as the new series made its debut on DVD, beginning by finding out how one hero role came to follow the other.


Kevin Sorbo: The handover happened the last three months of Hercules. We wrapped up in July of 1999. Universal Studios wanted to go three more years with the show, but I'm the culprit. I'm the bad guy. I wanted to move on and do something else. I loved Hercules, and still miss my friends. I miss New Zealand. But I thought seven seasons was enough. I started actively looking probably six months prior to Hercules wrapping up. With my managers and agents we were looking at a couple of potential network shows, and then they came to me with this little ditty. I'm a huge Gene Roddenberry and Star Trek fan. Especially the original series. Within two weeks of hearing about it we were drawing up contracts.

I don't win every battle, but at least I get a chance to go to war!

Amazon.co.uk: How did your role as a Producer come about?

Sorbo: I felt I had a lot to do with the success of Hercules. I certainly had a lot of input from the beginning. I fought for a credit, but the studio and the producers wouldn't give it to me. I'd seen a lot of actors do that once they'd established themselves. So I left with my Top 10 wish list and Tribune, the studio that owns Andromeda said yes to almost everything. I don't win every battle, but at least I get a chance to go to war! I had a lot to say with the hiring for instance. I didn't have the final say but I had input with writers, directors and actors. I talk to the writers when we're shooting. I'm on my phone three or four times a day.

Amazon.co.uk: Were you involved in things like costume, ship design or the general look of the show?

Sorbo: I had a say in it all. They'd bring things for me to say what I did and didn't like. I think 80 per cent of the time the things I picked were picked, but not just because I said so. I definitely fought on the name of the show. That was a big victory for me. They wanted to call it Phoenix Ascendant. And then Andromeda Ascendant. I fought for just the term Andromeda because it's a galaxy of people, and we know that's the closest galaxy to our own. It seemed much more of a commercial name and would ring true.

Amazon.co.uk: What about your own look? How soon after Hercules did you get your hair cut?

Sorbo: I kind of held out a little bit. We cut maybe three inches off and then within a couple of months I cut it short. The first season it's still longish. But for the second season I cut it much shorter. That was a battle they fought with me, and I must admit I was wrong. It's much better with the Jackson Browne mid-70s look.

Amazon.co.uk: How big an outline was there from Gene Roddenberry to work from?

Sorbo: He had so many ideas that he'd logged down in his memoirs. I sat down at his desk in his house in Bel Air California, and his wife Majel threw this big stack of papers at me. I felt like a little kid in a candy store getting to look at things most people have never seen. Believe me it's not over yet. There's a lot more ideas to come. In fact they did a pilot with this series back in the 1970s (Planet Earth) with the John Saxon character. It never got picked up because at the time they thought the whole space thing wasn't working, even though they were sitting on the gold mine of Star Trek. We actually took the best of two different ideas and put them in the one show. That was another one of the things I wanted to do, and again a battle I feel I won.

Amazon.co.uk: The show seems to have at its core the sort of ethical considerations that get left behind in most sci-fi today.

Sorbo: Exactly. I think the writing is key to everything. We have a new writing team in place because the show sort of got off base from where everybody wanted it to go originally. But as a whole Robert Hewitt Wolfe has kept a very good vision. We have a new writer (Bob Engels) who's going to be fantastic for seasons three and four. I think what we wanted to do was re-create what the original Star Trek did. What other Gene Roddenberry shows have missed a little bit is that value of the relationship between the characters. That's why you tune in each week to watch a show, if you like the characters. With the mixture of personalities we have there's something for everybody.

Amazon.co.uk: You directed a couple of episodes of Hercules, has that come up at all on this show?

Sorbo: In my contract there is for me to direct two a year. For the first two seasons I opted out. Last season was because of the birth of my son. I wanted to spend more time with him. I love directing, but I love the acting process more. Right now my hours on the show are so much better then Hercules. They just about killed me working 16-hour days. When you direct you do 20-hour days. We have a lot of directors come on the show who are much better technically than I will ever be. From an actor's standpoint I think I can work a lot better.

Amazon.co.uk: You mentioned the confirmation of seasons three and four. Was it a two-season at a time agreement up front?

Sorbo: Yes. They gave me a 44-show guarantee, which is just unheard of in television. Before we'd even shot one frame, and while I was still on Hercules, I knew there were 44 shows in front of me. So I didn't have that actor's anxiety of being unemployed. The show's doing very well. It's the Number 1 syndicated show in America and we're in 100 countries around the world already. We knew we'd get at least another season picked up, but they went for two more.

Amazon.co.uk: And apart from everyone joining hands peacefully as a Commonwealth, if it doesn't give anything away, are there any other developments you'd like to see?

Sorbo: Something I really wanted to see, and now it is going to happen, is that Dylan's going to come to the realisation that restoring a million member worlds in three galaxies is a pretty daunting task. He is now going to just help people who need help. He'll let the Commonwealth take care of itself. At the end of Season 2 we get our 50 member worlds which I wanted to start a Charter Membership. A Founding Fathership so to speak. Hopefully the word will spread to other worlds. But Dylan's got this kick-*** ship, and a wild group of pirates going on this wild adventure with him. So let's just go help people and be good Samaritans. In the climate of the world today, I think it's going to be a good move for the show. People want to see the hero with the white hat again. I enjoy playing the hero. I like setting a good role model for kids. We were kids once ourselves, and they're our future. At the rate things are happening today I think anything we can do showing them a positive light is good.

Amazon.co.uk: There's quite a fan community alive on the Internet. Do you look in to see what's being said from time to time?

Sorbo: I just checked the Andromeda Web site. Gordon Woolvett who plays Harper is a total computer geek, but not me. I know there's a big community out there, but I'm not a computer guy at all. My wife is on the computer so I check an e-mail now and then, but to be honest I'm pretty much out of it!

Amazon.co.uk: You've contributed some materials for the DVDs. Have you recorded any commentaries?

Sorbo: I'm going to be doing that very shortly. They're releasing five episodes at a time. So I'm sitting down with Alan Eastman who's the Executive Producer on the show. Possibly we'll get Lexa Doig who plays Andromeda along too. We'll hopefully throw some levity and light onto what each show's about. When I get a DVD with a commentary I always listen to what the director or whoever has to say.

Amazon.co.uk: Do you have a favourite movie on DVD?

Sorbo: I'm an old Hollywood guy. That's what made me fall in love with movies, guys like Cary Grant, Humphrey Bogart, Paul Newman and Robert Redford. If you make me pick just one it would have to be Casablanca.

[Krystal]

Cool interview, thanx to share it with us Stripe.

Krystal

[stripe]

You are welcome