Leelee Sobieski and Paul Telfer in "Hercules"

Were you a "Xena" or "Hercules" fan? Then it's time to journey back to the land of myth and fantasy with a 3 hour retelling of Herc's famous tale on NBC May 16th. This time it's film and TV star Leelee Sobieski ("Joan of Arc", Joy Ride, The Glass House, Deep Impact) as golden wood nymph Deianeira and ultra-hunky newcomer Paul Telfer ("Spartacus" (TV) as her guy Hercules. Lord of the Rings fans will be happy to see Sean Astin join the cast as Herc's best bud.

Like "Rings", "Hercules" was filmed in New Zealand and the scenery is awesome. Special effects are cool and the story stays closer to the epic myth and is much less tongue-in-cheek than the TV series version. We caught up with Leelee and Paul recently to chat about working on the TV epic, collecting hair (don't ask), killing snakes and their individual future plans. Leelee was a fan of the Kevin Sorbo TV series and Paul loves myth and appears in other period TV movies. Picture dark, buff and handsome Paul with a charming Brit accent.

TeenTelevision: How difficult was it to step into the loincloth of so many famous Hercules who preceded you like Steve Reeves and Kevin Sorbo?

Paul: I was lucky in a sense that the script that we had was very different than all the other interpretations of the myths that had gone before. The main thing was trying to get across an idea of sensitivity and vulnerability that maybe had not been explored before. The idea that on top of being super human, physically, that emotionally he was quite flawed as a result of his hostile upbringing and [being] cast as an outcast and how he has to overcome all these things without necessarily resorting to violence.

TeenTelevision: Paul, how does one go about auditioning for a role like Hercules?

Paul: Ordinarily, for a lead role, you go for a general meeting, then an audition, then if you are lucky they will call you back. If you are really lucky they will call you back again, then if you are really, really lucky you will get a meeting with the producer and director and everyone else. They will make you do the scene again a bunch of different ways and then you'll go home and sweat about it for two weeks and then finally, maybe you will get another audition. It just goes on and on.

TeenTelevision: But this one was different?

Paul: Yeah. With this one, I heard about it, sent a tape of me doing the scene, felt pretty good about it and then got a call back saying that we are interested can you do another take in London in a posh studio? So I went along and did that and lucked out. I mean I thought that I was auditioning to get a flight to go to America to meet the producers, but they offered me the job and the next time I met everyone I was in New Zealand getting fitted for my costume. It was surreal, really. I think I was half way through the job, when I realized that I had got it. It was great.

TeenTelevision: You have done "Spartacus' before. You also have on your resume a new version of "Alexander". Are you just into mythic costume dramas or something?

Paul: [laughing] Sure. I do enjoy this kind of thing. I am very lucky that my career kind of coincided with this reverse movie making because of my physique and the more athletic skills I might have. I am just very lucky that I have a chance to show it, in these kinds of movies. Not to the exclusion of any other time period or genre but working in as many styles of film making as I can.

TeenTelevision: Leelee, you've done other costume dramas before. How does playing Joan of Arc measure up to being the love of Hercules life?

Leelee: Well in one I was wearing metal and in the other I was spray-painted gold. [Laughs] They are different kinds of things. Joan of Arc wore 60 pounds of armor, became strong and battling. In this, I was wearing a dress with a light sheen of gold which I guess kind of represented openness, warmth, benevolence and empathy. She (Deianeira) is just a lovely nice kind of girl. One is a young woman and the other [although a young girl] is ageless. Two completely different experiences

TeenTelevision: What did you know about the Hercules myth before you took on this role?

Leelee: I did not know anything about her particular character, but I always watched the "Hercules" TV series with my little brother. We always had a great time watching it and for some reason always thought that even though this is something so different from that TV series, there was always something nice about "Hercules" because I used to watch it with my little brother and it was a bonding thing for us.

TeenTelevision: This version of the myth is all about secrets lies and murder, characters hopping from bed to bed. Hey, it's a soap opera. Is that good or bad?

Leelee: Yes well, personal human relations are what keep the world moving. If there was no conflict, there would be no pleasure. It is crazy that it happens this way but it is also interesting to know that human nature has not changed so much, maybe sad to know that or maybe not- I don't know. I have not experienced enough of life to decide on that one yet, and I don't know if I will ever be in a position to decide.

Paul: There is also an idea of these myths becoming so pervasive in culture and last so long because they are endlessly re-interpretable. All the problems and dilemmas faced by those characters are universal and outside of history, also part of story telling is to take your story and relate it to today. Our Hercules is very different than the Hercules of ten years ago and 20 years ago, as it should be.

TeenTelevision: What got you interested in playing this version of Hercules, Paul?

Paul: I remember when I first read the script I was very excited. The scale was so vast, and the special visual effects and quality was astounding and the character dynamics [were great]. Everyone has a role that influences and has great weight on the other role. There is a really nice symmetry to the relationship between Hercules and Deianeira in the first half of the story and, in the second half, where all the doubt, insecurities and flaws in his relationship with his first wife come to resolved.

Leelee: And, it's just fun to watch you kill big snakes! Men killing snakes is always fun to watch.

Paul: There is that too. [Laughs]

TeenTelevision: If we had a steel cage match with all the TV and movie Hercules, how do you think you would faire?

Paul: I reckon Steve Reeves is out of the game now. Sorbo is getting old. I am pretty well armed in this: bow and arrow, sword, club, on horseback. So as long as I could cheat and get my hands on some weaponry they would be in trouble.

TeenTelevision: Leelee I seem to remember that you used to collect co-star's hair. Is that true and if so do you have Hercules hair?

Leelee : I did not stop the collection consciously. I would think and laugh about it because I would think it was so much fun and then actually forget to take any, so I don't have anyone's hair from "Hercules". I know it's a real pity, but I just don't.

TeenTelevision: Why would you have done such a thing in the first place? "Oh yeah I am going to collect my costars' hair"?

Leelee: Because I am a weird girl. When I was younger I was doing Jungle to Jungle and I wanted to get Tim Allen and Martin Short's autographs but because I worked with them, and being a greedy little girl I wanted something more that a regular fan could not get. I was 12 or something. I thought I'd take a little piece of their hair, opposed to an autograph and that's how it got started.

Paul: I give my hair to everybody.

TeenTelevision: Were there any after hours toga parties after the whole thing ended or was it too cold in New Zealand at the time?

Paul: It was pretty cold at the time... we are all like extended family and we all get pretty close because it is like a school trip and there is quite a generation gap between actors..a bunch of younger ones and then the parents and others that had families and we were slightly distinct from those generations. We tend to revert to kids away on a school trip.

TeenTelevision: Leelee, why were you attracted to the role of a golden wood nymph?

Leelee: Right before I played a really mean bitter girl called Victoria Parks, in The Scottsville Trial, who accuses nine black men of raping her that didn't. I played the meanest thing there is and I needed to get out of her skin so I chose to play the nicest thing there is. My character in this is such a nice woman, so warm and such a great woman. I just needed those two things in opposition, because I had previously created all this meanness inside of me. I needed to have some sweetness too.

TeenTelevision: What types of roles do you prefer?

Leelee: I like everything, and I have done a bit of everything. It's important to mix things up. In terms of personal taste, if it is an interesting part, that will make me excited. Or if it is opposite to what I have done before, sometimes I find that really interesting. Epic films like Lawrence of Arabia, Doctor Zhivago; I hope some day we can make a film that will compare to those films. It is a secret desire of mine, but possibly they were too perfect.

TeenTelevision: Leelee, didn't you take a couple of years off from the business to go to school?

Leelee: Yes, I went to Brown University. I studied a bit of literature, but mostly art and painting. I really needed some time, especially since I had worked so much when I was younger. When you work you really want to be in love with working, doing the job that is coveted by so many people. It is a job that is really wonderful to have and I felt that it was unfair to do my job when my head was elsewhere. I wanted to be in school, and I fell in love. I wanted all these different things from real life that made me less excited about my job. I needed to take some time off and live a little bit. I went for one year and then I took a year off and lived with my ex-boyfriend and then I went back for another year. I hadn't lived any of my life that had emotion in it. So by becoming full again, I could in my next job put all that energy out. So that is why I stopped for a while. Now I am just so happy to be working.

TeenTelevision: Paul, do you know what you will be doing next?

Paul: I just finished the rewrite on the play that I had written for a friend of mine before I went out to New Zealand. While I was gone, he got it produced and put on in London. We are looking to take it to Edinburgh but I don't know if I will be in it. I am going to L.A, for the "Hercules" premiere and stuff, so we will see what happens then. Otherwise I will be in Edinburgh trying to get people to come see my play.

Leelee: Paul is a really smart guy. He won a prize for being a journalist.

Paul: Every time we are near a reporter she has to say this, but thank you though. I did really well at University.

Leelee: Tell them that you were the youngest to win the prize....please I am begging you now.

Paul: It wasn't like I won a car. They give an award to the highest graduating student.

TeenTelevision: So would you like to write as well as act?

Paul: I love acting and it is as stimulating and as difficult as you want to make it, but there are certain skills that I developed earlier on that I would still like to use, so that is why I still write. The stuff that I am writing with my writing partner is more comedy, which is not something I often get to do in my acting life, which I would love to do. So when we write it and produce it ourselves, I get more opportunity to play with that side of my work.

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Lynn Barker is a Hollywood-based entertainment journalist and produced screenwriter.