411 Movies Interview: Kevin Sorbo

Posted by Tony Farinella on 09.14.2008

411's Tony Farinella sits down with Kevin Sorbo for an exclusive interview!

Kevin Sorbo is probably one of the most laid-back and relaxed superstars in Hollywood today. He just wants to have fun, make movies, and live his life to the fullest. Needless to say, Kevin Sorbo is not your average Hollywood star. In my interview with Kevin Sorbo, we talked about Hercules, Hollywood, Dancing with the Stars, Andromeda, and a whole lot more. Kevin Sorbo currently stars in Something Beneath and Never Cry Werewolf. Something Beneath is currently on DVD, and Never Cry Werewolf hits DVD on September 16th. Also, don't forget to check out KevinSorbo.net. He is working on revamping it and is playing a more hands on role. He's going to be getting all fan emails and responding to them personally. The website is going to be constantly updated with news on what he's doing and he would love fan feedback. It also has information on his charity A World Fit For Kids.


TONY: How do you approach independent films like Never Cry Werewolf and Something Beneath? What's your state of mind on set?

Kevin Sorbo: I approach every project I get in the way of just having fun. I like to work, man. (laughs) I love being in this business, I love acting, I love being on a set, I love working with crew and other cast members, and, to me, it's just I wanna find out who I'm working with. And on both of those projects, I worked with a lot of people I've worked with before on Andromeda, so that was certainly an enticement for me. This whole business pretty much operates on who you know and the connections you make along the way. I mean, you can look at anybody. Like in features, you see Ben Stiller and Will Ferrell and all those guys, they're all using the same guys over and over again. They're friends, and they enjoy the comradery of working together and just being on the set. As far as these two parts, the characters are quite different from each other. There's a heroic element, obviously, to both of them, but it was fun for me to play people that had different values and different ideals. With Redd on Never Cry Werewolf, he was going through a mid-life crisis. He's become an alcoholic and pretty much on the loser trail until this little teenage girl basically comes along and helps him get his life straight again. It just happens to be set in the world of a werewolf. (laughs)

TONY: You have produced and directed a number of projects in the past, so I have to ask you, when you're on set, is it hard not to take over sometimes?

Kevin Sorbo: I think it's hard for most actors, even if they haven't produced or directed, that when they read a script and they get on a set, everybody's got their own ideas about what they think that scene should look like. I always respect the directors I work with, and I always respect their opinions. I just hope they respect mine. I'm gonna bring up my opinion, and I don't expect them to jump on it or say, 'Hey, that's a better shot,' but I think I've got good ideas and good taste and a good viewpoint of every scene I get involved in. Like I said, I love going to work, I take it seriously, and I don't come on the set with a big ego saying you got to do it my way or the highway, because I'm all for making whatever is best for the scene and whatever actors are in that scene with me. So you have to separate it now and then, but it's always gonna be there for me, and I'm always gonna go, 'Hmm, I would have shot it that way, but that's fine.' (laughs) That stuff is always gonna be there with me, because I'm gonna try and get more into directing now, too. I've been offered to direct a movie for Hallmark, so I'm kind of gonna throw my hat back in that ring.

TONY: What was it like playing the character of Redd Tucker? Did you use anyone as inspiration for this character?

Kevin Sorbo: I used to have a friend that was kind of like Redd, so I definitely based it off of somebody that I knew who was going through a divorce in his life, he was drinking far too much. The sad part of it, he took the ultimate step. He committed suicide about six months ago, which was really sad. I don't think Redd was at that stage, but I think if you wanted to continue with that character, if he wasn't gonna find a different road to travel on, which he did, yeah, this is a guy that lost his wife and lost basically his career, and he's in his forties now, and he's like, 'Oh my god, what am I gonna do with my life now?' It was pretty similar to what my friend was going through.

TONY: Personally, what do you do to make sure that you don't go down that same path?

Kevin Sorbo: I gotta tell you, I don't have a really addictive personality, so I'm very much a realist. And life goes in cycles. You're not always gonna be up, you're not always gonna be down, and I think the difference is those people that have those down periods and they make themselves go down deeper is they just don't have that same belief that I have. And I'm not saying my belief is different than other people, but we all have different ways we handle problems, and I don't have that in my psyche to reach down that low and say I wanna end it all. I have too much in my life I wanna live for. I think I'm just lucky that way, because I have a different viewpoint.

TONY: it seems like you're always willing to try something new, and even if it doesn't work, you're not afraid to fail or look silly. Where does that come from?

Kevin Sorbo: I always like to put on different hats, and I think that's what actors have to do. I think whenever I found what scares me in the industry, I think I should at least give it a try. I've got a couple of parts I'm gonna start shooting here in the next few months, it's so opposite of me. Actually, I have a meeting in a couple of hours with them about the part, and I'm flattered that they even considered me. Nobody sent me out for it, my agent, my manager, this guy called me directly through a friend of mine that said, 'Look, is it OK if this director calls you about this movie?' And this part is insane. This guy is a Quentin Tarantino-type of madman, and it's something most fans out there wouldn't even associate me with or some might be offended I'm taking the part, but I'm taking it, because it's something that I've never done before, and I find it interesting and fascinating to get into the mind of somebody who has no regard for life. It's basically like these terrorists we're dealing with now: I mean, how do you fight an enemy that doesn't give a crap about his own life? That's amazing to me that people can get to that point, but if you're raised that way in that society we're dealing with right now overseas, you do have to find a way to fight it. And how do you do it? It's interesting. It's gonna be fun. I love doing different stuff. I think the biggest thing that fears me now is that Dancing with the Stars has asked me four years in a row to come on, and I've said no every year. So we'll see. Maybe I'll get the balls and do it next season. But I'm like, 'Do I really wanna get on TV and dance?'

TONY: If Steve Guttenberg can do it, so can you!

Kevin Sorbo: Oh my gosh, yeah, I think I'll do better than Steve. (laughs)


TONY: It seems like you have done a fantastic job separating yourself from the Hercules character. Has it been pretty difficult?

Kevin Sorbo: It's funny you bring that up, because in the final season of Hercules after being down in New Zealand for six and a half years, they wanted to go three more years on the show, because the show was still doing very, very well. It was the number one show on first-run syndication, and I was having a blast doing the show. I loved living in New Zealand, I loved the people I worked with, and to this day, I still miss it. There's not a day that goes by that I don't think about it in some way, and I just decided right then and there, when Andromeda came along before the series wrapped up on Hercules, and I said, 'You know, I think I'm gonna dive into this. He's still a heroic guy, but he's a mortal guy, Captain Dylan Hunt. He can get hurt, he's not gonna win every battle. The comedic element can certainly still be in there, but it's not gonna be quite like Hercules was.' And I said, 'I'm gonna jump into that now, or otherwise I will become the Gilligan of my series.' And I didn't want that to happen, because I wanted to have a career beyond it. But, on the flip side, it's nice to get work, and I think a lot of people would die to have a seven-year run like I had on Hercules. And I realize that, so I count my blessings, at the same time. But I'm in an industry that you gotta make your own breaks, and you gotta treat it as a business. It is show business, not show show, so I've always treated it as a business and tried to keep my career going as long as I can.

TONY: You have had a lot of unique experiences in your life. What have you learned from those experiences, and how important is it to be in the right place at the right time?

Kevin Sorbo: I did every job there is under the book, trust me. I was a bouncer, I did bartending, I've done waitering, I've sold solar panels, mowed laws, landscaping, so I worked real hard in the industry, and I worked real hard to get to where I am today. I think there certainly is a combination of luck as well. I mean, there's a lot of talented people out there that I went through and had acting class with that still don't even have their SAG card. It's a business that's not always fair. It's based on sex, it's based on politics, and it's based on so many other things other than just talent. So it's weird. I mean, I wouldn't wish this business on anyone. But, unfortunately, it's one thing I am addicted to. I said I don't have an addictive personality, but I have an addictive personality to the world of acting. I love to act, because that part between action and cut is my time, and they can't take that away from me with all the bullshit that goes on with both sides of those barks from the director. I love what I do still, and I just separate myself from the mafia that Hollywood is.

TONY: What was it like working on the final season of The O.C.? You have stated in previous interviews that a lot of people on set knew that it was the final season and they were ready to call it quits. What was that experience like?

Kevin Sorbo: I got on the show, and the very first day I got on there, Peter Gallagher came up to me and said, 'You know we're going to be canceled after this year.' I was only supposed to do two episodes, and I ended up doing the final seven. The set was still cool to work on, I gotta say. I thought the crew was great, but you could tell the younger actors, they'll have a wake up call, and they'll have a reality and see what it's like out there. But there was a little bit of an attitude of, 'Ah, I'll get something else, and I'm ready to do something else. I'm done with this show.' It's that old adage, you don't know what you got until it's gone, and I think it's hitting them now, realizing it a year and a half later. I mean, I don't know how many of them are doing well on movies or TV shows right now. It's tough. It's a tough business, and there's always somebody there to replace you, so, to me, I've got a sports mentality. You play as hard as you can until the final minute, and I came on the set to do as good a job as I possibly could. And some of the people I worked with, you could tell they were kind of going through the motions, but other ones, they were still there to do a good job and a good scene. And it really came from guys like Peter Gallagher and some of the veteran actors on the set, because they appreciate when they get work.

TONY: Speaking of sports, who are some athletes that you look up to?

Kevin Sorbo: Jerry Rice is a guy that I've always admired. I've known Jerry for a long time, and I'm just impressed with the fact he worked his body and kept his body in shape until the day he retired. He's still in amazing shape. Willie Gault is another guy that I just look at this guy in his forties, and he still looks like he should be out there running pass patterns. I grew up just loving sports. I was always a Minnesota Viking, Minnesota Twin guy. Those are my teams, and it's unfortunate I think in today's world of pro athletes, the majority of them are in it just for the money, which is fine. I don't begrudge anybody to have success and make a lot of money, but I also think that when you're in the sports world, you're a role model, and you should be grateful for that and that you have a god-given talent. You've worked hard for that talent, but, at the same time, set a good example out there. And a lot of athletes don't. They're just big freaking babies and not exactly the nicest people to deal with on a day-to-day basis, and I feel bad for coaches who have to deal with these guys.

TONY: Even though you love acting and you're addicted to it, do you ever wish that you pursued a career in sports?

Kevin Sorbo: I was a big jock in high school and I thought I was a big stud, but I got into college to play football and basketball, and I realized very quickly that everybody at that level was as good or better than I was. But, yeah, if I Dream of Jeannie showed up and could fold her arms and do a quick blink, could I be a professional basketball player? I'd do that in a heartbeat. I love the game, I love the sport, and I love a lot of things about it, so I guess I'm a frustrated athlete, but I've gotten over it years ago.


TONY: You have also maintained a happy and healthy Hollywood marriage. What the secret?

Kevin Sorbo: Just say yes to everything. Agree. (laughs) I tell my wife, 'You know we're coming up on eleven years now, that's like having a golden anniversary in Hollywood.' Most actors after eleven years of marriage, they've been married to three or four different people. I dunno, I think a lot of it has to do with my parents. I had a good Midwest upbringing, and my parents are going on fifty-five years together now. Family is important to me, I have three kids, and it would drive me nuts not to be able to see them every day, so there's a lot of good reasons I think to keep marriages together. But I understand that people drift apart, and it's just a matter of how you guys are gonna move on to the next step when those relationships drift apart.

TONY: Are you surprised that people still talk about Andromeda? I know a lot of people who still talk about the show to this day. It's interesting, because the show is finding new fans every day.

Kevin Sorbo: I can't believe with Andromeda, we finished in December of 2004, so it's coming up on four years when it wrapped up. The Tribune owned it, right there out of your hometown, Chicago there, but The Tribune was unbelievably lazy in promoting the show. Still, it stayed number one in first-run syndication for its entire five-year run, and I think number one it has to do with the crossover fans from Hercules wanted to see what was going on, so they fell for the show, and they liked the characters on the show. And number two, people who were fans of Gene Roddenberry, obviously, and then people who were just fans of sci-fi in general helped keep that show around. But they never, ever promote it. So, I think now, because there's so much product out there and so much stuff out there, and people go to Best Buy and say, 'Oh my gosh, I'd like to see it.' And they watch the first season, and they're hooked. And you're right, I just did a big convention in Atlanta called Dragon Con, and I must have had fifty people a day come up and say, 'I never watched the show when it was on the air, but now I'm hooked on it, and I just got all the DVDs.' It's nice that it keeps finding a life like that, and I think that people that are fans of the genre are always gonna keep finding it through the years to come.

TONY: What else are you really proud of in your career? I'm talking about something that's maybe a little more under the radar.

Kevin Sorbo: I've always wanted to do Westerns, and I finally shot two of them last year. One is called Avenging Angel, and Avenging Angel did well, because it was the highest rated movie in the history of Hallmark, but I think it was the Hallmark crowd and not necessarily the Kevin Sorbo crowd. So I'm hoping that people that are fans of me will take a look at it some time. It's actually out on DVD now, and once again, it's called The Avenging Angel, and it's a really, really well-written and well-acted Western. I worked with a lot of great people, and for the budget we shot it on, I thought it turned out great. In fact, Hallmark now wants to do a sequel to it. I did another Western called Prairie Fever, and unfortunately, the editing of it was abysmal, but that's out on DVD as well. It's still a great story, but it's just that most of the story was taken out, which is unfortunate. Once again, the lack of promo for those things. It's funny, people just wanna make these movies, and they don't wanna do promotional work with it. It's odd to me.

TONY: How do you feel about Hollywood's obsession with celebrity and gossip?

Kevin Sorbo: Shows like TMZ and stuff like that, they're just mean-spirited, and I think it stems from jealousy on their part or something. Maybe a lot of these people are frustrated actors or something. It's weird to me. There obviously is an appetite out there. I don't read any of those rag magazines, and I just don't have time for it. What stars are wearing the same dress? Who looks better in it? I mean, who cares? It's strange to me there there's such an appetite for it, and they wanna pay eighteen million dollars for pictures of Brad and Jennifer's baby. Really? I don't know. I lead such a low profile that I'm boring for them. I'm not beating the crap out of my kids, and I'm not crashing cars, and I'm not a big drinker, so I'm boring for the tabloids, and they leave me alone. They're actually pretty happy when I show up to red carpet events, because all the photographers are all pretty nice to me, because I'm nice to them. I just say, 'How you doing?' I don't have an attitude towards them, so they actually treat me pretty well. But you have to be an asshole in Hollywood to get publicity. I don't have the energy. I got too many things going on in my life, and if I've got nothing going on, I'd rather be golfing.

TONY: Finally, I know you do a lot of great charity work, so can you tell me a little bit about that?

Kevin Sorbo: For twelve years, I've been doing a foundation called A World Fit for Kids, and we recently received a gold star from Governor Schwarzenegger as the best after-school program in the entire state of California, which I'm very proud of. And we work with over six-thousands kids in L.A. County, which has a fifty-four percent dropout rate, but with the six-thousand kids we've worked with, we have a hundred percent graduation rate. And I'm kicking off the golf tournament on October 10th and 11th in Las Vegas, and it's gonna be a great event. People can go online and check it out: www.worldfitforkids.org. And they can get all the information on what's going on with my foundation and also they can get all the information on what's going on with my golf tournament. We've got a lot of great celebs coming out: Sam Jackson, Joe Pesci, Joe Mantegna, Josh Kelly. We got a lot of good people coming out and a lot of good entertainment. It's gonna be a great event, and people can find out about it and attend the dinner that we have on Saturday night. 150 bucks a plate, and they can come there, and we've got great auction items. It's a great, great foundation. I also wanna throw in that I have a website out there called KevinSorbo.net, which we are about to expand on quite a bit, where I'm gonna become far more active and involved in it. So I'd love people to log on and let us know what they would like to see on the website. We're building it as I speak, and there's gonna be a huge change coming up in the next couple of months. We'd love people's opinions on what the website should be like.

TONY: Alright, Kevin, thank you so much for your time. It was great talking to you. I appreciate it.

Kevin Sorbo: Alright, thank you, sir. Appreciate your time.