Another article mentioning Dolph turning down Hercules
Posted: 21 Sep 2004, 06:59Hercules: The Legendary Journeys is the brainchild of film-makers Sam Raimi and Rob Tapert, whose company Renaissance Pictures was responsible for the Evil Dead films, as well as Darkman, Hard Target, TimeCop and the late-lamented American Gothic. Raimi and Tapert were approached by Universal to do a clutch of two-hour movies for a series of one-off TV adventure yarns under the banner of the "Action Pack," and suggested a spin on the Hercules legends, using contemporary dialogue and cutting edge CGI monsters.
The trick was finding the right actor to play the lead character. "The studio put a great deal of pressure on us to put Dolph Lundgren in the role," Tapert recalls. "We approached Dolph with a big offer and he turned it down. And, boy, are we glad he did!" After seeing more than 100 prospective Hercs, the producers finally cast a relative unknown, Kevin Sorbo, who had previously auditioned for such roles as Fox Mulder on The X-Files and Superman in Lois And Clark. Anthony Quinn was then cast as Zeus to add some much-needed credibility to the project.
from: http://www.mirrorblue.com/annex/sfx1296/
The trick was finding the right actor to play the lead character. "The studio put a great deal of pressure on us to put Dolph Lundgren in the role," Tapert recalls. "We approached Dolph with a big offer and he turned it down. And, boy, are we glad he did!" After seeing more than 100 prospective Hercs, the producers finally cast a relative unknown, Kevin Sorbo, who had previously auditioned for such roles as Fox Mulder on The X-Files and Superman in Lois And Clark. Anthony Quinn was then cast as Zeus to add some much-needed credibility to the project.
from: http://www.mirrorblue.com/annex/sfx1296/