A mythical Greek hero is faced with a series of betrayal many couldn’t possibly live through. For the son of Zeus, although it seemed unbearable, his extraordinary strength and endless motivation kept him going until justice was made. The Legend of Hercules tells the epic story of this half-man, half-god hero.

Kellan Lutz stars as Hercules, the legendary hero who is betrayed by his stepfather, King Amphitryon (Scott Adkins) and exiled and sold into slavery. “Hercules was always that original hero for me and now that I am an actor I found this passion that I get to relive and fulfill this childhood dream of bringing this character to the big screen,” said Lutz.

The mother of Hercules, Queen Alcmene (Roxanne McKee) is also a victim of King Amphitryon’s wickedness. But while betrayal, fights, and action play a big part in the film, romance is also very much alive. When Hercules is taken into slavery, he leaves behind not only his mother, but also the woman he intends to marry, Hebe (Gaia Weiss). But after learning the reality of his stepfather’s deception, he calls for the help of his true father, Zeus and embraces the Greek hero he truly is. “I was very well prepared for this because my education and my knowledge of Greek mythology was already there. I had already studied a lot of it because I enjoyed it. That fantasy world was amazing to me because they’re all myths,” said Lutz.

But even a half-god hero needs a little help sometimes. Liam McIntyre, who plays his best friend and partner in battle Sotiris, stays next to Hercules and helps gather followers. Help also came into play when the cameras weren’t rolling. Lutz explained that he went to McIntyre for a few extra pointers, “being the fighter that he is, I came to him humbly as I could and said ‘look I don’t have time to really learn, will you help me? And he said ‘yea brother!’…  He really helped me be into Hercules… I was living my childhood dream and I just fully embraced it.”

To create a mythical world such, as the one of Hercules, requires a great deal of imagination. That is something Lutz says he had plenty of during his early years, “I grew up in a farmland with a lot of farm animals so I had a lot of alone time. I was able to use my imagination to create the world of Tarzan, Hercules, Ninja Turtles and so I was playing by myself… I’d always light fires and I would always be the hero that blew the fires out. It was a weird lonely time that I filled up by creating my own fantasy world.”

Along with imagination comes a lot of physicality, which we get to see a lot of in this film. Lutz assures us that it’s not necessarily hard work to be in such good shape, “I live an active lifestyle. I call it funning out not working out. As soon as it becomes work, I don’t like it.” He also said, “I’ve never felt such a sense of accomplishment. I am so proud of the work that I did. Especially because I am so drawn to the script and what we have. I’m a man of faith and that to be part of a script that I got teary eyed reading and getting to the part where Hercules is getting crucified and he reaches out for the strength of his father. I was so connected to this movie.”

Kellan Lutz ‘had been chasing the role of Hercules for three years now’ and he has definitely proven to be the Hercules of the new generation.

The Legend of Hercules in 3D will be in theaters on January 10^th.