Right now you're filming something called Angel of Death.
Right, I just finished shooting that, it's still in production. It's a movie for Sony Internet, a new full-length feature film for the internet. It stars me and Lucy Lawless and Zoe Bell [who was Lucy Lawless's stunt double on Xena] -- just by chance it drew together a bunch of us from Xena. I don't know how that happened, but it did. I only have a cameo, the director [Paul Etheredge] called me up to do a cameo, and it was a lot of fun.
Why do you think sci-fi and fantasy is such a good fit for you?
Well, some actors you see generally do a lot of cop shows, some actors you see do a lot of dramas, others teen comedies -- it really just depends on what that actor happens to like to watch, what he's attracted to. When you are reading for something in front of a bunch of producers, like any other job in this world, if they smell that you enjoy the material, they're more likely to put you in it. If you come in, say, for a position as an IT manager at some giant corporation, you know about computers but you're the most eager human being in the world, they'll say, "I want that guy. He's going to stay late, he's going to work hard, he's going to kick his butt for us."
So I think that's why. I just love sci-fi, I love the genre, that's why I tend to do a lot of it. But the essential mechanics of acting, of course, are exactly the same. And that was true, too, for Legend of the Seeker. There's no manual to tell you how they behave in some fantasy world of 600 or 700. You have to use your acting chops. And it was easy, because those actors on that show were fantastic. I got really lucky. And hopefully I'll get to go back and do it again.
You're going to hate me for this, but I have to ask -- anything you can tell me about Spider-Man 4?
Yes! Spider-Man 4 is going, it will star Tobey Maguire, and I will be back in that picture as Hoffman with J.K. Simmons, most likely, as J. Jonah Jameson. So that's going on.
And remember, if anyone was ever interested in my stuff in Xena, to definitely tune into Legend of the Seeker. It is smaller, but much more mind-blowing. It's on Saturday or Sunday depending on where you live, but most certainly worth getting into, it's crazy good.
