Trivia / The Legend of Hercules

• Actor-Inspired Element: Kellan Lutz came on board very late in pre-production, with only two weeks to prepare. Lutz had intended to bulk up to look more like Hercules should, but the filmmakers suggested he remain at the size he was to go against the stereotype.
• Box Office Bomb: Budget, $70 million. Box office, $61,279,452.
• California Doubling: Though set in Greece, production took place in Bulgaria.
• Creator Killer: Renny Harlin directed flops in the past which he managed to bounce back from, but this disaster was the last major Hollywood project he was involved in. He since had to head abroad for filmmaking and funding, like China or his native Finland.
• Deleted Role: Jukka Hilden filmed scenes as a character called Creon, but they were cut from the film.
• Dueling Movies: With Hercules starring Dwayne Johnson, also released in 2014. Johnson's film prevailed to become the more successful one.
• Dyeing for Your Art:
  • Scott Adkins had to follow two different diet regimes depending on which age he was portraying King Amphitryon at. For his younger self, he ate very carefully and trained a lot to show his cut physique and look "lean and ripped". For the older self, the emphasis was on size, and he ate a lot more.
  • Jonathan Schaech also dieted and followed a body building routine to prepare for the role, and was very disappointed that he didn't get a Shirtless Scene to show it off.
• Follow the Leader: Followed up on the success of 300 after it garnered interest in hyper-stylized and overtly fantastical Ancient Greece-themed films. Also a part of the lineage of Gladiator which rekindled interest in Greco-Roman themed costume pictures in general beforehand, whose plot this film "borrows" a whole lot from.
• Star-Derailing Role: This film killed the careers of Kellan Lutz and Gaia Weiss, who respectively garnered Golden Raspberry Award nominations for Worst Actor and Worst Actress. It received a universally negative reception and became a notable Box Office Bomb of 2014, probably because it was overshadowed by the much better-received Hercules (2014) starring Dwayne Johnson. Lutz, who was majorly hyped up after his role as Emmett Cullen in the Twilight films, and Weiss, who was trying to break out in Hollywood after establishing herself in her native France as a model, have done little of note since.
• What Could Have Been:
  • The original plan was for Hercules to have long blond hair, but they decided that shorter hair was more functional in fighting and horse-riding.
  • The original script was 120 pages, and the film would have been a three hour epic. Renny Harlin cut and trimmed a significant amount.