Wrestling superstar triple H a vampire? Hunter Hearst Helmsley takes M & F behind the scenes of his wild Hollywood ride

Muscle & Fitness, May, 2004 by Michael Berg

"It's hard to breathe in this thing," Triple H, aka Hunter Hearst Helmsley, whispers in a labored voice, referring to the harness strapped tightly around his 265-pound body. However, there's no time to worry about respiratory difficulties, as everyone has taken their places for the "ratchet pull" scene. Twenty feet of rope is clamped to Hunter's back via the harness as he steps into position, face-to-face with Wesley Snipes. Off-camera, four crewmen grasp the line.

Action. Hunter punches. Wesley counters with a heel kick that lands squarely on Hunter's sternum. On that cue, the four men pull forcefully, folding Hunter in two as he goes airborne and flies several feet backward. A pile of padding breaks his fall, and the room falls silent as Wesley's foot drops to the floor. Cut.

Triple H would do the spine-wrenching stunt five more times on that cool fall afternoon at Bridge Studio in Vancouver, Canada. But you won't hear him complain about that or about landing his first movie role, a part in which he plays a half-vampire, half-human villain. In fact, the consensus on the set of Blade: Trinity was summed up by a passing crew member: "Don't let his secret get out--he's a nice guy."

The Game? The man who has brandished a sledgehammer in the wrestling ring? A nice guy? Well, suffice it to say he was nice enough to spend the day with M & F, talking about acting, grappling and his favorite subject of all--bodybuilding. You be the judge.

M & F Tell me more about Jarko Grimwood, the character you play in Blade.

HUNTER I play the heavy of a group of vampires that's trying to ensure we become the dominant species on the planet. We're out to capture and kill Blade. You find out later in the film that I'm like Blade in that I'm half-human. That's why I have steel fangs instead of real ones and powers similar to his. Every time you think Blade and his crew have made their escape, I come out of nowhere.

M & F Any memorable scenes you've shot thus far?

HUNTER In one scene shot here in Vancouver, we set Blade up so the police capture him, and we go to the police department dressed as orderlies to try to pick him up. The other heroes in the film come to his rescue. A riot breaks out at the police department, and we have a massive gun battle. They end up escaping with Blade. As they're driving down the highway, I chase them, and Jessica Biel, who plays one of the heroes, shoots me in the eye with an arrow.

M & F Was that scene a challenge compared to the mayhem you're accustomed to in the ring?

HUNTER The challenge is not to come across looking like an idiot [laughs], not to stick out like a sore thumb on screen. When there are seven guys on the other side shooting full rounds of blanks, and you're shooting back at them, and there're explosions going off and stuff falling on you, and you have to hit your mark and be in the right place and facing the right way and doing the right thing, it's not easy. I'm used to our [wrestling] environment. I can do that with my eyes closed. Here it's a lot of fun, but it's a different world.

M & F Do you have other projects in the works? There've been rumors about you playing Conan now that Arnold is no longer available for the project.

HUNTER I met John Milius [director of Conan the Barbarian and Red Dawn] at a time when they were originally thinking about doing King Conan. He met with me and talked to me a lot about playing a part in the movie then. Before Arnold was elected [governor of California], John said if Arnold wins, I want you to play [the title] role. It's all up in the air, whether it's agreeable to everybody, but that's what John is saying.

M & F Aren't you also working with John on a movie with the WWE production company?

HUNTER John had come up with a script and a project that he wanted me to star in. He talked to the WWE production office and they liked the concept--we're probably going to shoot that in April in New Mexico. John wants to call it Jornada de Muerte, which roughly translated is Day of Death. I'm not sure Vince [McMahon, chairman of the Board of Directors of the WWE] likes that. Anyway, the backdrop is modern day, with the story centered on a motorcycle gang that's into drug dealing. I play this guy who's a piece of shit in a lot of ways, but because of the circumstances and because he has a strong moral code--kind of an "honor among thieves" type of thing--he gets himself into a situation where he's in the right.

M & F What constitutes a cool action film to you?

HUNTER You know, in a lot of movies now, it's how cool can they make the dinosaur look or doing the longest car chase ever or a martial-arts scene where it ends up being two guys dancing around each other. It's all just special effects, and [as a fan] I just don't care about that. Things have to work within the environment. In The Matrix, there's a reason they float through the air when they fight. When you have a regular movie and all of a sudden one guy is flying through the air, you lose all reality. When I go to a movie, I like a good storyline.