Interview with Dominique Hulin!
When did you realize you wanted
to become an actor?
How did that happen?
D H : By pure chance,
apart from that I am different by my size. And I
chose to
express myself instead to live with vague complexes. One day, the
gymnastics teacher of the college entered the room with a bag and
announced
that he wanted to teach us fencing.
One day I saw an
advertisement asking for fencers for the film « The Four
Charlots
Musketeers ». A that time I took courses for opera singer. I can say
that from opera singer I became stuntman. I started out my career like
this
and progressively it became my profession.
You are a special actor in Crossbow, you have 3 different
roles
1. as Dantes (episode 3, episode 6 Albion and episode 7
Sanctuary),
2. as a huge monster (episode 32 Fear) and
3. as one of
the Headhunters (episode 69) in one of the latest episodes.
What was
your favorite role in Crossbow?
"The first one of course,
because for me it was the best fight that I had
ever done. Will, his
double and I got along very well. When I watch those
episodes now, I
always smile because between takes, Will and I
talked together and he
spoke about his happiness at being a father. He
told me to hurry up to
have a child because it's a necessary thing for a
man. After that, we
strongly fought together but often with this little
smile of complicity
!
"An anecdote: when I died (at the end of the fight), Will
accidentally
touched me with his sword and he was really sorry. It's
one of the risks of
the trade. Fortunately, it was not serious at
all."
Each
time I saw Will, he regretted to be not
that good as he wanted during our first fight. He would
have liked to remake
it.
May we ask you about of your
private life?
Are you married?
Do you have children. If yes how old
are they and do they act as well?
I live with the same wife since 15 years. She
is half-English and I followed
Will's advice. I adopted her daughter
and I became a father with all the
hazards that accompany this
experience.
She is 19 now and like for all parents, that is the period
that we can
call the most delicate.
What is your favourite
movie?
I
was a child when I first went to the cinema. I like to dream. And so I
like « The
Lord of the Rings », some good old westerns like « Jeremiah
Johnson » and «
Little Big Man » and a movie like « The War Lord ».
Humanely, a movie like «
Awakenings » with Robert De Niro
etc.
What are your favourite
series?
I have not really favourite
television series. That is not my style. I
discover, I analyze and I
am often bored with the time...
What are your hobbies?
I am
always an actor but today I work essentially on a plan of rehabilitation
of young delinquents to be stuntmen. I wish to offer them a chance,
the same
as I had one day.
Have you always lived in France?
I live in France and I travel for shootings of movies. I
recently came back from South Africa.
Do you like it to play
in in more
than one Crossbow episode?
When we
met again, Will and I, we said:. « Ho ! My favorite Enemy !
»
Who were your favourite
actors?
When we shoot, it's a job, so
it is the human meetings that are important.
Did you enjoy working in Crossbow?
Crossbow is one of my best shooting
memories.
Being an actor and a stuntman, perfect !
Do you remember how long It took to record each
episode you were playing in?
Each
episode took one week, five days. My first episode was shot in less than
four days because they were already late. It was really tiring for me
because they shot all the actions in double with Will and his double
continuously all day long.
Did you have any bloopers in Crossbow? Or did somebody else made
some in
those episodes you were in? We would love to hear!
In the first one, there were too much fights to
lose concentration.
In the second one, it was memorable especially
because of the costumes and on
the account of the young director
asking me for impossible things. We lost a
lot of time with fun.
In
Headhunters, when we met together Will and I, there is an action where I
throw something on his head. He dodges by moving back and he breaks
the wall
behind him. You can see it on the screen in the
episode.
After that Will fights me with a torch. The problem is that I
had a Nylon wig. It
was a very stressful situation. No mistake to
make.
I had the chance to be in one of the first episodes and I
especially was
there in the last episode and at the final
taking.
Did you like the
horseriding parts?
My weight tires
the horse so we had to find a horse that matches my size and I ride not
very well. But it was a real pleasure !
During Crossbow, I had
the same horse as Will. His name was Gitan and he
was a very nice
horse. With him, I felt like a very good rider !
An anecdote: at
the beginning of the first episode, during the ride, I've
got ten
meters of advance. Just simply because having removed the stirrups,
I
have to grip my legs to the belly of the horse to sit solid. That meant to
the horse: acceleration!!. One of the stuntmen even fell because of that.
In one episode you were storming in Gessler’s room and told him you were able to catch Tell dead or alive. You are pretty threatening and angry there. Was It fun to play that role with Gessler?
It’s one of my favorite actions especially because I have in front of me an extraordinary actor. He spoke a perfect english and he corrected me calmly. If they tell me to be nasty, I am nasty. It’s a job and I practise it since 35 years. Concerning the actor (Jeremy Clyde ), I remember that his English was so perfect that they have to dub his voice for the U.S.A version !
Later you came back in episode 69 as one of the headhunters. You still look like Dantes but then with a huge scar and an axe in your hands.
I was killed in a previous episode, so my appearance had to be transformed.
The scar is in the first episode. In the Headhunters episode, I have white contact lenses.
Did you do stunts yourself?
I am a fencing master so for the fights it’s a real pleasure to do the stunts even today. About the falls, I have no shame to say that I had sometimes a stand-in. All the more when the stuntmen are old friends and when my morphology forbids me to do a lot of things. Everybody has to work. I have a lot of respect for them.
In what kind of movie would you like to play in the future? Where are you dreaming of?
I had the chance to do some different castings. I want more to reveal the human being that hides behind the giant. I am a poet and a philosopher but I earn my living by playing a barbarian…
The productions lack of imagination disturbs me sometimes… but well !
I wait, there is nothing else. I try to please every time I shoot.
For example, on the net : ragingball.free.fr
Only the short films propose me this kind of role.
I have some different plans in progress.
What are you doing at the moment?
Some shows and events, the rehabilitation plan and the creation of a little amazons company, young women able to fight and stay feminine and pretty.
Do you have something nice to tell about the Crossbow period you remember?
I am proud and happy to take part in these shootings.
Whereas we turn to Dordogne and Périgord, we had the pleasure to educate the english and american actors to the culinary art of the south west of France. I believe that some of them haven't recover from that… I have to say that we really eat awfully.
This region is particulary rich and it’s not possible to be on a diet here !
What are your Crossbow memories?
Personally, it’s on this filming that I met a young assistant who presented me her sister… who is my partner today.
One day, there was a general strike in France and so the filming was stopped. I succeeded to organize the next day with the producers to let the english actors discover the region. It was to Annecy.
An anecdote, my weight forces me to strap the horses more than usual. It’s why I prohibited to strap them too tightly. By this way, the saddle was to the limit to turn. And it’s why we never see me climbing on a horse because for that, it was necessary that two or three people hold the other stirrup.
One day, whereas I put protections for the knees, Will’s wife came to see me and seemed very interested by what I did. I looked at her and I said to her : « I didn’t know Will was so tough ! ».
She was slightly shocked before she accepted my humour and she explained to me that she had the same ones to work in her garden. That made Will laugh, who little by little got used to the French humour.
Do you have a nice message for the Crossbow fans?
Go west young men ! Go west
