“Being naked on camera is terrifying,” says Dan Hamill. “So you better tighten your butt and abs,” he jokes, laughing at the surreality of it all. The Australian actor, who starred in ‘Neighbours’ (one of his country’s most popular soap operas) and the Canadian series Hardrock medical, tells M&F that he wanted to join the cast of Spartacus: House of Ashur as Celadus, a wise gladiator and a formidable fighter. The urgency to improve his game was shared by Jordi Webber, the New Zealand actor and musician, who is no stranger to action scenes, having played the Gold Ranger in the Power Rangers Ninja Steel series. Still, the challenge of transforming into the gladiator Tarchon (son of Hamill’s character Celadus) was a dream come true. “There’s nothing better than getting paid to do something that’s hard to do,” says Webber.
Spartacus: House of Assyria continues the Spartacus story, and the shoot required the gladiators to perform the same superhero combat last seen in Spartacus: Vengeance. For Hamill, one of the biggest changes was increasing his cardio to build his endurance for the fight. In a similar vein, Webber shares that morning walks were essential to warm up his muscles before getting started, a necessary part of dealing with long shoots. “You’re in all these thick pieces of armor,” Webber explains. “They restrict your movement, so you had to make sure you were warmed up before you even got settled.” Hamill also saw the value of warming up before donning his gladiator gear. “Otherwise you will get hurt,” he notes. “We wanted to get our bodies sorted before we came over and cut someone’s head off!”
Dan Hamill and Jordi Webber trained hard to achieve gladiator-worthy wins
Of course, the process of gaining muscle to become a gladiator started weeks before the cameras even rolled. Hamill says pullups and chin-ups were a staple of his preparation, helping to tighten his arms, shoulders, chest and lats for a buff upper body. “Jordan doesn’t need any help with his pecs though,” praises Hamill. “I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but they’re quite nice.” Webber joked back that his superior pec presentation was a result of him being shorter than the other actors. “I have gravity on my side,” he jokes. Still, one exercise that was no joke took place during boot camp, when Webber was asked to work with a long sandbag. “I hate the worm,” he shares. “That thing is stupid.” When working with the worm, you had to sit underneath it and rest it on your shoulder before throwing it over the other side of its torso. “It’s a nemesis now, if we ever go back for a season two,” says Webber.
Training for Spartacus: House of Ashur required jiu-jitsu, swordplay, bladework, and hand-to-hand combat training. To make the show as authentic as possible, hitting had to be supplemented with learning to roll and move correctly. “Brother, that’s not something you do in everyday life,” Webber reflects. Hamill tells M&F that if push comes to shove
training, he always preferred to do it solo, so he didn’t like the group work. “I trained with weights in the corner, which is kind of my character,” he says. “We were learning wushu (a Chinese martial art that integrates forms from various traditional and modern Chinese martial arts). For me, preparing for this role definitely lit a fire. Since I created the show, I’ve been the guy on the side of the gym with his stick doing somersaults and tricks, and I’m now obsessed with it.”
‘Spartacus: House of Ashur’ was Dan Hamill and Jordi Webber’s most challenging project yet
“What you see on camera is part of it, but when we weren’t acting, we were stunting,” Webber explains about the making of the show. While physically exhausted, the actors would then have to portray the emotions that the more tender scenes deserved. “You had to tap into the tears,” Hamill explains, saying that becoming a gladiator was a workout for the body, mind and soul. Webber, victorious. “You fight every day, half naked all the time. There was never an OFF switch, we didn’t have doubles for the stunts, I showed up and performed stunts on wire rigs, the same day. In the middle of a fight (the crew) would be like, cool, now we’re going to clamp you down so you can do a big dropkick against a wall. Everything happened so fast. One of the hardest challenges was protecting your body and your energy,” Webber reflects.
Luckily, the on-set catering was split into a table for gladiators and then a table for everyone else, so workers could load up on protein-rich foods like chicken and steak. Lean vegetables like broccoli were made available for those who would be shirtless. As a post-filming treat, both men mixed up cereal, milk and protein powder to fuel the next day. “It was kind of a bonding thing that we did,” says Hamill, who still counted his macros daily to stay on top of things.
Spartacus: House of Ashur also introduces Canadian actor and model Tenika Davis as Achillia, the series’ first female gladiator who is central to the plot. “She came in and started running across the floor,” Webber recalled. “I commend her so much for his role. More than just being a great actress, you have to be very, very physical and strong, but the greatest strength of all is her mentality. You just get beat up, man, and it hurts, and it destroys your body. She did it with such grace. A lot of people would have been devastated, like ten times over.” Hamill agrees with Webber’s assessment. “She has the spirit of a fighter.”
To see all the fighting and all the spirit in Spartacus: House of Ashur, the show is now streaming on STARZ.
To follow Dan Hamill on Instagram, click here.
To follow Jordi Webber on Instagram, click here.
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