When Stephen Farrelly, under the moniker of Sheamus, the Celtic Warrior, enters a WWE ring these days, ever ready to deliver a vicious Brogue Kick to the face of some unlucky opponent, he's met by both cheers and jeers from different factions of the audience. But when the Dublin-born grappler-turned-actor appears, first as a goofy criminal, later as a chemically transformed raging rhino of a man, in "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows," he'll be rewarded with peals of laughter. He plays Rocksteady who, along with his inept partner Bebop (Gary Anthony Williams), provides comic relief as a pair of would-be adversaries to the title teen turtles.
The 6-foot-4 (not counting his bright red Mohawk) Farrelly, 38, who has worn numerous title belts during his seven-year tenure at WWE, had just made the drive from Baltimore, Maryland to Norfolk, Virginia -- yes, they drive themselves from one arena to the next. He pulled off the road for a phone interview about acting and wrestling, and feeling so lucky to be working in two very different fields of entertainment.
Q: Tell me a little bit about Rocksteady, and why you wanted to play the part.
A: Rocksteady and Bebop are two thugs who dream of being supreme criminals. Unfortunately their intellect is lacking in that department, and they bring a lot of chaos to the movie. I wanted to do this role because I'm a huge fan of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and have been since I was a kid. I love the character, and I really wanted to be part of this movie. I saw and loved the original movies in the cinema when I was a kid, and I really enjoyed the reboot from a couple of years ago. I had already achieved one childhood dream -- becoming a WWE superstar. And now, being involved with a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie, at this level, with such a great cast, is another one.
Q: The WWE has such a hectic schedule, how did you find time to squeeze in making the movie?
A: It was tough. My biggest concern after getting the role was that it would interfere with the WWE schedule. And I kept a pretty full one. The only time I got off from wrestling was a couple of "Smackdowns" here and there. So I would be doing a live event tour on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, and then I would do "Raw" on Monday. Then I would jump on a plane, land in New York at 4 or 5 in the morning, and be on-set for the film at 7. That was the biggest obstacle. But it was so much fun working with these guys that no matter how tired you were, as soon as you hit the set, the energy was up and it was time to play.
Q: You were a big star when you were part of Irish Whip Wrestling (IWW) in Ireland before you joined the WWE. When you got here, did anyone in the company take you under their wing?
A: Three people helped me a lot: Steven Regal, Hunter (Triple H), and (former Irish wrestling star) Fit Finlay. Fit is my mentor; he's the one who I still go to all the time. He's got one of the greatest minds in the wrestling business, and incredible foresight into stuff that people would never think of putting in matches. Hunter and Regal helped me out right away because they saw I was motivated and had a lot of drive.
Q: You had a lot of physical training with the IWW, and you learned even more at the New Jersey wrestling school, The Monster Factory. But wrestlers also have to be good on the microphone to get their characters across. Did you get any coaching in that area?
A: There was a little bit of coaching, from people like Dusty Rhodes. But I've now learned not to worry about doing the promos (in-character TV interviews). I just put them in my own words now, and don't overthink them anymore. You've got to be passionate or cocky when that fits the story you're telling, but you've really just got to be yourself out there. The more you're allowed to be yourself, that's when the best promos come to life.
Q: Do you think that playing a character in the wrestling ring has helped you with acting in movies?
A: Well, in the movies, you get multiple takes; you get a chance to do a scene over. But when you go into the ring with a live microphone, and you're talking to all of the people in the arena and to millions of people at home, you don't get an opportunity to re-do it. So it's not at all the same thing as a movie set. It's two different animals, but they complement each other, and it definitely helped prepare me.
-- Ed Symkus writes about movies for More Content Now.
