Renny Harlin talks epic six-minute shots in Hercules 3D

Director Renny Harlin has branded his Hercules 3D "a great love story" that is similar in tone to Ridley Scott's Gladiator .

In conversation with Crave Online , the filmmaker revealed that while there is romance in his version of the Greek myth, there will also be massive action scenes - including one of the "biggest shots" he's ever created.

“I have a battle scene that lasts six minutes that is all one shot,” he told the site. “[ It ] covers a sea battle and ground battle and hand to hand combat and sword fighting, spears and bows and arrows and flying boulders, all done in one shot that never cuts.”

The director also spoke to Coming Soon , revealing: "The action is really big and fun, but at the heart of it all is a great love story."

Not to be confused with the other Hercules film (which is currently in production starring Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson), Harlin's film stars Kellan Lutz as the titular hero.

"This is an origin story, that introduces him to people who might not know who Hercules is or it's for those who have a cartoon-y idea of who he is, carrying around big things," Harlin says.

Considering his film is going up against box-office-magnet The Rock's, it's a good thing that Harlin's pulling out all the stops for his version of the hero.

Hercules 3D opens in cinemas on 1 August 2014.

Josh Winning has worn a lot of hats over the years. Contributing Editor at Total Film, writer for SFX, and senior film writer at the Radio Times. Josh has also penned a novel about mysteries and monsters, is the co-host of a movie podcast, and has a library of pretty phenomenal stories from visiting some of the biggest TV and film sets in the world. He would also like you to know that he "lives for cat videos..." Don't we all, Josh. Don't we all.