Eric Bana must be riding a high wave right now, for he has two major Hollywood pictures released within a year of each other. A fresh face to the mainstream world, Bana earned his star power by starring as the title role in Ang Lee's "Hulk," a film based on the popular Marvel comic book. His next movie is another adaptation of a famous story, but one of a very different caliber.

He stars in Wolfgang Petersen's "Troy," which is based on Homer's classic poem, "The Iliad." Bana plays Hector, brother to Paris (Orlando Bloom) and a prince of Troy. When Agamemnon (Brian Cox) and his forces from all of Greece vow to take over the land of Troy, Hector must prove that he is a warrior of his land by facing off against one of the most feared soldiers of all-time: the great Achilles (Brad Pitt).

Bana was in New York to talk about the movie and below is what he had to say.

Q: Did you reread "The Iliad" or did you cheat with Cliff's Notes?

ERIC: No, No. I just read the long version. There was no point cheating. I had plenty of time.

Q: Did any of your work on Hulk prepare you for this movie?

ERIC: Probably not, no. I think it's pretty safe to say that this character and this time period are pretty unique to anything I've done before, so it was pretty much from scratch.

Q: How much did you work on the physicality for the role?

ERIC: There was a lot. I was fortunate enough to be cast very early. It was around September so I had many months of preparation back home in Australia before I left to go to London.
It wasn't so much the working out, because I'm pretty active any way, but it was the specific nature of the training itself. The many, many months of sword training and many months of horseback riding and that sort of stuff.

Q: Who's the better fighter, you or Brad?

ERIC: I'll leave that up to you. (Laughs)

Q: Were you a fan of the legend before you began work on this movie?

ERIC: It was something I got to learn more about. I even studied Greek mythology at school and I wish I hadn't. But I obviously studied "The Iliad" when I got the part and I did the research and fell in love with the story.

Q: Why did you think the story was so resonant, and could you talk about the humanity of these characters?

ERIC: I think one of the reasons it's lasted so long, I think it's very obvious when you see the film now that it's a story you can lay over any period of time, and there's a lot of relevance. I'm sure that's why it's stood up for so long. And it's a thoroughly entertaining story. It has so many elements we can all relate to — of revenge and love and love for country, love for family, ego, somany elements there, that it's completely timeless.

Q: Did you hang out on the set with Brad and the rest of the cast?

ERIC: Well, we all hung out, because all our trailers were parked next to each other and we were on this film for a long long time. Early on in the film, everyone was pretty focussed on getting up and running and rolling, but certainly as the production moved on and people got more embedded with their characters and having scenes under their belt, we all kind of spent more and more time together and by the end it was probably good we finished when we finished. We all got along nauseatingly well, I'm sorry to say. It was a great shoot.

Q: How was working with Peter O'Toole?

ERIC: Well, he's a legend isn't he? And obviously a joy. I'm sure if you ask the actors who were lucky enough to have scenes with him what their favorite moments in the movie were, they'd probably all say, "I remember there was a particular scene I had with Peter" or something similar. Yeah, he's just the greatest guy. Just something I'll never forget.

Q: It's still pretty early in your career and you're starting to make some huge films. Where do you expect to go from here?

ERIC: I'm going to do something small next.

Q: Which is?

ERIC: Well, it wouldn't be too hard, would it? I mean — No I dunno.

Q: Are you impressed by these huge films?

ERIC: No, not at all. I never look at the size of the film when I'm looking for a part. The last three international films I've done, I've been drawn like a fly to the characters. It's been very easy choices for me, but they're ridiculously great characters to play, so size of the film doesn't really have much bearing. But it is odd that they've been as big as they have been. But it doesn't bother me. I think it's also a real kind of challenge and takes a certain personality type to be able to function inside those big machines, and I think once you get into a groove, they can be kind of fun.

Q: Are you going to be doing "Hulk 2"?

ERIC: I wouldn't know. Am I? I don't have a scoop for you. It would depend, I guess.

Q: Would you do it if they approached you?

ERIC: Yeah. Look, if they come up with a great script and they want to do a sequel, I'm sure I'd be interested. I'm kind of signed on for that, I think, so I'll have to wait to see.

Q. This movie has two Australians in it. Are you surprised that Australians are making such headway internationally in film?

ERIC: No. I think it's obviously very pleasant, and it's great for fellow Australians, but no, I'm not surprised at all. I don't think really have a
theory on it but I suppose it's hopefully because we're good at what we do. It's certainly not a charity. If you get a go and if you don't do well, you're not going to get another one just because you're an Aussie.