In this exclusive interview, WWE Hall of Famer Trish Stratus talks to WWE.com about her newest movie “Gridlocked,” available today on DVD, Blu-ray and Digital Download. The first 100 orders will be personally autographed by Trish Stratus herself.
WWE.COM: It’s been a while since you starred in a movie. How did you get the part in “Gridlocked”?
TRISH STRATUS: After I did “Bounty Hunters,” I became a mom, so that took me away from work for a while. While I was pregnant — I think in my seventh month — we took a babymoon vacation to Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, and I was tweeting about it. Then I received a text from Adam Copeland [a.k.a. Edge], who was in Halifax shooting his TV show, “Haven.”
My husband Ron and I visited him on set, met some of his co-stars and had dinner. Adam was talking about the world of acting and how much he loved it, and the only experience I had was “Bounty Hunters.” He said I should pursue it.
After my baby Max was about 6 months old, I was back at work opening my second yoga studio at the Ritz Carlton in downtown Toronto. While I was downtown, I had a meeting with Adam’s agent. I let him know that I wasn’t available to fly to Los Angeles for auditions because I was a new mom and had businesses to run.
Two weeks later, he called me and said I have something that just landed on my desk that could be perfect for you. It’s filming here in Toronto and it’s an action flick that stars Dominic Purcell from “Prison Break,” Stephen Lang from “Avatar,” Vinnie Jones and Danny Glover.
It sounded perfect for me and that’s how I got the role. We met with the producers and the director, who happened to be Toronto-based and WWE fans, so they were familiar with my body of work. The director was willing to take chance on me because he realized that what we do in WWE is acting.
WWE.COM: Did you need any special training for your role?
STRATUS: I took some acting classes and trained with a stunt coordinator named Neil Davison to choreograph our fights scenes. He let us just fight so he could see my style. He wanted to see how what we do in WWE would translate into the movie and use that in the fight scenes.
WWE.COM: How was it working with stars like Glover, Purcell, Lang and Jones?
STRATUS: The first people I met on set were Stephen Lang and Vinnie Jones. I was totally intimidated until I saw them just joking around. They were very welcoming. Stephen Lang is actually a yogi, so we connected right away talking about yoga. I felt very comfortable. There were lots of staffers on set who were WWE fans coming up to me in front of the actors, which gave me some credibility [laughs].
We forget the reach that WWE has. I’m standing there with two Hollywood stars and younger people on the set were freaking out because they are WWE fans. When this film was described to me, it sounded like "Die hard" meets "Lethal Weapon," and here I am working with Danny Glover, which is surreal to me.
Watching him act is like watching The Rock doing a promo. Everyone just watches in awe, and everything he says seems magical. His famous line from “Lethal Weapon” is “I’m getting too old for this ****,” and he says it in this movie, which was so cool.
Dominic Purcell really made me feel comfortable on set. He really helped my confidence. He was a very giving person and made the experience so much better. It was like setting foot in WWE for the first time.
I had people like The Rock, Kurt Angle and Lance Storm who saw potential in me and mentored me. It was very cool that Dominic did that with me on set. Having a person in your corner always helps. It’s invaluable.
WWE.COM: What can WWE fans expect when they watch “Gridlocked”?
STRATUS: It’s a throwback to classic action flicks. It’s smartly written and has some comedy in it as well. There’s lots of action and a**-kicking. It’s just an entertaining movie that people will enjoy. WWE fans will be Stratusfied.
