SORBO STANDS READY TO CONQUER HOLLYWOOD; `HERCULES' HUNK HOPES TO SLASH TYPECASTING, BEGINNING WITH DARKER, STEAMIER ROLL IN `KULL'.

Byline: Bob Strauss Daily News Film Writer

The world's reigning TV hero, ``Hercules: The Legendary Journeys'' headliner Kevin Sorbo, is the biggest international muscleman since Arnold Schwarzenegger.

He'd enjoy it, too, if he felt like anyone cared.

``I'm in New Zealand nine months out of the year,'' where ``Hercules'' and sister series ``Xena: Warrior Princess'' are filmed, Sorbo said. ``The only person they care about down there is Lucy (Lawless, ``Xena's'' star); she's a New Zealander, so they're proud of her. I think there's something of an anti-American thing down there, so I'm pretty much left alone.

``Which is fine with me. In other places, it's huge.''

If huge was ever an understatement, this is the case. ``Hercules'' is a major hit in 65 countries. Sorbo reports that his show is No. 1 in Germany, where ``Seinfeld'' just got canceled. It and ``Xena'' are also the top syndicated drama series on American TV, outpacing such institutions as ``Star Trek: Deep Space Nine'' and ``Baywatch.''

Although the 6-foot-3, Minnesota-bred Sorbo can still dine out undisturbed anywhere in Auckland, he's learned to be more judicious about appearing in public elsewhere.

``When I come back to America, or when I was in Europe shooting the film, I'm mobbed,'' he said. ``I'm blown away that every time I come back here, I see the show getting exponentially bigger.''

With any luck, the 38-year-old actor's career will follow suit. That film he mentioned, ``Kull the Conqueror,'' is a sword and sorcery adventure from the same producer, Raffaella De Laurentiis, who gave Schwarzenegger his career-making role in ``Conan the Barbarian.'' ``Kull,'' which opens Friday, is also derived from the works of Conan's creator, 1930s pulp writer Robert E. Howard.

Gentler barbarian

Like the Conan movies, ``Kull'' tones down the vivid violence and sexuality Howard reveled in. But Sorbo insisted that this tale of a prehistoric barbarian who combats witchcraft and captures a throne is nonetheless a departure from the good-natured, self-joshing Hercules.

``They hired me for a reason - because I played Hercules - and they didn't want to lose the `Hercules' audience,'' Sorbo admitted. ``So they rewrote the script they had - which, originally, was all sex and violence - and got it to a PG-13. That was a smart move in a way. The action in the movie still works well, and now you can bring my TV audience in.

``Still, Kull is not Hercules, the character is quite different. There are dramatic moments and moral lessons in every episode of `Hercules.' The fights are very humorous, the tongue is firmly planted in cheek, believe me. It's light - Hercules is just a more easygoing hero.

``Kull is much darker; I think he represents man more realistically than Hercules does. People can relate more to the problems, the pressures and the angst that Kull has to deal with. As parallel as people want to make them, they both have long hair. But beyond that, they're different.''

Uh, yeah. Kull walks around bare-chested a lot more than Hercules does and has steamier make-out scenes with Tia Carrere and Karina Lombard (Herc's main squeeze, Golden Hind, played by Sorbo's real-life girlfriend Sam Jenkins, got killed off and written out of the series).

Hero worship

Obviously, Sorbo has something of a himbo situation to contend with. No matter how talented the former model may be, casting agents and audiences tend to have trouble seeing past his hair and muscles.

``If that's another obstacle I have to overcome as an actor, people stereotyping me, then so be it,'' he said, sounding Kull-like. ``I have faith in myself and in where my career is going to go. In terms of drama and romantic comedies, things like that, I know I'm capable of doing them. If I didn't believe that, I may as well get out of the business.''

Sorbo hopes to expand his image with his next movie, ``Black Dog.'' For one thing, he's cut 5 inches off his trademark mane (when the new season of ``Hercules'' starts filming at the end of the year, he'll wear hair extensions). He'll also be headlining his first contemporary action thriller, playing a compromised truck driver who finds himself hauling an illegal load of weaponry.

Since New Zealand is in the Southern Hemisphere, Sorbo takes his spring hiatus from the series in our fall. Not only does that save him from competing with all the other TV stars for June movie jobs, it lets him work on ``Black Dog'' here during his favorite time of the year.

``I grew up just loving sports, and that's one thing I do miss down there,'' he said. ``At least I'll be here for the World Series and most of the football season this year.''

Sports weren't Sorbo's only childhood passion.

``I loved fantasy as a kid,'' he recalled. ``I was into Steve Reeves movies, `Jason and the Argonauts,' all that stuff. I read all the Conan books, Batman and Spider-Man comics, anything like that I could get my hands on.

``So I'm not opposed to playing parts like this, there's no question,'' he said of Hercules and Kull. ``To be able to re-enact those things you did in your back yard as a kid - fighting the dragons or shooting the last shot at the NCAA finals, I had a wide range of fantasies going on, surrounded by a cast of thousands - that's a dream come true.''

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5 Photos

Photo: (1--Cover--Color) TRIPLE THREAT

Kevin Sorbo is `Kull' and `Hercules' and (surprise!) a hugh international star

(2--3) Moviemakers toned down Kull, above, to pull in fans familiar with Kevin Sorbo's Hercules character, below.

(4--5) ``Kull (above) is much darker; I think he represents man more realistically than Hercules (below) does,'' says Kevin Sorbo.