2014 has been a crazy year for WWE Superstars and major motion pictures. Of course, there was the slew of movies from Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, but Dave Bautista surprised the world with his role as Drax the Destroyer in ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’. Then, former ‘Real World’ star The Miz and current ‘Total Divas’ star Summer Rae left behind the world of reality television to shoot ‘The Marine 4.’ Finally, Dean Ambrose and John Cena each have films in the pipeline as well. But it seems like professional wrestlers have always excelled in horror movies and that’s where Dylan Postl hopes to leave his mark on cinematic history.

Following in the footsteps of “Rowdy” Roddy Piper and Kane, the performer better known as Hornswoggle stars in ‘Leprechaun: Origins’, a reboot of the classic horror franchise made famous by cinematic icon Warwick Davis. Recently, in anticipation for the film’s Blu-Ray and DVD release on September 30th, we had the chance to chat with Postl about his experience working on the film, as well as his WWE career, his extreme love for The Muppets, and his desire to continue acting while remaining active in the ring.

ScienceFiction.com (SF): Where does ‘Leprechaun Origins’ fall in the franchise? Is your leprechaun the one that eventually goes to the hood and space or is it a completely different one for a new generation like the new, rebooted Freddy or Jason?

Dylan Postl (DP): You know for my sake, I really hope that it’s not the one that ends up in the hood or in space or again in the hood. [Laughter] I like to think that our leprechaun is so completely different than anything that the series did before that it would make it’s own mark on not only the legacy of the ‘Leprechaun’ films, but also in horror. It’s a definite horror film. If you go into it thinking that you’ll get one of the classic ‘Leprechaun’ films, you’ll be very… surprised! That’s for sure. I wouldn’t say disappointed by any means because I feel that what we did was a true horror film. It’s just not as campy with the limericks and the funny poems. It’s a straight up horror film. I think people will be surprised with what WWE Films, Lionsgate, Zach Lipovsky, and myself did with it.

SF: Warwick Davis portrayed the horror icon for a decade. Did you look to his performances as inspiration? Or did you get the opportunity to seek consultation from him to prepare for the role?

DP: I had never seen one of the classic films, as crazy as it is. I’ve already gotten a ton of heat for it. I talked to Zach Lipovsky about what he wanted in the film and I said, “Do you want me to watch these?” and he said, “Nah, that’s not really what I want.” I didn’t want to watch the old ones and then go okay I should kinda make it that because again it’s so totally different. I mean, there are a couple of nods here and there, but other than that, nothing.

SF: The costume for the film is a little more ornate than your ring gear. What was the process of becoming the leprechaun like?

DP: It was about two and a half hours twice a day to get into the full prosthetic. It was grueling. 104-degree summer in Vancouver. But it was fully worth it. I would have sat five hours. It was so worth it. The way it turned out was really cool. I couldn’t have been happier all the people who helped with the prosthetics and made it fit perfectly because it looks amazing.

SF: Did you find that you were able to utilize some of the same skills as a WWE Superstar while you were acting in this movie? Would you say that cutting a promo is harder than memorizing a script?

DP: Thankfully, I had no script to memorize! I was straight up killing. [Laughter] I haven’t done that yet in the WWE, so the WWE stuff hasn’t reflected too much on my acting in this film. It’s so completely different because WWE is one take. You have to get it right in one take. But with this, it’s one take and do it again. One take and do it again. In WWE, when you attack someone, you get that crowd reaction right away. With acting, you don’t get that reaction. It’s finish your scene and do it again.

SF: Speaking of your WWE career, your matches with El Torito as part of the 3MB/Los Matadores feud were some of the most entertaining segments of the spring.

DP: It was THE most entertaining segment of the spring. Let’s just put that out there.

SF: Absolutely! But throughout your time as Hornswoggle, we haven’t seen you mix it up in the ring too often, aside from a few spots and your Cruiserweight Title reign. Do you wish that you’d get to wrestle more matches?

DP: Completely. That’s why I’m so proud of the things that me and Torito did. Those are the two best matches of my career by far. The biggest moments of my career, especially the WeeLC match that we did. It was me saying, “Okay you look at me as this leprechaun, this goofy character for eight and a half years now. Here’s me busting my ass and showing you guys that I can do it beyond what is expected of me and stealing the show.” Thank you Dolph Ziggler for coining that catchphrase, but that night, we stole the show at Payback. And it was the preshow, so we stole the show even before it started. And I knew it. When I got to the back I had a smile on my face and I couldn’t have been happier with what had happened and nothing was going to touch what we did that night.

SF: Is there anyone right now that you’d really like to work with or against?

DP: There’s so many of my good buddies. Dolph is one of them and Kofi Kingston. They’re probably two of the most looked over guys in the WWE. Sometimes it’s a shame, but they’ll get their comeuppance. And they’ll get what they deserve one of these days hopefully. Those two are two of my best friends and I’d love to do something in the ring with them. Kofi doesn’t let his comedy side come through. He’s such a good-natured guy outside of the ring and it doesn’t really shine through. He’s probably my best friend in WWE.

SF: If I’m not mistaken, you’ve been hanging out with Adam Rose and the Rosebuds recently. Are you planning to help the Bunny, who was one-time your adversary, take on your former ally Heath Slater and his new partner Titus O’Neil?

DP: No. I hate that bunny. I do not like the bunny. Heath Slater and I had a nice little run, but then he left me for Titus, which was the dumbest move of his career aside from going to the Corre instead of staying with the Nexus. But no, I’m going to stay far away from that. I still have my sights on Torito, but otherwise I’m an actor now. Would Dwayne come back to scrap with Titus O’Neil? No.

SF: Though The Miz declares himself as WWE’s Hollywood A-Lister, do you think that you might challenge him for that title now that ‘Leprechaun Origins’ is out?

DP: I did! I tweeted it, but I got no response. Thing is that he does two movies in four years. I did two movies in one year. Who’s the real A-Lister here? It’s like Dwayne and me around here. Dwayne’s not even the A-Lister of WWE, he’s just an A-Lister in Hollywood that shows up in WWE to guest host.

SF: Speaking of your other movie this year, I wanted to know as a fellow Muppets fan how awesome it was to be in ‘Muppets Most Wanted’?

DP: It was a dream come true. My son being born was pretty sweet. That was a pretty awesome moment of my life, but being in ‘Muppets Most Wanted’, that was pushing number one actually. [Laughter] It was amazing. It was the first movie that I’ve ever done too. It was awesome. It was a dream come true and I was literally on cloud 9 every day. Same on ‘Leprechaun’. It was such a 180. I went from singing and dancing with Kermit the Frog to slash, kill, gore. It was the same, but totally not the same. Both experiences have a strong piece of my heart.

SF: Yeah, you set the bar pretty high on your acting career.

DP: Yeah man! And then I look back on it and I was 45 pounds heavier back then. I should have been dead from all that singing and dancing, but it was so much fun. These are moments that I’ll cherish in my heart for the rest of my life.

SF: While on set, did Kermit hold it against you that you kissed Miss Piggy on an episode of Raw or was that water under the bridge?

DP: Nope, he saw the outcome of her whapping me and he was okay with it.

SF: Finally, are there any plans for more movies in your future? Have you caught the acting bug?

DP: I have caught the acting bug. It’s a lot easier on my body! There’s nothing planned, but there are some maybes out there. I would love to do more acting, but I love wrestling too much. It’s my passion. It’s what I was put on this earth to do. Believe it or not, I was not put on this earth to be a circus act or a sidekick. I was put here to wrestle and that’s what I want to do with my life. Since I was six years old, the only thing that I wanted to do was to be a WWE superstar. I’ve done it and I’ve blown it out of the water. But yeah, I’d want to do more acting. It was a lot of fun and it’s a different experience. I’ve been with WWE for eight and a half years and it’s nice to take a month away. It’s a nice little refresh, and then I come back to the WWE and have it be amazing again. It was awesome. I really enjoyed it and I’d like to do more. Hint hint, if there’s anything out there, get at me on Twitter at @wwehornswoggle.

SF: Maybe Batista has an in for you in the Marvel Cinematic Universe?

DP: I’m hoping! There’s another one. He did one movie and it did kinda okay I guess… [Laughter] No, he did absolutely amazing. I couldn’t be happier for him. He’s always been pretty awesome to me and we’ve always been pretty close, so he’s someone that I’m very happy for because he’s had the success that he’s had.

As huge WWE fan, I enjoyed my conversation with Dylan Postl immensely. If you too are a WWE fan or if you love horror movies, be sure to check out ‘Leprechaun: Origins’ when it hits stores on Blu-Ray and DVD on September 30, 2014.