Paul Heyman Had Roman Reigns Study Apocalypse Now For Tribal Chief, Talks Leaving Easter Eggs In Scenes

Paul Heyman recently spoke about his original vision for Roman Reigns’ Tribal Chief character, his on-screen role with WWE and more. Heyman spoke with THR for a new interview and you can see a couple of highlights below:

On his on-screen role on WWE TV: “Even if the scene is only with me, I’m there to advance the story and explain it to you in sound bites that hopefully go viral so that more people can have access to it.”

On the success of Roman Reigns during the COVID era: “When Roman Reigns and I came up with the character, I had Roman study Apocalypse Now, because the initial launch of the tribal chief to me was Colonel Kurtz. [Marlon] Brando. All things on the island of relevancy flow through the tribal chief Roman Reigns, we all rely on him. We all look to him for the answer, and at the end of the movie, when Martin Sheen has fulfilled the directive of the United States military’s covert operation, to terminate Kurtz’s command with extreme prejudice, he opens up the book written by Kurtz. He sees what Kurtz has written, ‘drop the bomb.’ The burden of leadership, the burden of the worship, the burden of the expectations, the burden of, let’s call it the acknowledgement, is so heavy on Kurtz that he resents everyone around him for relying on him to this extent, though his power and his entire character is designed for that very purpose.”

On the importance of social media and having Easter Eggs in scenes: “I openly invite easter eggs and conspiracy theories in every scene that we do, and we intentionally drop them in there, so that people pick up on it and then develop their own conspiracy theories as to which way the story can go. What’s the difference between a Travis Scott concert and a Frank Sinatra concert. There are certain things that don’t change, right? You’re still performing in front of screaming fans. You’re still performing in front of a rabid live performance-affirming audience. You’re still performing in front of people who paid to see you do what you do better than anybody else on the face of the planet. In that regard, it’s still the same, however, we now have to offer more. We now have to take those performances from the couch and bring that soap opera to play out. Sometimes it’s all physical, so it’s very Shakespeare. And sometimes it’s all words.”