THE BARBARIANS FLEX THEIR BRAINS

“On the way here today we were saying, ‘Gee, we hope it’s a girl interviewer because girls aren’t intimidated by us the way men are,’ ” said Peter and David Paul, a set of twins who tend to talk in tandem. “Men want us to be dumb because then they can feel they at least have one thing over us,” concluded David with a satisfied laugh.

Better known as the Barbarian Brothers, the Pauls and their astonishingly muscular bodies sit side by side in an office at Cannon Films’ Beverly Hills office. Someone has been sent on a food run--”I get dizzy if I go too long without eating,” says David--while we negotiate the pre-interview photo session. “They won’t take their shirts off, so don’t bother asking,” the publicist had informed us. “They won’t tell you how old they are either,” she adds. Such vanity is to be expected in those who build their career on appearance; what is surprising, however, is how demure the Brothers Paul are. No, they won’t take their shirts off--in fact, their massive bodies are well covered with layers of raggedy sportswear.

See, the brothers feel they don’t have to strut what they know they have. They know they’re strong and so does the world. What the world doesn’t know--and the point they aim to make today--is that there’s more to the Barbarians than muscle and sweat. “When men find out we’re intelligent, it’s hard for them to deal with us,” explains Peter. “We can see that it upsets them, so a lot of times we play dumb to get what we want.”

What the 29-year-old brothers want most of all is a movie career, and “The Barbarians,” a Conanesque action flick that’s essentially a showcase for their bodies, represents the first step in that direction. Chronicling the exploits of a set of twins who slay the dragon, save the queen and cavort like good-natured knuckleheads, “The Barbarians” is some kind of camp classic. With dialogue including such yellowing pearls as “bring on the virgins!,” it’s a kitsch power-of-positive-thinking fable that doubles as an introductory course in what the brothers refer to as “a philosophy of life. The word Barbarians is about a whole concept.”

“Breaking world weightlifting records is 100% concentration,” explains Peter. “To do something no one’s done before, you have to really believe, and that was the message of our movie. Our bodies are the result of a total mental thing, but at this point people don’t understand the totality of the ‘Barbarian Philosophy’ because they’re overwhelmed by our size. See, when you’re big like this, people stereotype you the same way they stereotype blacks. People assume that because we’re big we’re also dumb.” (The brothers claim to be 6 feet tall and weigh in well above 200 pounds.)

“And it hasn’t always been this way,” Peter interjects. “If you look at the Greek statues from long ago--Plato, Aristotle, Socrates, you know, those statues in the Trevi Fountain--the people those Greeks depicted were huge guys because they believed in an equal balance between body and mind. But society has a weird attitude toward muscles now. We know it would be easier for us to make it if we were thin, but we like being big. It’s part of us and we plan to keep getting bigger and bigger because it will pay off in the end. We’re built better than Schwarzenegger, we’re as funny as Eddie Murphy and we’re twins on top of everything else. How can we not draw box office?!”

A better question might be: How did two kids born into a middle-class Connecticut family come to cook up such an offbeat dream, then go on to nurture it with such unswerving devotion that it landed them a three-picture movie deal? “A lot of our positive attitude has to do with the fact that we’re dyslexic,” explains David. (Dyslexia is a developmental disorder that affects the ability to read and write.) “We couldn’t read when we were kids so we were dragged from doctor to doctor. Our IQ always tested high, so they figured we weren’t trying, but actually we were seeing the letters all scrambled. It created a lot of frustration for us that we took out physically. Having people tell you you’re dumb from the time you’re young builds a lot of character. You learn to believe in yourself because no one else does.

“Both of us were always strong from the time we were kids,” he continues. “Then when we were 19 and going to college in Rhode Island, we started seriously working out and progressed so fast that we knew we had the potential to go to the top of the field. So we decided to come to California.”

The brothers washed up on the Pacific Coast in 1980 and proceeded to earn a reputation as “the Bad Boys of Body Building” with their unorthodox approach to training.

“Body builders have a very rigid approach to things,” says Peter, “and we’re outcasts in that world because we’ve done things our own way--we ate junk food, trained all on heavy weights, and wore earrings and work boots instead of sneakers. One of our goals is to change people’s preconceptions about body builders, but a lot of the stereotype ideas are true. Most of the guys that get into it are short guys with Napoleon complexes about their height.”

The body building elite shunned the brothers, but they progressed in leaps and bounds, landing bit parts in “D.C. Cab” and “The Flamingo Kid,” which led to the deal with Cannon that spawned “The Barbarians.” The brothers are, with some reservations, satisfied with their debut.

“Creative-wise, we had a lot of control of the film,” Peter says. “We designed our costumes and made sure there was no fake fur on the other people’s costumes, and had a guy in England design the swords and battle-axes because we wanted to have good-looking weapons. Making the movie funny was our idea too. See, we had no direction at all. The film was shot in Italy and was directed by this Italian guy (Ruggero Deodato), who didn’t even speak English!” (Mark Pritchard, Cannon vice president in charge of marketing, comments: “No one is downplaying the brothers’ contribution to the film, but I’m told that Deodato does speak some English.”)

“Our goal now is to do something with a great director,” continues Peter. “On top of our creativity, if a director could put some input in, then it could really be hot. People might think our size limits what we can do but being big is a great comic gimmick. Put us in any situation and because of our size we’re like fish out of water. Put us in an Ivy League school or have us playing doctors and right there that’s funny. When we just eat a hamburger it’s funny.”

While the brothers ponder their next move, they occupy themselves building their homes in Topanga Canyon (“We can’t live together, because we argue like brothers,” David explains) and, of course, working out. Their fitness regime requires three hours a day pumping iron and at least 5,000 calories. “We have real fast metabolisms so we have to eat a lot to maintain our weight,” explains Peter. “We spend all our money on food!” The brothers also spend a considerable amount of time chatting with their fans.

“We get recognized a lot,” says David, “and we always take time and talk with anyone who stops us. People who are rude to the fans don’t deserve to be in this business, because let’s face it, this is all about luck. Anybody can act. It’s, like, ridiculous.”