WRATH OF THE TITANS Interview: Filmmakers and Actors Collaborate to Make the Sequel Worth Your Money

When Clash of the Titans opened in theaters April 2010, though it did well at the box office, moviegoers and critics were showing their wrath. The general critique was terrible 3D with 2D characters.  Returning cast members Sam Worthington and Liam Neeson signed on for the sequel with apprehension, but WRATH OF THE TITANS director Jonathan Liebesman assured them they would have input into the 3D and story for part two.

CineMovie was at the New York press conference for the movie where stars Sam Worthington, Liam Neeson, the new director, and the screenwriters of WRATH OF THE TITANS discussed not repeating the same mistakes made from the first movie which received so much backlash.   The filmmakers touched upon changing and improving the sequel.  Director Jonathan Liebesman, who took over for Louis Leterrier on the sequel, revealed he viewed Clash of the Titans Friday night of opening and made mental notes of ways the film could've been improved. "I love these types of movies.  …There were certain things that I loved and certain things I felt could have done better, even before I was approached with the film.”  He got his chance when Warner Bros. called to give him a shot at improving the sequel.   Liebesman wanted to actually challenge his actors’ acting abilities and thought, “we could easily achieve much more emotion.”  He continues, “I thought what was done well in the first movie was the massive sense of spectacle. Which I think we wanted to retain, and so it was like, how can we blend those two things? It wasn't like, ‘how can we out do the first movie,’ as much as it was the things I loved and the things I would love to do...”  

When asked what Worthington and Nesson, who reprise their roles as Perseus and Zeus , wanted to do differently, Neeson vocalized, “I just wanted more interaction with my son and my brothers, essentially, which I think the script certainly provided.  It touched on some of the dynamics on how Hades and Zeus became separated, the jealousies that drew them apart more than anything…and a father-son relationship, which we can all relate to, I think. “  The actors and filmmakers really felt as if character and relationship development is what was missing in Clash.  Worthington responded, “I've been pretty vocal about how I felt, personally, about the first one, and what I did in the first one.  I haven't done it in a way putting down the first one at all, it’s just that to me its more responsibility to try and create a character rather than just a conduit for the action!”  With the developed and driving theme of family, they wanted every moment to have a purpose.   “[E]very action scene was kind of like, okay, how does this --Does it relate to family?”  Liebesman agrees, “I remember having massive discussions on set with Sam about ‘Okay, yeah, you should be chasing after your son, not chasing after a chimera,’ because at least then, the action scene has a different level and comes alive in a way that it wouldn't have.”  Worthington had said they should “drill this family kind of story in this big spectacular blockbuster….If we loose sight of that then some of the other kinds of things that I felt were misplaced, misdirected in the first one might come back to haunt us.”

The Story

Screenwriter Dan Mazeau agrees with Worthington that the story couldn't be action-driven and wrote with than in mind along with writing partner David Johnson.  “[T]he idea we had was that not only did we want to go bigger and more exciting and really play around with the Greek mythology and delve into it as much as we could, but also into the characters.  We wanted to go internal, also, and really make sure that this was a story worth telling. [G]etting into the father-son relationship with Perseus and Zeus...was really the heart of the story for me.”

They’ve brought back the same characters, but for Mazeau it was not like writing for any ordinary sequel.  He had to create a completely new, and supposedly untold, Greek mythological tale… along with an epic blockbuster, of course. “[T]here wasn't a myth to base this on,” Mazeau explains.  According to Greek mythology, after Perseus, the estranged son of Zeus with a human mother, defeats the monstrous Kraken, “…he essentially becomes a king, has kids, and that's sort of it.  It allowed us to open up our minds and explore, you know, what would be a fun adventure for Perseus to go on and what would really challenge him?”  

Mazeau included their humanity intentionally, “[T]hese are gods that we're dealing with, but they're all incredibly human and that was important to us too.”  Neeson continues, “I think you have to treat them as un-godlike as possible, otherwise you'd be totally intimidated.”  And Liebesman jokes about the familiarity of the gods, Ares and Hades, “Édgar [Ramírez] would always walk on to set to Ralph and go, ‘Hello Uncle.’” Costume designer, Jany Temime, had her thoughts too, “When our film begins, the gods are no longer on top.  They’ve been in decline, because man has stopped praying to them, so I wanted to present them in a state of decay, while still capturing the different aspects of each one, and hinting at what they once were.”  I think it is a noble choice to make the gods relatable and having weaknesses now, but none of this explains why they are not omniscient or omnipresent.  Perhaps that is why the Greek gods were so imperfect and acted without a care.  They were in their own world on Mount Olympus and couldn’t empathize with the suffering on earth.

The 3D

After the backlash of Clash of the Titans, the sexy, gruff Australian Worthington entered the project uneasily.   Worthington, who was also in the highly acclaimed 3D feature, Avatar, directed by James Cameron, told the new director, “Make it good!  Man, I've been in the one that was the most revered and the most slighted!  Jim’s drilled 3D into my head and what the complexities of it [are] and how it can be utilized.”  Worthington made it a point during his first meeting with Liebesman. “If you're going to come in this, how you going to shoot it?  You going to shoot it in 3D?  If you convert it, are you going to have a stereoscopic guy on set the whole time, you know, how are we going to do this?  Because I don't want to be wearing the f***ing brunt of the situation like this when it comes to 3D.” With Worthington's connections to Cameron, Liebesman was able to meet James Cameron who gave him tips to shooting 3D.   

Liebesman took head of Worthington and Cameron's concerns and studied several cases of conversion processes.   “We had, you know, the amazing teams that worked on Harry Potter and did their conversions.  And in my opinion, I watched all the 3D that had come out --a lot of 3D that was praised-- and I won't mention any movies, [but] in my opinion,…technically the 3D on this film is superior.”  

The CG

The CG effects were also a concern for Worthingon.  “With [Liebesman] we'd bring the special effects guy on set a lot more and realize we're not going to be dictated by the special effects.  You have to work in tandem, because the special effects can come in five, six months later down the track.  We'd like to balance and play what we have now and then get them to play catch up a bit, rather than us playing catch up, or the reverse, and I think that actually helps!”  Neeson agrees, “It worked, it really worked.”

Worthington added the movie magic shouldn't happen solely in a dark editing space after production, but on set where everyone can collaborate.  “Then you're working together and sometimes they're in the back off working in their own tent. Oh, I don't like that. I'd rather have them in the front line with us where you can collaborate or argue.”  “Or explode them!” Liebesman jokes.  Everyone laughs.  Worthington concludes, “[I]t's learning what I learned in Avatar, and you just keep improving and refining it.  And I think, therefore the interaction between us in CG, becomes a lot more organic.”

Early positive buzz suggest WRATH OF THE TITANS made advancements in the 3D and story, but the box office numbers are the true measure of success.  WRATH OF THE TITANS opens in IMAX 3D on March 30, 2012 nationwide.