Percy Jackson and the Olympians Fansite

Uma Thurman recently sat down to talk about….. what other movie than Percy Jackson and The Olympians: The Lightning Thief? As the days wind down to the release, we expect to find many more interviews from the actors/actresses. As they pop up, we will be sure to post them!

What interested you about Medusa and this film?
I was a great fan of Chris Columbus. The script was fantastic, Chris wanted me to do it, and it seemed like a fun idea. So I just went online and I did some research about Medusa to get an idea about the character. I thought her story was very interesting and quite sad.

What was it that intrigued you about her story?
She was a maiden, a priestess of Athena and was known for having extremely beautiful hair. She was worshipping in the temple of Athena when Poseidon took a liking to her and ravished and abused her for his pleasure. Athena was angry that someone else was admired over herself because she was a lover of Poseidon, so she took revenge upon the offended maiden by damning her to immortality and loneliness and a head of snakes. Should she ever seek company from anyone, they would turn to stone.

What did you think of the idea of bringing the Greek gods into contemporary America?
It is sheer brilliance. When I read the script it was one of the most intelligent and exciting ideas I had seen, both actively alive and playful. It is full of richness and character, and I thought it had something worthwhile to say.

How important do you think it is to have inspiring and uplifting films like Percy Jackson that are also entertaining?
Very important. There is a lot of horribly boring, dreadful children’s entertainment and I am glad not to be part of it. For this one, the script was great, it was beautifully imaginative, I loved the subject and it had a great director standing behind it too.

You have CG (computer generated) snakes on your head. How do you interact with your snake hair?
The snakes were computer generated and I had a green cap on while I was filming but just for fun at a rehearsal, we brought in a plethora or “flock” of real snakes. Medusa slightly talks to them and looks at them so I wanted to bring a sense of reality to the unreality of it all.

What do you think of the theme of this film?
It is about a boy who becomes a very unlikely hero and it has an interesting take on learning disabilities.

I think it is great because I have a daughter who’s dyslexic and I was dyslexic myself. And as many times as people say “you have other gifts; for every problem God gives you, he gives you a problem solving skill,” it is always difficult. This is a very empowering idea for children and is a subject very close to me.

Is there any particular Greek god that you think is fantastic, if you had to pick one?
I always love the story of Cupid and Psyche. For some reason I was very fond of all the Greek myths in school, so for me this film was a lot of fun. I just happened to really love studying the gods and goddesses. I think from a psychological point of view, there’s a huge interest in the stories and how they relate to human life.

[Source: Malaya]