Percy Jackson and the Olympians Fansite

Logan Lerman was recently on The Today Show, he talked about Percy Jackson, and he said that his Spider-Man role as Peter Parker is just a RUMOR. He said it’s a role any young actor would love to play, but he hasn’t been seriously asked to be in that movie. Anyways, here you go, Logan Lerman on The Today Show.

Good showing and fun to watch.

cinematical.com has recently done an interview with Pierce Brosnan about his many new films coming out in just the next month or so. He has The Lightning Thief coming out on the 12th, The Ghost Writer, in which he co-stars with Ewan Mcgregor, and in March he has Remember Me, in which he plays Robert Pattison’s father. He also has The Greatest, in which he plays a father as well.

He talks mostly about The Ghost Writer, and about the Director, Roman Polanski’s arrest. Then he talks a little about Remember Me, and a little on Percy Jackson. It’s quite a dense interview, but if you want to read just the Percy Jackson talk, go down near the bottom, and there’s about two questions and answers about it.

Q: How did you get involved with The Ghost Writer?
A: Well, I was in London, I think wrapping up Mamma Mia! or doing something like that on that movie. My agent said, “Roman Polanski would like to meet you. He’s doing a movie.” And I said, “Great!” And I hopped on the train over to Paris. I was with my son who’s 26, Sean, and my mother, and I said, “Do you want to come to Paris for the weekend?” And that’s how it happened. I got over there on a Saturday morning, my son and my mother went off ’round the city, and he and I sat and had the most long, long, long lunch and we talked briefly about the movie and established that I wasn’t doing Tony Blair, and once we established that, then we talked about everything else but the movie.

Q: Wow, what’s it like to be a fly on the wall during a lunch like that?
A: We talked about life, we talked about our losses in life. We talked a little bit about Sharon [Tate], and the deep loss and the deep pain that he still… It was a very kind of man-to-man talk. [We talked] about children. We talked about movies, making movies, the economy of movies; country, travel, food. It was very delightful – most, most charming. I did go home on the train and I thought, “God, maybe he might not want me for the job! [laughs] Maybe he might change his mind!” A director told me when I was starting out, he said, “You’re always going to have to test for someone.” So no matter whether you’ve got an Oscar or two Oscars in your back pocket, there’s gonna be someone, sometime that you just have to test for. But anyway, we got on very well, and then I didn’t see him until my first day on the set in Berlin.

Q: I was under the impression that in the book, your character Adam Lang was supposed to be a thinly veiled version of Tony Blair. I thought yours had a twist of George W. Bush in there as well.
A: Well, I certainly didn’t go to Bush within it; I kept front and foremost Tony Blair and [David] Cameron and those people, and the rest was just me and my imagination – what if I were a Prime Minister and first and foremost, the great pretender, the great [performer]? And the vortex and the crisis that this man is in at this point in his life and the sham of his life and his leadership – that’s what intrigued me.

Once I was off the hook, and I realized that I wasn’t going to be doing a Tony Blair impersonation or trying to be like Tony Blair – Michael Sheen had already done that – you know, I just had great fun with it. There was a real sense of irony to the character, and there was humor, and I’d like to think there was some heart to the man, and that his life was a bit of a sham, really, and he knows it and he knows that he’s absolutely hamstrung without his wife, and to… have so little to really fight for, that’s what kind of I tried to bring to the work… Once the camera starts rolling, the performance starts pouring out of him — the populist [who] wanted to be charming, wanted to be loved and to be witty, but absolutely has no f*ckin’ idea how to run a country. Absolutely none whatsoever. A total puppet. A total puppet.

Q: What’s interesting is that it’s a very timely movie politically but it has an old Hollywood drama and moodiness to it from the very first shot. Did you feel that tension on set? Everything was very gloomy, and everything was very dramatic.
A: Well, you know, Roman comes with a lot of legend, and baggage with legend written all over it – as a filmmaker, as a man, as a controversial figure in life. And it was fairly palpable on the set… We wanted bad weather, we got bad weather. The style of filmmaking is a throwback – in style, in composition, in pacing — to the ’70s, maybe. He hasn’t made a thriller – he’s never made a political thriller – so here he is doing his first political thriller, and getting away with it beautifully. And it’s evident up on the screen. It’s very elegant and claustrophobic and tight. There’s no wriggle room for the characters or for the audience, really. The set was a very happy one, but Roman is Roman, and he is the director, capital letters. He knows what he wants and how he wants it, and he’s a great actor. In his world, he’s a great actor, and he knows how to act, he knows how to put on a performance, and he does. But he was very happy, I think, in making the movie, and nothing was really discussed on a day-to-day basis. You know, it was very workmanlike.

Q: What was your reaction when you heard about Polanski’s arrest? Were you concerned that the movie would never see the light of day?
A: No, I wasn’t, actually. I wasn’t concerned for that. I was concerned for him, as a man and as someone who had become a friend. And, you know, I hoped for closure, I still hope for closure for him and for all parties concerned. I think what happened back then was wrong in every way, and I think he certainly would like to have closure. And again, I never had discussions with him, but it’s certainly adds a controversial spotlight to the movie.

Q: Do you think people will be able to see The Ghost Writer on its own terms, despite how they might feel about Mr. Polanski?
A: I don’t know. It’s not an easy question to answer, really. I can’t tell what other people will react [to]. He is heralded in Europe as a magnificent director and very much appreciated here in America within the community of filmmakers as a fantastic, magnificent director. You know, but the media will certainly wring this for every ounce of blood that’s in the story because it’s very controversial. So I don’t know how [people] will react. All I know is I came to this to work with one of the great directors of cinema.

Q: To shift gears a bit, speaking of media-centric figures, you’re in Remember Me with Robert Pattinson, which must have been totally bizarre to try and film in New York City.
A: [laughs] It was. Well, I’ve seen it. I’ve never encountered such attention in my career. I mean, I certainly had it but on a day-to-day basis, this young man certainly acquitted himself very well. And I think he was just completely blindsided by everything. And here he was doing a drama, which he’s executive producer on, and he had a heavy workload every day, and it’s a hard one to be wrenched out of every time you step out of our trailer.

Q: Especially in New York.
A: And there’s nowhere to hide. There’s nowhere to run. You know, you’re damned if you do, and you’re damned if you don’t… You have to go to emotional places where you really need to [put your] head down and [look] straight ahead… It’s a very dramatic movie, and it’s a beautiful movie. It’s a love story. I play his father. What can I say about it? I’m very proud of that.

Q: And, of course, you’ve also got Percy Jackson coming up. It’s great how you go between these very different roles.
A: Well, I don’t know. I was taught and trained and was told and learned to believe that I could do anything so I’m endeavoring to do that, having done the same thing most of my life, and I’m finally becoming a character actor, I hope. Going back to what I did in my early days before I became whatever I became. I don’t know. It’s just lovely right now to have the freedom to do anything, and I’ve said to my agent, I said, “Find the most interesting roles.” I said, “They don’t have to be leading roles, I don’t need that. My ego is quite happy. Just the best, most interesting work that will captivate me and keep me alive and [keep my] career going.” You want to be able to have as many colors on the palette as possible, and some will be purer than others, but Percy Jackson was a great joy [and] to be reunited with Chris Columbus, who I’d worked with on Mrs. Doubtfire all those years ago, was magnificent. A real joy.

Q: Sounds like it could give Harry Potter a run for his money.
A: Yeah, I think so. I mean, it’s darker than Potter, and it’s scary, but I saw it with my wife and children. They put a private viewing on for us at Fox the other day, and it really is a beautiful film. And Logan Lerman and Alexandra [Daddario] and Brandon [Jackson] – you know, off to the races with being movie stars! They’re all three of them are fantastic.

Q: You’re probably tired of hearing about this, but what is the latest on The Thomas Crown Affair 2?
A: Well, oh dear. Well, again, the studio is in such disarray at the moment. We’re not sure who’s going to buy it. I think someone’s bought it. We have the script in; I think this is about the fourth draft. We’re all very happy with it, but it still needs work. So there you go. I would like to say that come the autumn we will be ready to start shooting… There’s a few other things before that, other pictures I’m signed up to do, so I still have employment… [There's] The Ghost Writer, Percy Jackson, The Greatest. The Greatest is a movie I made with Irish DreamTime [production company] and it has Susan Sarandon and Carey Mulligan. It’s a family drama… I play a horse’s ass, an ex-Prime Minister, and two grieving fathers.

Q: That’s a fantastic cast. Carey Mulligan is wonderful.
A: Carey Mulligan is impeccable. She’s quite the artist and quite the actor. She’s beautiful in this film of ours, and it packs an emotional punch. We sold it at Sundance two years ago, and then the company fell apart that bought it, and then it got picked up again and it’s coming out here in April. It’ll have a life. It will be seen… Oh, it’s a lovely family film, and I think for people who have suffered the tragedy of losing a son or a daughter, I think it will have some cathartic resonance for them and I’m very proud of it.

Q: So to wrap things up and come full circle, what’s your favorite Polanski movie?
A: Chinatown. Rosemary’s Baby. Knife in the Water I’d never seen until I started working with Roman, and it just blew me away. It just blew me away, that film, and anyone who’s a lover of films, they must see that film by that young man all those years ago.

[Source: Cinematical]

The Scottish Daily Record has published an article on Kevin Mckidd and his new role: Playing Poseidon in The Lightning Thief. He says that this is the first film his kids get to see him act in, because his other roles were too violent, like in the HBO series Rome, and in Hannibal Rising. I’ll admit I’ve never really heard of him before this film, so it’ll be great to see him in this film.

SCOTS star Kevin McKidd is now a giant in Hollywood – playing a 40ft Greek god in his new action movie.
But he says the best part of his new role is the fact that his two young children can watch him on the big screen for the first time.
Kevin plays sea god Poseidon in the £100million family blockbuster Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief, alongside Pierce Brosnan, Uma Thurman, Steve Coogan and Sean Bean.
And the 36-year-old admits it’s the first time his children won’t be barred from watching their dad act.

He said: “My kids are really excited about Percy Jackson. They think it’s going to be cool that they’ll be able to see me in the cinema.”
It’s been 14 years since the Elgin-born actor shot to fame with Trainspotting but his kids haven’t seen his films because he reckoned they were too violent.
Kevin’s first big film was the Scottish movie Small Faces, where he played a razor-slashing Glasgow gang leader.
More recently he appeared in Hannibal Rising, about the origins of serial killer Hannibal Lecter.

Now his kids have started looking for projects that their dad could star in – and they can watch.
His son Joseph begged him to appear in Percy Jackson as the hero’s long-lost dad, Poseidon.
Kevin said: “Joseph read the first book and he’d never seen anything I’d been in. He was right down my throat, telling me I had to do it.”
Joseph and his sister Iona have also seen their dad become a star in Channel 5’s Grey’s Anatomy.
And they were delighted when Kevin got called up by Disney and asked to provide a voice in Pixar’s Scottish animated movie, The Bear And The Bow, featuring Reece Witherspoon, Billy Connolly and Emma Thompson.
Kevin said: “Joseph just knows I’m doing a voice in a Pixar film. I haven’t done the recordings yet so I’ll know more in March when I start.
“I’m dead excited about it – and that I’m working with Billy Connolly.”
Kevin’s Poseidon appears in Percy Jackson And The Lightning Thief with the mighty Zeus (Bean), the wicked Hades (Coogan) and the other gods of ancient Olympus.

But the film has a thoroughly modern setting – and a dramatic entrance for Kevin. He appears in the first scene marching out of the Hudson River and into present-day Manhattan.
He said: “The thing I found hardest was walking out of the water. You can’t just look like you’re going down the paper shop.
“I was supposed to be 40ft tall so I had to look as if my bones were much bigger and give a sense of momentum.
“I thought I’d be done by lunch but it took two days.”
Kevin, who was in three series of TV hit Rome as Lucius Vorenus, joked: “It was nice to get back in a skirt – it was like coming home.”
Poseidon watches over his son Percy but has been forbidden from meeting or trying to make contact with him – while his kid is unaware of his dad and his special powers.
It’s been a rollercoaster career for Kevin who, as a jobbing actor, dressed up as a spook to work on the Edinburgh ghost tours. After his Trainspotting role, he was unemployed and had money worries.
He admits he failed to take advantage of his big break in the hit film – and even missed appearing on the iconic poster because he was on holiday.
Kevin said: “I didn’t have the confidence to come out to LA. Everybody said I should but I knew it wasn’t my time.
“I had a tough few years working in bars and on building sites to make ends meet.”

At another point, with no work, a baby on the way and a demand for a massive tax bill, he worked as a motorbike courier instead of taking easy acting jobs – because they failed to meet his standards.
Kevin added: “People said I should do ads or daytime soaps but I felt I’d rather work on building sites.
“I’d started so well that I didn’t mind doing menial jobs. I wasn’t going to let my standards go as far as my dreams to be an actor were concerned.”
Despite his success in other films and Rome, two years ago Kevin was facing another period of unemployment.
After the hit TV show, Kevin and Jane, his wife of 10 years, uprooted their family from Britain to LA so he could appear in a science fiction series called Journeyman.
But the show, about a time-travelling journalist, never caught on with viewers.
His family were packing their bags when Kevin was offered a small role in the TV hospital drama Grey’s Anatomy.
The part of Iraq war veteran Dr Owen Hunt was only supposed to feature in six episodes. But Kevin was such a hit he’s now a permanent member of the team.
He said: “It’s weird joining a show like this. But I thought if I am good with a sword, I’ll be good with a scalpel.”
Now his supporters include his Percy Jackson co-star Coogan, who said: “I’m a big admirer of Kevin’s work.”
His female fans, such as Sharon Stone, are said to love Kevin’s blond good looks on the hit show.

The hunk has come a long way from his childhood in Elgin, Moray, when Kevin says he was a non-sporty “fat little kid”.
Since then, he’s learned to love the gym and has developed a broad-shouldered, buff physique.
He said: “My job requires me to look a certain way so it’s important I eat well.
“I never diet but I control portions and stick with lean protein. I’m always up for a whisky on ice or beer though”.
Kevin still returns to Scotland several times a year, most recently to shoot One Night In Emergency for BBC Scotland.
But for now he seems set to stay in LA – and try to keep his kids from developing strong American accents.
Besides being busy with Grey’s Anatomy, it seems likely Kevin will appear in a movie version of Rome planned for later this year – despite Lucius dying in the final scenes of the TV show.
His way with a sword, an impressive set of abs and a swagger even when kitted out in an ancient costume has led to comparisons with Gerard Butler, another Scot who got a career boost from a toga.
He said: “Rome were looking for a rough, Scottish actor in Hollywood. They probably couldn’t get Gerard Butler so they got the No 2 Gerard Butler – me!”
Kevin says he is very excited about starring in Rome The Movie and will do it “providing the script is good – and Gerard isn’t available”.

[Source: DailyRecord]

cinemablend.com posted a new interview with Logan, Alexandra, Brandon, Pierce Brosnan and Chris Columbus talking about The Lightning Thief.

It’s great reading these interviews, not just from the Trio, talking about their new fame, and adjusting to it. It’s also fun to read like Mr. Brosnan talking about how he was sent this awesome portrait of himself as a centaur before he took the role, then came the blue tights that he had to wear to make the CGI look of a centaur. Anyways, it’s a good long interview, so here you go!

Q: With this film’s high franchise potential, do you think it’ll change your lives? Do you expect people to be mobbing you like at the film’s premiere?
Lerman: It was only at the theater because that’s where they really recognize you. This is a movie that I’m really proud of. Because of that it’s the biggest compliment when people recognize you for a movie that you’re very proud of. It’s the biggest pat on the back.

Daddario: For me it’s already changed my life a lot. I have opportunities that I never had before and I’ve learned so much and I’m incredibly lucky as far as anything beyond this point I’m sort of taking it day by day. I’m just really excited to be doing what I love and I think that’s the best part about all of this.

Jackson: Okay, we can’t say it’s not weird leaving a theater and we’re being dragged out in a crowd surf of kids that are screaming. But at the same time it’s very inspiring to see everybody love the movie and that’s the best thing.

Q: Chris, how did you approach the idea of having Pierce play a Centaur and Pierce, how’d you respond?
Brosnan: Well, Chris was very sly. He went straight to my vanity and he sent me this beautiful portrait of me as this Centaur, which I looked magnificent. Of course my sons were instrumental in me playing in this film. They have read the books and they loved the books and Chris and I had worked together on Mrs. Doubtfire all those years ago and I’ve just admired him as a filmmaker and as a man and his passion and compassion for actors and storytelling. But we didn’t really discuss how to play this role or what to do as a Centaur. I love horses and I ride horses. I had a portfolio in my script of photographs of Centaurs. Then you begin to use your imagination. Chris obviously had a defined image because the portrait that he sent me of myself as Chiron was beautifully rendered. Then came the blue tights, which I really had no idea what to do. It’s very hard to keep ones dignity and humility when you stand looking resplendent from the waist up and then you look at yourself in electric blue tights with orange fluorescent spots.

Jackson: I feel your pain.

Brosnan: You feel my pain. You did! I saw you, Brandon, and I thought, ‘Oh! I’ve got a friend! We’re in this together!’

Columbus: For me it was just a matter of finding the gods themselves. I cast actors who had a larger than life god-like quality about them and who better to play a trainer of heroes, people like Hercules and Michael Jordan, than Pierce Brosnan? Originally I just wanted to work with Pierce again. We had a great time on Mrs. Doubtfire and it was really the case with all of these gods and goddesses. How do we find someone who you can believe as a god? Danny DeVito might have been a stretch, so we needed to find someone who really had that air about him.

Q: Chris, how’d you find the balance between entertaining older and younger audiences?
Columbus: I’ve got four children of my own and I’ve spent the last several years going to various children’s movies and sitting through a screening of Pokémon one time. I almost physically deteriorated and thought about suicide so I realized that there’s a point where you can’t entertain the parents enough and for me, this film had to work on two levels; first level is make a wild ride for the seven to 16-year-olds and then for the older kids and the adults in the audience make it something that makes them feel like they’re 12-years-old again. So that was it. It was really the goal and so you’ll see that there’s a balance where kids are laughing at something when they’re watching a movie and then the parents giggle at something that goes over the kids’ head. You learn that from some of the best, the better children’s films over the past decade.

Q: This is just the first of five books. Will there be more Percy Jackson movies? As younger cast members, is there any concern that you could be too old for subsequent films?
Lerman: Are we going to be told old later on? Chris and the creative crew aged it up for a reason, right?

Columbus: Yeah, the point of aging it up, which I just want to address because a couple of the fans of the books say, ‘Why isn’t Percy 11?’ and I thought, well, you’re dealing with a character who’s got an extraordinary amount of baggage in his life. He’s dealing with parental abandonment, he thinks his father abandoned him, he wants to know who his father is, he’s dealing with dyslexia and ADHD, dealing with the fact that he’s a troublemaker and been sent to various schools. I needed some complexity in the actor who was going to portray that. When I saw Logan in 3:10 to Yuma and when I saw Logan’s screen test I realized this is the guy. I had no qualms about making the character older. I thought it can only make it a better film if I have an actor of that quality and then surrounding him with actors as talented as Alex and Brandon and Jake Abel just was the goal all along. These kids are battling for their lives. They’re training to be heroes and warriors and gladiators and 11-year-olds running around with paper hats and wooden swords seemed a little lightweight to me.

Q: What about the sexual tension concerning 11-year-olds?
Columbus: I can’t answer that. I’ll be with Polanski! [Laughs] That was quite the question, but I know what you’re saying. There’s just a certain amount of romantic tension that – there’s no question that Logan and Alex have a tremendous amount of chemistry. We looked long and hard for someone like Alex because I saw a lot of young actresses who weren’t eating properly and they could barely lift a fork from the table. I needed someone who felt like they could hold a sword and be a formidable opponent for Percy. The romantic tension was always something that I thought would be great in the film and they pulled it off beautifully.

Q: What’s it like for the three of you to work with such a prestigious cast? Did you look at them as mentors?
Jackson: I had a stupid question for Rosario. I actually made a goof out of myself. I actually literally asked her to be my mentor. Besides the goofball of me I think looking at Pierce and looking at Steve Coogan and Uma Thurman and Rosario and everybody, it’s just always a pleasure to work with people who’ve been in the business longer than you. It’s always good to learn and bounce off energy with people who you watched when you were a child. To actually be on screen next to them is always a pleasure and is very humbling and at the same time you get to learn so much so it definitely is a blessing.

Daddario: These are actors that I’ve grown up with and admired my whole life. It’s really an honor to have the opportunity to work with people like this and learn from them and listen to them and I’m very very lucky. It’s a really a dream come true.

Lerman: I’ve always put it this way; acting for me is like a kid walking into a playground and, you know, these great actors like Pierce and Uma and these people that are so seasoned and so talented, they have a huge playground. And going into a scene there’s so much to explore with them because they have many places to go. So it’s just a lot of fun to see your heroes and work with them.

Brosnan: Likewise. It’s amazing with the three of you, really. I mean, your instincts are so sharp. They made me real. It was a joy.

Q: Did you have an interest in Greek mythology before the film?
Jackson: I was very interested in Greek mythology always. We learned a lot about it in school, but, to be honest, we had to really brush up on our Greek mythology because we realized that you guys would quiz us – and please don’t quiz us today. [Laughs]

Daddario: I think one of the wonderful things about this series and about the movie, I’ve heard that kids have gone and learned more about Greek mythology just because of the movie and because of the books and I think that that’s really wonderful.

Columbus: It was fun to go back to the stories because some of the stories are very very dark and adult-oriented and not appropriate for a children’s movie, so we wanted to avoid some of those. Our version is almost more the Classics Illustrated version of the books. Hopefully the kids will be inspired enough and interested enough to start to read about Greek mythology and then that will truly scare them out of their wits!

Q: How’d you approach the scene in Las Vegas?
Columbus: That was just a little homage to Pinocchio, to fantasyland in Pinocchio. Remember, people are saying, ‘Oh, it’s druggies,’ but that was 1940 and the kids went into a bar and drank pints of beer and smoked cigars. They, of course, turned into donkeys. So there are ramifications, obviously, for eating a lotus flower.
Jackson: It’s telling kids do not go to Vegas! [Laughs] And also you’ve got to look at the underlying message: if you have too much fun in life, you lose track of time and your quest doesn’t get done. So it teaches you how to get out of there and get focused and listen to that thing inside you that voice inside you. I love to have fun but I don’t let it get in the way of my work, in the way of my quest.

Q: There are a number of intense fight scenes where you’re interacting with things that aren’t really there. Is that particularly challenging? What were your reactions when you saw the final product?
Lerman: Working with green screen you always hear actors say that it’s so difficult to act opposite nothing. For me, I thought it gave us a lot of freedom as actors to create the other character and just kind of lose yourself in your imagination. Chris creates this comfort level, a set that you can just lose yourself so easily. It just becomes a workout for your imagination so it’s a great time.

Jackson: Chris always does a good job as a conductor. He’s like Mozart with his notes. It’s like he yells out things that you don’t see. He’s like, ‘There’s this fire breathing at you!’ and you don’t see anything there, it’s a tennis ball, and you just have to act like it’s there and they draw it in later.

Daddario: Yeah, it’s a little like being a kid again. You get to use your imagination. You can imagine the monster as big and scary as you want it to be. It’s a lot of fun. It’s really amazing to see what you imagined brought to screen.

Q: When did you first read the book? Did you want to maintain certain elements of the characters from the book or did you try to stay away from that and focus more on the ones in the screenplay?
Daddario: I read the book before I read the screenplay. I read it on my way to the screen test. I didn’t have the script available to me and I got a great sense of what the film would be like from the book and what Annabeth would be like. I think it only helped develop the character and after I read the script you start to make comparisons at first but then you just start to rely on the script.

Lerman: It would be cheating the audience if you didn’t read the book in the first place, so of course I read that to understand the basis for the movie. I used the script as my bible more than anything, just used that as a reference and based a lot of Percy off of that.

Jackson: I have two little sisters who are obsessed with Percy Jackson and I told them that I’m just auditioning for Grover and they went totally crazy and that’s when I read the book. I’m going through the book and going through the book and just trying to hurry up and learn it and I feel in love with it. Then I read the script; I feel in love with the script too. So it was like the way I developed the character. And Chris did a great job with helping me develop Grover because in the book he’s real timid and he’s real kind of nervous and I wanted to play him a little cooler. A little bit more swag, as we say.

Q: Chris, have you ever wanted to act?
Columbus: Yeah, I was a horrific actor. I saw myself one time, I was in Home Alone. We had a newscast and my assistant director and I decided to be the newscasters and I saw the footage and I would have fired me if I had the opportunity. I was horrible.

Q: Pierce, you did a lot of your role on stilts and this skill went back to your youth in Dublin. Can you tell us a bit about that?
Brosnan: When I started as a young actor I was about 17 and I had a street theater company called Theater Spiel and we would do children’s theater. I learned how to do fire eating and stilt walk was part of it as well. It was a very fertile time in the theater, experimental theater.

Q: Is it like riding a bike? You never forget?
Brosnan: Kind of, yes. Painter stilts are quite comfortable to wear. They have a little platform and a foot in a spring. I didn’t fall over. I didn’t disgrace myself. That was my main worry, especially in the tights.

[Source: Cinemablend]

Scholastic’s blog Ink Splot 26 interviewed Alexandra Daddario last week, and today we have their interview with Logan Lerman and Brandon T Jackson!

First, lets start with Logan Lerman:

Q: Were you a fan of the Percy Jackson books before you were cast in the movie?
Logan: No, I actually didn’t know anything about them and then I asked around to my younger cousins, and I guess it is a huge thing for the younger generation. Because Harry Potter is more for the older teens now, and the younger kids want to find something for themselves.

Q: Did you read any of them after you got the part?
Logan: Yeah I read the first one. I didn’t invest any time in the other four yet, because I hate to read them and get so attached to them if we’re not doing the sequel. So once they greenlight number two, I’ll be reading all of them!

Q: Describe Percy. What’s he like?
Logan: An unlikely hero. You don’t expect the hero to be some teenager in Brooklyn, and he ends up saving the world.

Q: What do you think kids can learn from Percy?
Logan: It’s that you can be anyone and make a difference. It doesn’t matter how old you are or what you look like — you can make a difference in any situation.

Q: Did you get to do any of your own stunts?
Logan: Oh I did all of them. Our goal was to try to use the actual actors as much as possible. [With the lightning bolt shooting parts] we’re actually flying around on wires in this huge stage in a 360 green-screen stage and doing all this stuff, and they’re just adding in the effects later. So when you’re watching and you’re thinking, “Oh is that really them?” It really is us.

Q: Is this the first really big action film that you’ve done?
Logan: Yeah, yeah it is. I’ve done a few other films but nothing as grand as this. Not as much green-screen involved and insane action sequences. This is an amazing movie. I haven’t read any script as action packed as this one.

Q: Do you have a “favorite” god or goddess?
Logan: I’ve gotten this a few times. I’m still sticking with Poseidon, and Percy’s the coolest too. To be able control the seas and horses — I just think that’s awesome.

Q: Is there any other character in this book that you would have liked to play also?
Logan: I think Grover is just a lot of fun. There’s so much you can do with that character, that it’s just a playground for any actor. Brandon T. Jackson makes that character come alive in such a cool way.

And now onto Brandon T Jackson’s interview

Q: Were you a fan of the Percy Jackson books before you were cast in the movie?
Brandon: You know I didn’t even know about the Percy Jackson books at first until my little sister had it at the house and I’m like, “What is this Percy Jackson book?” and then when I found out they were doing a movie, I went back and I read the books and I was like, “Whoah.”

Q: Did you have to train before starting the film?
Brandon: Yeah they put me, Logan and Alex [who plays Annabeth] through a three-week boot camp. We learned sword fighting and dagger work. We had to lift weights and get in shape. I have crutches in the film, so I had to learn how to fight with my crutches.

Q: They CGI your legs later on in the film?
Brandon: Yeah, it’s CGI but it looks so cool. It looks so real. People are gonna flip when they see it.

Q: Is there any other character you would have liked to portray other than Grover?
Brandon: Uh-uh. I couldn’t have. Grover is so me. If it wasn’t Grover, I just would have been a fan of the books and the movie.

Q: What do you think about the comparisons to Harry Potter?
Brandon: I guess I’m Rupert [the actor plays Ron]. [laughs] It is like Harry Potter but not really. It’s done well, like the first Harry Potter movie was done really well. Chris Columbus has a habit of doing things really well.

Of course you can compare it in a way but at the same time, Percy Jackson is its own story. There’s a different movie, different sound, different adventure. It takes place in present day, and it’s not British.

Q: Is there a character from any other book that you would like to play?
Brandon: Besides Grover I can’t think of one, because fantasy is my thing. I love fantasy movies, I love magical movies and it’s weird because being African American has different literature. You have African American literature you learn about in school, you have your mainstream or whatever. And I went to a multi-racial school so I would learn about everything. I never understand. Man, why don’t I ever see a brother, a black man in fantasy? So I’m writing my own children’s fantasy book. It’s an African American story but at the same time it’s for everybody.

Certain fantasy movies, African Americans are there, but we’re not there. Like if you watch Harry Potter we’re there, but not the leads. We don’t drive the story. But you know it’s life. It’s nothing to complain about, I’m just telling you it’s fact. So I’m excited to break that barrier. Will Smith did it with the aliens. But I wanna be the first with the magical lane which is pretty tough to do.

[Source: Scholastic]

Alexandra Daddario was recently interviewed by cinemablend. She talked about how her favorite scene was the Hydra scene because that was the first scene they did.

She also said she sent in a tape before for the role, then sent it again because she didn’t get a response the first time. She said how her character is all (kick butt and tough) but also sensitive and funny. I checked imdb.com and found out that the role of Clarisse was not cast, so maybe they’re having Alexandra playing Annabeth as sort of a mix of the two characters.

The interview’s pretty cool, so check it out below:

Craig Titley, our beloved screenwriter who adapted The Lightning Thief onscreen, was interviewed by JG-TC.com. And boy, did he give some great answers! He gave the explanation to the question of “Why oh why did they make the actors in their late teens/early twenties?????” He said it was to differentiate Percy Jackson from Harry Potter. In Harry Potter, we saw the actors grow up from being 11 to now being in their late teens early twenties. Sure, the actors will be nearing their thirties by the time Percy Jackson is done, if they do it every couple of years.

My feeling, is that if The Lightning Thief does well (Hoping for it!!!) they should film the next four films back to back. Sure it will be quite exhausting and crazy, but maybe, just maybe it would work.

Now onto Mr. Titley:

Q: Have you ever adapted a novel for a screenplay before? If so, how does this compare?
A: A lot of the screenwriting work I do is adapting novels and source material — going all the way back to when I adapted the “Scooby-Doo” cartoon series for film, and as recently as my “20,000 Leagues Under the Sea” adaptation (of the novel by Jules Verne) for (director) Sam Raimi.

With “The Lightning Thief” the main difficulty was that it was rich with imaginative material, enough to fill at least two movies, so it became a matter of deciding what stays and what goes because it can’t all fit within the framework of a two-hour movie. Once those choices are made, there are ripple effects that have to be addressed, involving new material to “bridge the gaps” and that’s where you have to try to remain true to the spirit of the original as you are creating brand new stuff for the movie. It is both a creative challenge and a logistical challenge.

Q: Did you work much with Rick Riordan?
A: I did not meet Rick Riordan and, as of now, have yet to meet him. This is pretty much standard in the business. Because of the necessary changes that have to be made when adapting I think it would be daunting to have the author of the books looking over your shoulder, because once the writing starts you have to service the movie — the vision of the director, the studio’s parameters (budgetary and otherwise).

I hope we have accomplished the same thing with “The Lightning Thief” adaptation.

Q: What was it like working with director Chris Columbus?
A: Working with Chris Columbus was a pure joy. He has boundless energy, a boundless imagination and great instincts. Plus he is an accomplished writer himself so any time I would get stuck, instead of just banging my head against the wall, I’d send him an e-mail and within a couple of hours I’d have a detailed response. “What if we try this…” and it would be a brilliant solution. It certainly made my job a heckuva lot easier. I’m spoiled now.

It’s rather surreal for me to see how this has come full circle.

Q: The “Percy Jackson” novels are in roughly the same genre as the “Harry Potter” books. In fact, there seem to be many similarities between “The Lightning Thief” and the first few “Harry Potter” books — a trio of slightly rebellious kids (including the smart girl and the goofy male sidekick) who attend a learning facility for likewise gifted children sets out to solve a mystery involving a missing artifact. So, did these similarities with “Harry Potter” present any specific challenges in adapting “The Lightning Thief?” If so, what were your solutions? Any great worries about inevitable comparisons between the film versions of both series?
A: Chris and I were both very sensitive to the inevitable “Harry Potter” comparisons (Chris obviously even more so because he directed the first two Potter films) so early on we made a conscious effort to de-Potterize “Percy Jackson” as much as possible.

At the end of the day, I think we did I good job of differentiating it from the Potter films. Obviously comparisons will be made, but I think the film stands on its own and feels very fresh and unique.

Q: Overall, what are your thoughts on the film? In other words, how did it turn out?
A: I was quite impressed with the final film. And boy does it move. It is non-stop, the fastest two hours I’ve spent in a theater in a long time. Usually, when you are involved in a film and you see it for the first time, you can never get caught up in the actual movie because you’re seeing all the work that went on behind-the-scenes, the changes made in the editorial process, etc. But I honestly got so caught up in the film that I forgot I had worked on it!

Even though I knew what was going to happen next because I wrote it, I found myself “forgetting” and getting caught up in the excitement of it all. That is a testament to Chris’ directing and storytelling skills.

Q: Where does this rank in terms of your accomplishments in the film industry to date? Why?
A: This is the first film where I received sole screenplay credit, which is a pretty big deal out here (in Hollywood). It’s the Holy Grail of every screenwriter and a hard thing to accomplish.

It was also the most pleasurable writing experience I’ve ever had, mainly because I loved the world (of Greek gods and monsters), loved the characters, but more importantly because Chris Columbus was so much fun to work with and had such a clear vision for the film.

Q: Any worries about opening against “The Wolfman?”
A: Don’t get me wrong, I love the Wolf Man character and I love the original Universal film and I wish them much luck, but Wolfie, I’m sorry to say, you will bow before Poseidon on Feb. 12!

[Source: jg-tc]

For Bond fans the world over, Pierce Brosnan was the archetypal British secret agent. Smooth, sophisticated and seductive, he encapsulated the very essence of 007. It’s something of a surprise then to hear him talk about the trials of becoming “a horse’s ass”.

The horse’s backside he refers to is his latest incarnation, the half-man, half-horse god, Chiron the Centaur he depicts in the forthcoming family action-adventure Percy Jackson And The Lightning Thief.

“I play a teacher, Professor Brunner, who’s a paraplegic philosopher of the gods and then he goes into this ’other’ world where he becomes this powerful horse’s ass,” says Pierce.

Based on Rick Riordan’s New York Times best-seller, Percy Jackson & The Olympians: The Lightning Thief, and directed by Home Alone’s Christopher Columbus, the movie introduces Greek mythology to a modern-day setting.

At the centre of the story is the trouble-prone Percy Jackson, who’s forced to embark on an adventure of epic proportions when he discovers his real father is Poseidon, god of the sea. A demigod, (that’s half-human, half-god), Percy is sent to Camp Half Blood, where he’s trained by Chiron to harness his newly-discovered powers in order to prevent a devastating war among the gods, secure the fate of the world and save the life of his mother, whom Percy must rescue from the depths of Hell itself, no less.

“I think it’s great storytelling in the hands of a very fine storyteller, Chris Columbus,” says Pierce in his recognisable languid voice. “Christopher has done this for many years and his enthusiasm and passion and creativity I think is as potent now as it was back when he was working on Mrs Doubtfire,” he adds, referring to the 1993 film in which Pierce starred alongside a cross-dressing Robin Williams.

“And I think Rick Riordan’s done a magnificent job of blending the here and now with the world of Greek mythology. For a young audience, it lends itself to a wonderful exploration, to get them delving into and looking at the Iliad and Homer and see the genesis of storytelling in society.”

Making fun of himself for his “long-winded answer”, Pierce continues to attribute what he hopes will be a successful franchise, not only to “good film-making” but to a wonderful cast, led by 18-year-old Logan Lerman in the title role.

“They’re really cool, young actors who are ferocious for the golden light, ferocious for being part of movies, who have a burning passion to be out there,” says Pierce, who says he wasn’t tempted to pass on his own wisdom to them.

“No, didn’t need to,” he says. “Stayed well clear of that one. Just hung out with them. They all have their own vibe going, you know. I came in, did my job and went home.”

Like many of Colombus’s films, the parent-child relationship is at the heart of the story and that’s something that resonates with 56-year-old Pierce, a father to five. There’s Sean, 26, his actor son by his first wife, Cassandra Harris, who died of ovarian cancer in 1991. He also adopted her two children, Charlotte, 37, and Christopher, 36, when their father died in 1986. He also has two sons, Dylan, 12 and Paris, 8, by Keely Shaye Smith, the American journalist he married in 2001.

“My 12-year-old’s just done Oklahoma and plays guitar and my eight-year-old’s a drummer and sings,” he says.

“They write poetry and write songs, so give me strength!” he adds, laughing at the fact it looks likely they’ll be following in their father’s footsteps. “If they want to act, then yeah that’s fine but they’ve got to get the grades.”

Describing his young son as “smart, brilliant”, he admits he found his own formative years tougher. “I had ’it’ but I didn’t have a good teacher and it’s to do with teachers and how you’re taught and how you come to your own knowledge and thinking. I didn’t have that.”

Born in Ireland, today Pierce only has the slightest hint of an Irish accent but his experiences under the tuition of the religious community The Christian Brothers had a lasting effect.

“Yeah, they weren’t the greatest educators for me. I learnt about nothing at school, I learnt how to fight,” he says with a chuckle to himself.

In Percy Jackson, Percy is dyslexic and struggles at school and although he’s not dyslexic, Pierce said he struggled all the same.

“To know that you have an intellect and an intuition in life but not to be able to comprehend what someone’s saying in the classroom is horrific,” he says.

By the time Pierce moved to London with his mother and her new partner in 1964 and entered the comprehensive school system, he says he was completely inarticulate.

“I could see my short-comings. I felt the sting and the stab of not knowing and saying the wrong thing. That traverses your life, so it’s constant, constant work but when I found the life of an actor, I found the life of literature.”

Embarking on an acting career in 1979, Pierce has to date appeared in around 60 movies and TV series including James Bond, The Thomas Crown Affair, Dante’s Peak and the 2008 box-office hit Mamma Mia! (based on the Abba musical).

“I’d grown up with Abba and seen them celebrated and ridiculed but ultimately people love them,” he says. “Colin Firth, clever b****r that he is, said there’s only two people in life, the people who love Mamma Mia! and the liars. I thought how clever are you Colin? Smarty pants. And he was right on the money there because everybody loves Abba.”

As for reprising his role in a Mamma Mia! sequel, he says, “I don’t think it’s going to happen. I think we did it, it’s done and dusted.” Then he hears there are rumours that a script’s already underway. “Well, I’m in then!” he jokes.

His singing abilities in Mamma Mia! may have been ridiculed but he says it was nothing compared to the humiliation he faced in having to don a pair of tights for his role in Percy Jackson. Fluorescent blue tights with orange spots at that.

“Christopher, he was a clever b****r,” says Pierce recalling being offered the role. “He sent me this script with a beautiful artist’s impression of me as Chiron, looking great and fantastic and brilliantly buffed and I thought ’I’m goood, this is splendid!”’

“So, of course I said ’yes’ and then we came to the moment of glory (filming the scenes) and I’ve got good leather straps here and there (pointing to his chest) and buckles and knives and a sword, but then I had to get into tights, so they could put the horse’s ass on me,” he says, referring to the blue tights that allow the special effects team to later add CGI effects.

“You know it’s not easy to be all butch up here and look down and you’ve got tights on,” he says. Then he puffs his chest jokingly. “It takes a real man to wear tights!”

About Mr. Brosnan

He was born on May 16, 1953, in County Meath, Ireland

He became a citizen of the United States on September 23, 2004, although he says, “My Irishness is in everything I do.”

He has a scar above his top lip following a stunt that went wrong during the filming of 1997’s Tomorrow Never Dies.

In his spare time, Pierce puts his artistic flair to good use and paints pictures he sells to raise money for charity.

Having worked with “people who didn’t know their arse from their elbow and they call themselves directors”, Pierce hopes to make his directorial debut soon

[Source: Walesonline]

Kevin McKidd, who portrays the Greek God of the Sea, Poseidon was interviewed on Good Day NY a couple days ago. He talked about how if he could choose a film, TV or stage role, taking out the fame and fortune out of the equation, he would choose to do a play in a small theater.

He talked about how he is ready to do The Sea of Monsters, if they green light it, and he talked about how at the theater for The Lightning Thief premiere, there were a lot of girls screaming, mainly for Logan. Well, here you go, the interview with Kevin McKidd!

Logan Lerman was on MyFox NY recently in an ongoing push this final week before the movie release. He talked about how he was born in LA, and when he was 4 he talked his parents into standing in line for him to get a role in a film.

They showed a scene where the Minotaur throws Gabe’s car, definitely totaling it. They also showed when Mrs. Dodds attacks Percy and when they’re in the Lotus Hotel escaping. He said he is applying for NYU as he is a senior in high school, and NYU is his first choice.

Well Logan, we’re rooting for you to get your acceptance letter from NYU any day now!