"Clash Of The Titans" Director Talks About The Epic Fantasy

CEBU, Philippines - Shot in director Louis Leterrier’s kamikaze, high-octane style and set for release around the world in both 2D and 3D versions, “Clash of the Titans” is an action-packed epic that plunges into the world of mortals and gods, with spectacular settings and amazing creatures which have never before been portrayed on this scale.

From director   Louis Leterrier              (“Transporter   2,” “The           Incredible Hulk”) comes Warner Bros.’ new fantasy adventure “Clash of the Titans” starring Sam Worthington, Liam Neeson and Ralph Fiennes.

Shot in Leterrier’s kamikaze, high-octane style and set for release around the world in both 2D and 3D versions, “Clash of the Titans” is an action-packed epic that plunges into the world of mortals and gods, with spectacular settings and amazing creatures which have never before been portrayed on this scale. Born of a god but raised as a man, Perseus (Worthington ) is helpless to save his family from Hades (Fiennes), vengeful god of the underworld. With nothing left to lose, Perseus volunteers to lead a dangerous mission to defeat Hades before he can seize power from Zeus (Neeson) and unleash hell on earth. 

Director Louis Letterier discusses the highly awaited film in the following interview:

Question: Can you talk about the scope and scale of “Clash of the Titans” and what drew you to the project?

Louis Leterrier: It’s the biggest movie in terms of scope and scale that I have done. I believe it’s also the biggest done by a French director. It is a huge film, and I wanted to use natural exteriors with real practical effects and not only visual effects. So, we had a crew of 800- 500 for the first unit and 300 for the second unit. All of us traveled to Tenerife and Wales. It was very interesting to travel with those people.

Q: Can you talk about the tone of the film, and the kind of action we can expect? 

Leterrier: It is a family movie. I grew up in the ‘80s and what I liked were entertainment movies—watching the films of Spielberg, Joe Dante and Robert Zemeckis. I always wanted to be able to do that kind of film, never thinking one day I would be lucky to be able to do so and that Warner Bros. would give me that chance and opportunity.

Q: How did you go about bringing in such a diverse cast?

Leterrier: I wanted an international cast, mainly a European cast because for me it is, of course, Greek mythology and I didn’t want to use recognizable American actors seen millions of times before. For the Gods, yes, but for the characters around Perseus, I wanted to use newer faces, for the American audiences anyway, since for the Europeans they are slightly more well-known.

Q: Can you talk about casting Sam Worthington in the film?

Leterrier: I did not know him at all. I only met him once, during the preparation at the casting stage. I had not seen “Avatar” or “Terminator Salvation” at the time, only an Australian film he had done, “Somersault.” I instantly adored him at the casting. He brings such humanity and also such a real physicality to the character. He did all his own stunts and he is really someone who is very dynamic.

Q: When making a movie like “Clash of the Titans,” was it important to you to push the envelope in terms of visual effects? 

Leterrier: In the original “Clash of the Titans,” the special effects were done by Ray Harryhausen, a master of the genre. I grew up watching his work, his films that I loved. I wanted to bring something different. I did not want to use stop-motion or cell-by-cell animation. I wanted to use 3D because it is simple and quick and more, because you can do something huge and very interactive with the actors. So, that’s why we started with that concept. I also wanted to pay homage to Ray and therefore we used the best possible effects company in Europe to do the special effects. What was really very interesting was the interactivity between the creatures, the sand and the water, which is extremely difficult to achieve with special effects.

(Opening soon across the Philippines , “Clash of the Titans” will be distributed worldwide by Warner Bros. Pictures, a Warner Bros. Entertainment Company.)