Sam Worthington Feels The ‘Wrath of the Titans‘By Max Evry
March 28, 2012
Sam Worthington of “Avatar” fame returns to the world of Greek myth in “Wrath of the Titans,” a big-budget follow-up to 2010’s blockbuster remake “Clash of the Titans.” This time the stakes are higher, the situation grimmer, and the fate of the entire universe at stake as Hades, god of the underworld (Ralph Fiennes) and Ares, god of war (Édgar Ramírez) make a pact with the evil titan Cronos to siphon the powers of Zeus (Liam Neeson).
Only Zeus’ half-god/half-human son Perseus can gather his strengths and go on a journey that will take him to hell and back in order to save his father’s life. Director Jonathan Liebesman (“Battle L.A.”) crafts of grittier take on these legends than the first one, and the 3-D is top-notch. We talked to star Worthington in New York about what he wanted to do differently in this sequel and he proved to be frank and honest in his appraisal.
On the first movie you said you learned the importance of having something practical to work with in an effects scene. Given that this film is even more complex, with more scale, did that approach still work when interacting with CGI?
WORTHINGTON: It was a more improved version in the sense that in this one Jonathan was very good with combing the practical with the special effect. He learned a lot of techniques himself, whether the explosions or trees were real. You’re dealing with an abundance more practical stuff to interact with. We would bring the special effects on set a lot more so we wouldn’t be dictated by the special effects. You have to work in tandem because the special effects can come in five or six months down the track. We like to balance and play with what we have now, and then get them to play catch up a bit. That helps. Then you’re working together. Sometimes they’re in the back in their own tent, I don’t like that. I’d rather they be on the front lines with us, then you can collaborate or… ARGUE. It’s almost like learning what I learned on “Avatar,” then on “Clash 1,” then you just keep refining it until the interaction between us and CG becomes more organic.
What did you want to do differently in approaching this movie as opposed to the first one?
WORTHINGTON: I think it’s its own thing. I’ve been pretty vocal about how I felt, personally, about the first one and what I did. I haven’t done that in a way of putting the first one down at all, it’s just to me it’s my responsibility to create a character rather than just a conduit for the action. By coming up with a different dynamic or the themes of responsibility for basically a dysfunctional family who just happen to be Gods in a world of monsters. You just kept going back to that. How does the action scene relate to the family? If you look at the chimera chase it’s me chasing after my son, it’s got nothing to do with the f**kin’ monster. The one with the Cyclops, which is more of a fun chase, is me going after my cousin. The action at the end is saving families, two brothers coming together to knock out their own father. That became the main factor, to drill this family story among this big, spectacular blockbuster. If you lose sight of that then some of the themes were misplaced/misdirected in the first one will come back to haunt us.
What’s so powerful about Greek mythology and those family relationships?
WORTHINGTON: With the Greek mythology thing, it’s not a history lesson. These movies have never been like that for me. We’ve just utilized and mined this great field of characters and creatures and situations and journeys. To me that’s the most exciting thing. Purists are probably gonna f**k us, but I don’t care because I like the fact that we’re mining these themes to create our own canon of stories.
Did you get hurt doing any of the action scenes with all the fire and explosions?
WORTHINGTON: I don’t like talking about that. I’ve got mates that play rugby, so they think I’m a pussy actor. I don’t ever talk up what happens to me. I got nothing. My nephew got hurt more than me. A couple of bruises, but that’s just the nature of these sort of things. That’s just by investing yourself in these scenes where you’re fighting a guy in a green suit instead of a monster.
What was your favorite scene to work on?
WORTHINGTON: Mine was the minotaur, just ’cause it’s something we talked about way way back with the labyrinth, the fact that it moves I thought was a really cool concept. The fact that we had a set that actually moved was fantastic for us. I just like it because to me it was a brutal fight like UFC. I was getting a bit over the heroes that have big six packs and do stylized action scenes. That was the trump card of going back to movies I grew up watching where the hero got beaten up, the old gunslinger who’s a bit rusty and cops a lot of hits. That was the cherry on the cake of what I wanted to achieve in regards to the action.
We’ve seen you in battles with aliens and robots. What were some of your favorite villains or monsters from mythology?
WORTHINGTON: I like all of ’em! It’s how do you make them different. Me and Jonathan went back and looked at movies like “Die Hard” and “Lethal Weapon” and old westerns where the action and the villains kinda meant something. In this the chimera appears and we boo him ’cause he’s killing the whole f**kin’ village. It’s things like that. How to take these action scenes and ground them and then create a villain that’s worth booing. Hades, Ralph creates a villain that’s worth booing at the start. Cronos itself is worth booing. Sometimes in spectacle movies you lose sight of that. I just got that drilled into my head by Jim [Cameron], to create villains that not only do you want to cheer but are worth booing in a big cinema or IMAX. All of them kinda have that. The minotaur is a horror movie in itself, it’s “Texas Chainsaw Massacre.” You don’t see him until the end. It’s “Aliens.” That’s what you look to do, but there’s no specific one, they’re all worth booing.
What do you have to do to attract an audience with a 3-D movie now?
WORTHINGTON: Make it good! I’ve been in the one that was the most revered and the one that was the most slated. (laughs) Jim has drilled 3-D into my head and how it can be utilized. On this one of my first meetings with Jonathan was how he was gonna shoot it. You gonna shoot it in 3-D? If you convert it are you gonna have a stereoscopic guy on set the whole time? How are we gonna do this, because I don’t want to be wearing the f**kin’ brunt in a situation like this when it comes to 3-D, which is something that in some way is out of my hands. If used correctly it can draw you into a world, and for blockbusters it’s perfectly. If used incorrectly… I’ve been a part of it, it can give someone an aneurism. The studio was definitely on point for this one.
“Wrath of the Titans” opens everywhere Friday.
