20th Century Fox ‘s Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters comes to theaters on August 7th . Based on the publishing phenomenon, PERCY JACKSON: SEA OF MONSTERS continues the young demigod’s epic journey to fulfill his destiny. To save their world, Percy and his friends must find the fabled and powerfully magic Golden Fleece. Embarking on a treacherous odyssey into the uncharted waters of the Sea of Monsters (known to humans as the Bermuda Triangle), they battle terrifying creatures, an army of zombies, and the ultimate Evil. Starring Logan Lerman, Brandon T. Jackson, Alexandra Daddario, Jake Abel, Douglas Smith, Stanley Tucci. Rolemommy sat down with Director Thor Freudenthal and the stars of the movie Logan Lerman, Alexandra Daddario, Brandon T. Jackson and Leven Rambin to find out what is in store for the second installment of everyone’s favorite book series.
Rolemommy: Since this is the second movie, we were wondering if you were signed up for the series or if the first film was so successful that they made the second one.
Alexandra Daddario (Clarisse) filled us in, “Well, I think speaking for me, Logan [Lerman] and Brandon [T. Jackson], we’re locked in for three movies. And I think there’s something really cool about that, because you know that you’re joining something that could potentially be around for a long time.”
Rolemommy: Is it more difficult to do an original film where you already have fans or sequel of the book where you have diehard fans?
Director Thor Freudenthal, “Well, I did do the first part of another book series. And doing the first part of something is kind of hard, because you’re navigating the tone and the feel of a movie. You’re casting it from the ground up, in the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series, it feels like it took forever to find the Wimpy Kid and establish how much comedy, how much emotion you do.”
“Chris Columbus kind of had already done that to an extent. So, he had done a lot of the footwork of explaining the world and introducing the main character to the world. Since he had already done it, it gives you a level of freedom just kind of using it as a jumping off point and having, in a way, more freedom to explore the world further and expand it and play with the tone a little bit. I felt that the book series, to me, was very irreverent and funny, kind of like tongue in cheek. And we wanted to bring a little bit more of that into this movie. So, that was fun for me to do.”
Rolemommy: Seeing as these kids have very prominent mythological parents (these teens are known as half-bloods) what would you say would be the underlying message with this particular film?
Thor Freudenthal believes “The underlying message is we have a bunch of young people who have parents who are larger than life and mostly inaccessible to them. The kids kind of doubt themselves for the most part. So, the central message in this movie, looking at Percy and how he starts out at the beginning of the movie not trusting himself, his abilities and so forth, and throughout the movie, and you’ve only seen a half hour of it. But, in the movie, through himself and his friends, he gains the confidence that he needs to succeed on his quest. And that’s what you can do in life. ”
Rolemommy: For the characters, you have so many children that look up to you. So, what’s some advice that you have for the children that adore you and adore your characters?
Logan Lerman (Percy) shared a personal story, “My father works at a children’s hospital, and he works with a lot of kids that are going through tough times. And they’re really excited about the fact that his son is Percy Jackson, and, now, every patient now brings their book. The movie makes them happy. And that goes for a lot of kids. So, it’s really cool, and that’s got to be one of the biggest benefits of doing a movie like this is. It’s a big movie and it’s a fun one to make. It is mainly for the kids, right? And it makes them happy, so it’s cool to be a part of a project like this in that way.”
Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters comes to theaters on August 7th and Rolemommy will be bringing you more of our interviews with the stars this week.
Photo credit: Elise Derby
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