This afternoon I talk to Clash of the Titans writer Phil Hay and Matt Manfredi about the upcoming monsterfest featuring Sam Worthington , swords , and a really elephantine kraken . They give me hope that this adventure tale wo n’t take itself too seriously .
io9 : How did you update this movie for the unexampled millennium ?
Hay : All those theme song tool are there ; we wanted to do that . I call back the direction the action is pulled off is different . A lot of the new stuff and nonsense revolves around the characters , who Perseus [ Sam Worthington ] is .
Manfredi : We focalise on the interactions between the men and gods , and the journey of Perseus . He ’s a demigod – a man and a deity . And he ’s prove to figure that out at a prison term when gentleman’s gentleman is oppugn his relationship to gods who have ruled with an smoothing iron fist . Our feeling is that he fend the god side of him . He chooses the side that is a man .
Hay : The Hellenic gods are not always kindly . They can be capricious and lean gravid on penalty – Perseus is shinny with that . His kinsperson is collateral wrong in a battle between gods and mankind . In a way , it ’s about his relationship between himself and his biologic father . He ’s been nurture by a man he fuck very much , but then he finds out his real dad is a god who he hates .
Why do you think Hollywood was interested in doing this remaking now ?
Manfredi : aboveboard I ’m surprise that there have n’t been more picture show with Greek mythology in them . Especially since it ’s the root of superhero movies clearly . 300 is sort of in this vena , and though it ’s not about god there ’s a connexion to what we ’re doing obviously . And as movie like Lord of the Rings make clear , there ’s a immense pursuit in fancy .
Hay : Also , this is one of those title that multitude have fondness for . But they also remember it could be exciting to see what could be done with it using today ’s FX special effects . Tron is the same elbow room . citizenry are excited to see it remodel .
io9 : At the same time , mass reckon of the original film as cheesy , sort of a midnight movie . Are you playing with that at all in the remake ? Is there a sense of temper ?
Manfredi : There ’s definitely a sense of merriment in the movie that resonates with people who have seen the original . For me , the original limited core have a backyard timber – and I say this affectionately , as a buff . Those effects lease you in on the movie making process – that stop apparent motion kind of pull back the curtains on how movies are made . And yet it ’s still scarey and exciting . Medusa was terrify in the original .
Hay : The effect in the original have a direct line to your imagination , because they ’re not photoreal . To me that eccentric of adventure and phantasy picture show is one that I have such warmness for that I think it sense natural to translate that to the present tense . And to keep up a common sense of merriment , of not taking itself seriously , while the part do take themselves seriously . Cheese is in the eyes of the beholder .
What we eff about [ conductor Louis Leterrier ] is that like us , he has a very unembarrassed dearest of literary genre movies and so there ’s nothing cynical about the approach . He ’s very much going for it . That ’s Louis ’ approach . Trying to squeeze awesomeness out of every minute .
io9 : Do you think of the monstrosity as characters or more as scene ?
Hay : The monsters have specific and tragical backstories . Medusa has deplorable and dark tale of treason by the Supreme Being . Calibos is create out of his own anger and pain and the giant Scorpion come from him . There ’s something behind every teras . They all have an root tale .
That say , the Scorpion are less type , and more about “ it would be just plain awe-inspiring to have giant scorpion ” – there ’s a wide-eyed thing there . And same with the kraken . Just the exfoliation of it , the fact that it ’s this mindless waster – there ’s something chilling about that being its sole quality trait . It exists to destroy thing .
Manfredi : We were always test to think of what makes each monster scary . With the kraken , it ’s the scale . With Medusa , it ’s her backstory .
io9 : What about Bubo ? Is there any Bubo in this movie ?
Hay : [ laugh ] Oh genus Bubo – they did shoot a loving cameo , and I conceive it has made the final undercut . There ’s a bit that ’s a tip of the chapeau to Bubo .
Manfredi : Bubo is very controversial . He ’s polarizing . Some people really detest him . But we did include him just a bit . [ more laugh ]
io9 : You guys were executive producer on the documentary Dungeonmasters , about D&D player . Were you D&D fans ? Did that determine you at all as writers ?
Hay : Yes we ’re D&D fans . play D&D and all the associated games when I was a kid – to me , that ’s the root of me becoming a screenwriter . Those phantasy worlds , that sort of adventure , that kind of imaginative way to spend your time was my first way into creativeness .
Manfredi : In all those use - play games , there are dummy to fill in , and it ’s up to you to populate and describe that reality . I gravitated toward the more geeky Top Secret . Really the game I played all the time was Call of Cthulhu .
io9 : That ’s awesome . When is there going to be a sound Cthulhu flick ? You guys are into elephantine ogre – why do n’t you write something ?
Manfredi : We ’ve talked about a Cthulhu flick . It would be amazing . We ’re stress to do that . The question is how do you approach it .
Hay : It ’s comical how Cthulhu has seeped into so many dissimilar movie . Even the kraken in Clash , if you seem at him from the right slant . . .
io9 : Or Cloverfield .
Hay : Totally .
io9 : I know you guy are working on accommodate [ amusing Bible ] RIPD . Where is that project at ?
Hay : we hope that will happen soon . They ’re pushing to put it together . We ’ve love it for a prospicient time . The studio , Universal , is marshaling the military unit .
io9 : Since it ’s about undead police , will it be a zombie moving-picture show ?
Manfredi : No , it ’s not a living dead movie . It ’s closer in look to Men in Black or Ghostbusters . Really it ’s a demon motion picture like Clash . Except with undead monster .
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