Who's Playing Who?

Logan Lerman Brandon T Jackson Alexandra Daddario Jake Abel Sean Bean Kevin McKidd Serinda Swan Dimitri Lekkos Pierce Brosnan Steve Coogan Rosario Dawson Melina Kanakaredes Catherine Keener Joe Pantoliano Uma Thurman

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Percy Jackson Grover Annabeth Luke Zeus Poseidon Aphrodite Apollo Mr Brunner/Chiron Hades Persephone Athena Sally Jackson Gabe Ugliano Medusa

What Are The Critics Saying?

"This is not a smarmy pop culture joke machine, and it's not a plastic misfire a la "Eragon." Built with set pieces that demonstrate a real affection for Greek myth iconography (both the Hydra and Medusa really work), centered on a strong performance by Logan Lerman (a star in the making), "Percy Jackson & The Lightning Thief" aims young and hits the target fairly consistently." Drew McWeeny HITFIX "The pleasant surprise is how deftly the story translates the myths from their classical idiom into modern ones and without losing the classical flavor. The pacing is crisp, the writing rarely bogs down, and the special effects that bring it all to life have a storybook quality to them while also being properly scary." Andrea Chase KILLER REVIEWS "No doubt some will see The Lightning Thief as an attempt to launch another franchise. That wouldn’t be wrong but it would be selling the series short. Rick Riordan’s five books are 'YA' (for 'Young Adult') novels, but are entertaining reads for all ages. "Percy Jackson & The Lightning Thief" proves great fun for the whole family." Daniel M. Kimmel NORTHSHORE MOVIES "Columbus once again does a great job casting a bunch of “unknowns” in the lead kid roles while beefing up the Adult roles with funny cameos by stars, there are fun scenes with Uma Thurman playing Medusa and Rosario Dawson as Hades lover. This is what a quality book adaptation should do: stand on it’s own, while making you want to explore more." Michelle Alexandria ECLIPSE MAGAZINE "Uma Thurman as Medusa, the gorgon with a coiffure of writhing snakes and stone-inducing hypnotic gaze is one of the highlights of this bewitching fantasy that juxtaposes Greek Mythology with contemporary American culture. Director Christopher Columbus has made a helluva entertaining film." Louise Keller URBAN CINEFILE

"It's a rich film, filled with detail, but never buried by it, and it works both as a primer for Greek mythology and a vibrant fantasy. There are parent-child references, from a scalding for gods who abandon their children for life in Olympus land, to mothers who sacrifice all for their children." Andrew L Urban URBAN CINEFILE "Perhaps the most refreshing thing about The Lightning Thief is that Percy is a boy hero who naturally takes the initiative. The backdrop of Greek mythology makes an enjoyable change of pace from the medieval fantasy magic of the Potter stories. Harry Potter meets Clash of the Titans." Steven D. Greydanus DECENT FILM GUIDES "The plot races, especially by the standards of an origin story, Columbus mixing monsters and emotional beats with a touch that’s far lighter than he demonstrated in the first two Potters. Slavishly follows every rule of the kids’ fantasy franchise genre, but it’s a well-executed and imagined world. Bet the sequel’s darker." Helen O'Hara EMPIRE ON-LINE "Harder hitting in its action sequences than Potter tends to be – younger viewers might be scared – the monster attacks and enormous set pieces cut the big-budget mustard. Overall, it's an entertaining introduction to a promising new world." Ben McEachen SUNDAY MAIL ADELAIDE "Armed with a toolkit of special effects and a massive budget from a Hollywood studio (probably seeking a new family franchise as the Harry Potter films near their end), Columbus has created an action packed fantasy adventure with impressive visuals. With a top-notch cast and dazzling special effects, this will tide the teens over until the next Harry Potter instalment." Andrew McMurty FILMINK

The Making Of Percy Jackson & The Lightning Thief Author Rick Riordan, who taught Greek Mythology for a many years in middle school in California and Texas, came up with the idea for the first Percy Jackson book (which subsequently led to four additional novels and a huge fan base numbering in the millions) after reading the sagas of the ancient Greek heroes as bedtime stories to his son, Haley. "When I ran out of myths, my son became disappointed," Riordan says on his website. "He asked me if I could make up some new stories with the same characters. I remembered a creative writing project I used to do with my sixth graders, which allowed them to create their own demigod hero, the son or daughter of any god they wanted, while having them describe a Greek-style quest for that hero." So how did Percy Jackson come about? "Off the top of my head, I made up Percy Jackson and told Haley all about his quest to recover Zeus's lightning bolt in modern day America. It took about three nights to tell the whole story and, when I was done, Haley told me I should write it out as a book." Those three nights would ultimately became a year long odyssey for Riordan (pronounced Rye-or-dan) in completing his first book for young readers (he was already an established author, having written several prior novels, his first being the Tres Navarre private eye thriller, "Big Red Tequila", in 1997). "I picked a few of my sixth, seventh and eighth graders and asked them if they'd be willing to 'test drive' the novel. I was nervous! I'm used to showing my work to adults, and had no idea if kids would like Percy. I finally understood what it must be like for them, turning in an essay to me and waiting to get their grades back! Fortunately, the kids really liked it. They had some good suggestions, too." After the first book’s publication in 2005, it would be another five years before Hollywood would bring the first of the Percy Jackson stories to the screen. While the studio explored turning Riordan’s first book into a movie, the author continued the series by penning a new novel each year between 2006 and 2009. Chris Columbus was attracted to "Percy Jackson & The Lightning Thief" because, as he relates, "We haven’t seen the world of Greek Mythology in a story like this before. I think Rick Riordan tapped into something quite unique, juxtaposing the world of the ancient Greeks with the underbelly of contemporary America." Columbus is no stranger to the world of fantasy. In addition to launching the "Harry Potter" film franchise with his direction of the first two films and production of the third in the ongoing series, he also gained a tremendous following with three of his early screenplays, all original works: "Gremlins" (1984), "The Goonies" (1987) and "Young Sherlock Holmes" (1985). Columbus describes his new genre effort as a contemporary adventure meets Greek Mythology film, as opposed to a pure period-piece Greek myth with gods in flowing robes sitting on billowy clouds. "This story has a sense of reality and an epic quality while still portraying a sinister, supernatural battle between good and evil," the 2004 BAFTA Children's Award winner for "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban" explained. Columbus chose a prior collaborator to adapt the book to the screen, Craig Titley, with whom Columbus and his producing partners at 1492 Pictures had worked on the hit comedy "Cheaper by the Dozen". Titley’s scholarly background in Greek Mythology was a timely bonus. "Chris knew I was getting a Ph.D. in mythological studies when he sent the book my way. I had just finished my studies and thought this was perfect because my head was swimming in Greek myths and monsters and heroes." "And it’s actually the kind of movie I’ve always wanted to see since I was a kid," Titley says. "Mythology has always been hip, and there’s kind of a mythology renaissance going on right now in pop culture. It seems to have captured the imagination." Even before Titley turned in his screenplay, producer Michael Barnathan ("Night at the Museum I & II") and Columbus pitched their ideas for a 'Percy Jackson' movie to the studio, later designing initial conceptual artwork to further illustrate their ideas. "This concept art had Chris’ vision and tone for the movie," Barnathan ("Bicentennial Man") says. "It was important for Chris to design some monsters and creatures based clearly on old Greek mythological art and concepts, but take it in a new and fresh direction that we haven’t seen. So, we started our approach on paper with conceptual art. The studio got very excited and saw that this could be bigger than just a young adult story." Once they had a visual motif for the project, the filmmakers next turned to the script. "It’s a wonderful book, but you can’t have everything that’s in the book in the movie," Barnathan explained. "What we tried to do was retain the essence of the story, characters and the world that Rick created, and put it in a cinematic context." "One of the big changes we made was upping the age of Percy and his friends," Titley revealed. "In the book, he was twelve years old. It was just much more fun to make him seventeen. With that age, we could play with Percy and Annabeth and their relationship." "To me, this story was perfect because it had this whole great world of Greek Mythology populated by Greek monsters that we could create and design and put in our world," Columbus offered. "And, the heart of the story is about a young man who wants to save his mother and find out who is his father is. So that made it a very emotional story. The kind of story I respond to as a director." Barnathan adds: "At the heart of his films there’s family. "Logan Lerman nabbed the role of the titular hero after Chris Columbus had caught a screening of the western "3:10 to Yuma". But the wheels were set in motion before then. "My assistant, who’s been with me for several years, said to me a couple of years ago that if I was ever looking for a young star to be in one of my films, I should check out this movie, "3:10 to Yuma" with this young man Logan Lerman. I watched the picture and thought he was an amazing actor. When it came time to cast Percy Jackson, I thought about Logan. When I met him, I was immediately taken with him, thought he had the essence of a potential movie star. Then, he did a screen test and I was completely blown away. Logan is like a forty year old person in a seventeen year old’s body. His instincts are so remarkable. I truly believe Logan has the ability to be the next Leonardo DiCaprio." "This is a big movie!" Lerman exclaimed. "I’ve never been part of a big movie like this, on this level. The size kind of takes you back every day. And, with Chris Columbus attached, this amazing filmmaker, I wouldn’t want to put my career in the hands of anybody else. I didn’t realize what I got myself into when I started. I’m like, 'who did I fool to get to this point?' It never really hit me until I got to Vancouver and saw these amazing sets. They built The Parthenon, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Mount Olympus and the enormous Lotus Hotel and Casino." Keeping a watchful eye on Percy is his best friend, Grover, a mythological creature known as a satyr: a half man, half goat related to the Roman mythological creature Faunus. Brandon T Jackson ("Tropic Thunder" & "Tooth Fairy") who plays Grover discovered while researching his role that satyr's have has a keen eye for the ladies. "They’re wild creatures. Grover has issues with women. In mythology, satyrs always hung around with nymphs." Jackson, who also grew a goatee for the role, emulating the slight tuft of hair adorning a goat’s chin, also reveals that his character "has a lot of other issues, like insecurity. He’s really immature as Percy’s protector. He’s a junior protector, not a senior protector. He doesn’t even have his horns yet." The performer’s comic persona returns when he adds, "it’s weird because the more I did the character, the more I became Grover. I really started to feel like a goat. At home, I was eating cans." While Columbus knew and greatly admired Jackson’s work from Ben Stiller’s hit comedy, "Tropic Thunder", he was initially unfamiliar with the female lead he would ultimately help choose to play the crucial role of the demigod Annabeth, daughter of Athena: Alexandra Daddario. Daddario was brought to the filmmaker’s attention by his longtime casting directors, Jane Jenkins CSA ("Poseidon") and Janet Hirshenson CSA ("Frost/Nixon"). "We had screen tested a lot of women for the role of Annabeth," Columbus says. "When I saw her video test Alex had done in New York, I was intrigued. We then put her on film and I had never seen anyone’s eyes photograph like that. She was mesmerizing. I also realized she had a tremendous amount of chemistry with Logan and Brandon." Daddario notes similarities between her character and herself. "I think that one of the great things about this character is that she’s so strong. I’ve read for a lot of characters for women my age that aren’t fully formed or have developed personalities or characters. They’re sort of just on the sidelines. But, I think that Annabeth is a very complex, very fully formed, strong character. She has a good balance between emotion and strength." Jake Abel ("Flash of Genius" & "The Lovely Bones"), plays Luke. He says the scenes set at Camp Half Blood were, for him, among the high points of the production. "Camp Half-Blood is, in a sense, a foster home for demigods. It’s where my character, Luke, as well as Percy, Grover, Annabeth and all the demigods get their training." Abel and his young castmates enjoyed the camaraderie of shooting those scenes, as well as month-long training sessions that put the actors in demigod shape. "Every morning we actors had our training with all the stunt guys," Abel recalls. "And training commenced with sword fighting and flying. It also all helped us bond very quickly." "Good things attract good people," Barnathan states. "And, right from the beginning, people came aboard often because they had a family member who was interested in the book. It certainly happened with Pierce Brosnan, whose kids loved the book." Brosnan, fresh off the success of the hit movie musical "Mamma Mia!", plays the role of Chiron the Centaur, the majestic and powerful leader of the special camp for demigod training. "Actually, I play Percy’s teacher, Prof Brunner and I play Chiron, who are one and the same. I play Prof. Brunner in this world, in this time. He teaches Greek Mythology from a wheelchair." Steve Coogan ("Coffee and Cigarettes" & "Tropic Thunder") and Rosario Dawson ("Little Black Dress" & "Clerks II"),were cast as the bickering, dysfunctional wedded couple of the Underworld; Hades and Persephone. "Hades and Persephone live in the Underworld under Los Angeles, which is perfect because they’re completely narcissistic," Dawson revealed. "Modernizing them into this contemporary world fits so perfectly. I think it’s interesting that they would create Hell under Los Angeles." Kevin McKidd ("16 Years of Alcohol"), who plays Poseidon, was drawn to the project through his children. "I’ve never done anything that they’ve actually been allowed to watch because my earlier projects were far too grown-up." At A Glance

Percy Jackson is having problems in high school: but that's the least of his worries. It seems the gods of Mt Olympus have walked out of the pages of Percy's Greek mythology texts and into his life. Percy has learned that his real father is Poseidon, God of the Sea, which means Percy is a demigod; half human, half god. At the same time, the powerful gods on Olympus are feuding, which could launch a war enveloping our entire planet. Now, Percy must prepare for the adventure of a lifetime, and the stakes couldn't be higher. With ominous storm clouds brewing over Earth and his own life now in peril, Percy travels to a special enclave called Camp Half Blood, where he trains to harness his newly discovered powers and prevent a devastating war among the gods. There, Percy meets the warrior Annabeth, who's mother is the goddess Athena. With Annabeth and his satyr protector Grover, Percy sets off on a perilous journey to rescue his mother from the fiery hell of Hades and hopefully, find the real lightning thief.

The Verdict "Unlike the ill-fated "Eregon" and "The Golden Compass", "Percy Jackson & The Lightning Thief" knows its target audience and looks as though it will score a bullseye with many of them. By doing so it will ensure there is a franchise in the offering. Thankfully, there's nothing here that draws a comparison with the 'Harry Potter' franchise. While the books may have a similarity with the age factor of their respective lead characters, the screen adaptation has the two lead characters, Percy and Annabeth, five years older, cleverly leaving room for a 'connection' to develope. Obviously that works better than having cast members who appear too old for their roles by time each sequel rolls out. Amongst the many standouts in "Percy Jackson & The Lightning Thief" are encounters with a the deadly Medusa (Uma Thurman) and a multi-headed Hydra. Plenty of chemistry between Percy and Annabeth; grand adventure; giant Greek gods and spectacular setting will ensure young cinemagoers are totally entertained. Sounds good and it is: even if you happen to be an adult. A breath of fresh air. Hard not to recommend. 4 STARS." The Crew

Director Screenplay Adapted From Producers Original Music Cinematographer Film Editor Casting Production Designer Art Direction Set Decoration Costume Designer

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Chris Columbus Craig Titley the novel by Rick Riordan Michael Barnathan/Mark Morgan/Guy Oseary Mark Radcliffe/Karen Rosenfelt Christophe Beck Stephen Goldblatt Peter Honess Heike Brandstatter/Janet Hirshenson/Jane Jenkins Michelle Lewitt/Coreen Mayrs Howard Cummings Ross Dempster/Dan Hermansen/James Steuart/Greg Venturi Peter Lando Renée April

Run Time 119 minutes Rated M [AUST] Copyright ©2010 - Fox Films - All Rights Reserved ©1999-2010 The Movie Pages & impact Internet Services. All Rights Reserved. Protected by Australian and International Copyright. Trademark Laws and Intellectual Property Rights apply.