In 2001, he helped launch one of the biggest franchises of all time when he directed Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone and its sequel, at the time with mostly unknown young actors, which will probably be the most obvious precursor to his latest fantasy adventure epic Percy Jackson & The Olympians: The Lightning Thief. Based on the novels by Rick Riordan, it stars Logan Lerman in the title role, a normal teenager who is in fact the son of the Greek God Poseidon (played by Kevin McKidd of HBO’s “Rome”). When Percy learns about the theft of Zeus’ lightning bolt, he goes off with two friends, Annabeth, the daughter of Athena played by Alexandra Daddario, and Grover, a witty Satyr played by Brandon T. Jackson (Tropic Thunder), on an epic adventure across the country to find the bolt and save Percy’s mother (Catherine Keener) from Hades’ underworld. Along the way, they encounter Medusa (played by Uma Thurman), a fierce three-headed Hydra, as well as other famous creatures from Greek mythology.
ComingSoon.net sat down with Columbus for this exclusive video interview in which we talked about the following:
* Why he wanted to adapt another fantasy novel series for kids
* How he sees the movie as an homage to Ray Harryhausen
* What about Rick’s books interested him
* How he wanted to incorporate Greek mythology
* Was it easier a second time around after doing the “Potter” films?
* Why he thought Logan would be perfect to play Percy
* How committed he is to doing more “Percy Jackson” movies
* Whether he would diverge more from the books in sequels
* Talking about the potential for sequels to “The Goonies” and “Gremlins”
* Whether he keeps in touch with Steven Spielberg
* How he knew that the actors he cast for the first “Harry Potter” movie would work for the entire series
* And More!
Percy Jackson & The Olympians: The Lightning Thief opens on Friday, February 12. Look for our video interviews with some of Columbus’ cast, including Logan Lerman and Pierce Brosnan, later this week.
