SAM WORTHINGTON SAYS WRATH OF THE TITANS MOVIE IS BIGGER AND BETTER

Are your ready for more sword-wielding action, Greek gods and ravenous monsters? Sam Worthington is. As Wrath of the Titans hits the big screen this Friday, Worthington says he’s pushed the limits for the sequel to Clash of the Titans and to get ready to see him in fine hero action.

A decade after his heroic defeat of the monstrous Kraken, Perseus (Worthington)—the demigod son of Zeus (Neeson)—is attempting to live quietly as a village fisherman and the sole parent to his 10-year-old son, Helius. Even though he’s trying to live a normal life, those gods keep pulling him back in.

“I think there’s a level of responsibility that Perseus feels and with that it’s always been a kind of struggle which I’ve always like about the character,” Worthington said while on set. “People just want to have a normal life and they want to do normal things but if you’re destined for bigger things that kind of responsibility not only effects the way you see the world but it can effect your son, in this case, and how he sees the world.”

This time the fight is an epic one. Zeus is losing his power as humanity once again lacks the devotion the gods need for their existence. They’re also losing control of the imprisoned Titans and their leader, Kronos, father of the long-ruling brothers Zeus, Hades (Fiennes) and Poseidon (Danny Huston). But when Hades makes a deal with Kronos to free him and capture Zeus hell is unleashed on earth.

Needless to say, Perseus realizes that he must embrace his inner hero. “For Perseus it’s his journey of discovering his place in the world he shies away from being the hero that he wants to be because he just wants to look after his son,” Worthington says. “But by going on this journey he realizes that he’s got to man up of taking on the responsibility of being an actual kind of god…being a demigod…being a hero, not just for his son but for the whole world.”

Together with the help of Poseidon’s demigod son Agenor (Toby Kebbell), and fallen god Hephaestus (Bill Nighy), Perseus goes on a treacherous quest into the Underworld to rescue Zeus, overthrow the Titans and save mankind. A lot of weight on a man’s shoulders so naturally, there must also be a woman to help with the task.

Now played by Rosamund Pike, the warrior Queen Andromeda is also back in the picture but as Worthington explains, not for a straight-forward love story. “These people haven’t seen each other for 10 years that’s a long time but they’ve obviously got deep feelings because of what they went through in the last film,” Worthington says. “I don’t like a movie that has a simple romance. I think this is like a blossoming of something. It’s kind of like two seven-year-old kids who are at school and are flirtatious all the way through. At the end of the movie they might have a romance, they might have a family, they might not. But you don’t know what’s going to happen.”

As does Perseus, Andromeda has changed as well. Pike, who needed to strike the right balance between queen and warrior, says she was happy to go toe-to-toe with Worthington in an action film. “I liked Andromeda because she felt like a real heroine for girls,” Pike says. “I think boys have so many action hero role models in films, and there are fewer female characters like that. But Andromeda has changed a great deal from the end of the first film, when she was helpless and needed to be rescued. Now she’s Queen of her country and leading her army in war. She’s a fighter, and is going to make sure she never needs to be rescued again.”

It’s a good thing Andromeda has some fighting skills because don’t expect Worthington’s Perseus to be in fine form. He hasn’t fought for ten years, ad according to Worthington, says he’s in for a fight, and so to make sure he felt what his character was going through, he made sure he completed most of this own stunts.

“He hasn’t fought for ten years, his punches aren’t as efficient as they once were and he’s not as adept at swordsmanship as he used to be,” Worthington says. “I liked that he has a little catching up to do, it brought a different dynamic to it and it was more fun for me to play. Every punch he takes and every punch he gives hurts. I think audiences demand it nowadays and I want the audience to stay with me and the film for the whole ride, so I try to do as much as I possibly can without hurting myself.”

Wrath of the Titans opens Friday and stars Sam Worthington, Ralph Fiennes, Liam Neeson, Rosamund Pike, Bill Nighy, Edgar Ramirez, Toby Kebbell, Danny Huston and John Bell.

—By Toni-Marie Ippolito