Clash of the Titans Estimated Budget: $70,000,000
Shooting Date: Filming began in late April 2009
Shooting Locations: Wales, England, and the Canary Islands' Tenerife, Gran Canaria and Lanzarote
Based Upon: Remake of Clash of The Titans (1981) directed by Desmond Davis starring Laurence Olivier and Harry Hamlin. The original film was made for around $15 million.
Release Date: April 2, 2010
Clash of the Titans Production Facts and Trivia
Prior to Louis Leterrier coming on board to direct, Stephen Norrington had been attached to helm the big-budget action epic. Leterrier, who lists the 1981 Clash of the Titans as one of his all-time favorite movies, previously directed Transporter 2, Unleashed, and The Incredible Hulk.
Sam Worthington ('Perseus') is no stranger to action films having starred in Avatar and Terminator Salvation, and wanted to do as many of his own stunts as possible. At the LA press conference promoting the Warner Bros Pictures film, Worthington explained why: "[...]If you cut to a stunt guy in a movie, you instantly drop out of the experience. I'm a big believer in trying to keep the audience in the film so they get their money’s worth."
Liam Neeson ('Zeus') was interested in the film because his sons, who are into Greek mythology, encouraged him to do it. Off-screen, Neeson is close friends with Ralph Fiennes who plays his brother, Hades, in the film.
Clash of the Titan's wasn't filmed in 3D. Instead, the movie was converted to the format during post-production. However, Leterrier says he designed his shots with 3D in mind.
British actor Jason Flemyng had to endure three hours of work in the makeup trailer in order to become the half-man, half-monster Calibos, according to the film's production notes.
The cast of the 2010 film came from around the globe. Actors involved in the production hailed from Australia, Denmark, Ireland, Israel, France, England, Poland, Scotland, and the United States.
The animatronics supervisor on this Clash of the Titans, Neil Corbould, actually worked on the original film while just a teenager. His job on the first Clash? Adding feathers onto Bubo.
Each 'scorpioch' in the film is supposed to measure between 25 and 30 feet. In order to help out the actors, a full-scale rig was built on the set to give the cast something to act opposite. The effects team also had a gimbal-mounted rig for Mads Mikkelsen ('Draco') to ride on during the battle.
Flying horses don't exist (darn it), so Pegasus was created using real Friesian stallions and special cameras which focused on tracking markers. Digital imaging added the wings in post. In addition to the horses, an American Bald Eagle, a 44 pound Burmese albino python, oxen and dogs were on the set during filming.
There was much debate about whether or not to include Bubo, the mechanical owl from the '81 film, in the 2010 version. In the end, Bubo supporters won out. "Look, those are the touchstones to any movie. It can either hurt a movie or hinder a movie," said Worthington about the inclusion of the owl. "I think with something like this, because it is a fun romp, we're trying to make it like a Saturday morning popcorn movie, we take it serious so the audience doesn't take it too serious. We can get away with touchstones like that, so the fans can understand. My 7 year old nephew, he ain't gonna get it. And there's a 9 year old, he ain’t gonna get it either. But for fans of the original, it's a little nod and a wink which I think we can get away with."
According to the production notes, it took five months to design the Kraken.
The 40,000 square foot city of Argos was constructed at Longcross, a former military testing area.
Warner Bros reports 1600 weapons (including swords, daggers, darts and a blow pipe) were created just for use in the film.
Sources: Studio System, Warner Bros Pictures
