Harry Hamlin had exactly the proper non-muscular physique and soft curly locks to play Perseus, the sensitive hero of Clash of the Titans. But that was 1981 and Desmond Davis. For 2009 you need someone more trim, more militaristic, more 300. Enter Sam Worthington, already on the cusp of having people almost able to remember his name, thanks to the upcoming Terminator: Salvation and James Cameron’s Avatar.
You read the headline and thought that Arnie was involved, didn’t you? Suckers.
I remain relatively ignorant of Worthington’s abilities. My only exposure to him was through Geoffrey Wright’s 2006 MacBeth, which I didn’t particularly care for. In fact, I hadn’t even reconciled that MacBeth‘s Worthington and Avatar‘s were one and the same until recently. That said, he wasn’t key to what I thought failed about Wright’s take on Shakespeare, and the word coming out of both of his upcoming films is strong.
My only hope is that the Clash re-do, scripted by Lawrence Kasdan for Louis Leterrier to direct, retains some of the playfulness of the original. I’m good with using 300’s techniques to keep the budget viable, but I’d hate to see one of the more entertaining dives into the mythological pool become overly serious. I don’t expect that from Leterrier, but you never know.