We met with the cast of “Percy Jackson and the Olympians: the Lightning Thief” in London and we have one clear conclusion: out with Daniel Radcliffe and in with Logan Lerman. The 18-year-old is not afraid of becoming the next big teen idol.
You probably still don’t know who Logan Lerman is. Don’t worry, you will. Even the name Daniel Radcliffe didn’t mean much to anyone ten years ago. The comparison is justified: the “Percy Jackson” series is currently the most successful young adult book series in the U.S., just as was the case with the “Harry Potter” books. “Percy Jackson” is about a teen who discovers that the stories of Greek mythology are true and that he’s actually a demigod – half human, half God. The Gods themselves live on today. We had the opportunity to meet with the stars of “Percy Jackson “at a London press conference at the prestigious “Dorchester” hotel.
The first thing that Lerman emphasizes at the press conference is that he has no problem with the comparison to the wizard from Hogwarts. “I’m a big fan of the ‘Harry Potter’ series. That’s one reason why I wanted to work with Chris Columbus, who directed two of the ‘Harry Potter’ films and a lot of movies that influenced me.”Q: And what about the fact that Daniel Radcliffe is identified almost entirely with Harry Potter? How will you deal with the fact that you may also be identified primarily with Percy Jackson?
Logan: “I’m very proud of this film and I have no problem if people will associate me with the character. It’s very flattering.”
A month ago, Lerman celebrated his 18th birthday, and now, with the end of the film, he is ready to formally take (at least temporarily) the place of Robert Pattinson as the biggest young star of Hollywood. It happened after a few small roles in films like “Gamer”, “My One and Only”, the western “3:10 Yuma”, “The Butterfly Effect”, and, at age 15, flirting with Jessica Alba, wearing women’s clothes, and smoking in “Meet Bill.”
“I started acting at a young age. I’m from LA, and in this city it’s pretty easy to get access to auditions for advertisements and small roles,” says Lerman. “There’s always a line on the corner, and if you can just bear it, you find yourself in an audition. Slowly, I climbed the ladder, and now I’m here. I’m not sure I know how it happened so suddenly…”
Lerman was raised a good Jew. His parents work in medicine. He caught the acting bug at the age of five, after watching a Jackie Chan film. He made his Hollywood debut at the age of eight in the film “The Patriot”, starring Mel Gibson, and since then he’s never stopped acting.
Q: Do you feel that Percy Jackson is similar to you?
Logan: “The truth is that I did not want to play myself, and forget to give a performance after six months of filming. Percy’s character was new to me and was a challenge for me. Chris and I tried to make him different from myself in terms of appearance, accent, and even his walk. Percy is very different from me.”
Like Potter’s Hermione and Ron, Percy also has two friends who join him on a journey: Grover (a Satyr – half man half goat) and Annabeth (daughter of Athena, goddess of wisdom and war). Grover is played by Brandon T. Jackson, who we’ve already seen in several films and who’s known mainly due to his excellent work in “Tropic Thunder”. Annabeth, played by Alexandra Daddario, is a new discovery, and you could say that she even sometimes steals the show from Lerman. Annabeth, a 23-year-old, is one of Hollywood’s prettiest young actresses.
I asked her about her chemistry with her co-star, who is five years her junior. She replied in a diplomatic way: “We had a lot of natural chemistry because of the fact that Logan is a great actor who gave me support and energy,” she says. “He made me feel more comfortable on the set and saw that the dynamics between us would look good on screen.”
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