I don't think that was why the audience was shouting "Blasphemy!"
Feb 16
2010
Oh. My. Nathan sent me an interview with Craig Titley, the screenwriter for the truly unspeakable Percy Jackson movie. In it, Mr. Titley reflects on the way his recent PhD in mythology changed his screenwriting, making it: "a deeper, smarter, more confident level of writing".
I'll let those of you who've seen the Percy Jackson movie have a moment to take that in. For the rest of you, treasure this quote:
"There was an early draft of the script where I address [the issue of Athena having a daughter]. Perseus is first at the camp and discovering that the gods are alive and well and have kids and he meets Athena’s daughter. He's like “Wait a second, how can you be Athena’s daughter? She’s a virgin goddess? What happened?” And she says “The Sixties.” Which was my solution to that whole problem, but that didn’t make the final cut so now there’s no explanation. And me and my whole class—and you—will be going "Wait a second! This is impossible!"
...um, that would make Annabeth at least forty years old, dude.
Maybe he should have aimed for a PhD in math.
Posted by: Julianka
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Comments
Sheryl
Maybe he should go back to grade school instruction on Greek mythology, since even that teaches that there are many ways a god or goddess can have a child without losing the "virgin" status, including the child springing from the parent's head and the mother bathing in the fountain that renews virginity.
Yulianka
The whole interview blew my mind--the dude came across as incredibly arrogant, and over the weirdest stuff! Like, he frets over myth geeks objecting to his portrayal of Persephone being in Hades during the summer (admittedly problematic), but doesn't see any problem with the fact that SHE ISN'T EVEN IN RIORDAN'S BOOK, and he totally re-wrote the ENTIRE STORY to include her... and then, yes, her presence is mythologically inaccurate. Why isn't he apologizing for THAT?
Anonymous
I particularly like how he describes the Athena thing as his "Mr. Smartypants moment". It makes him seem even more toolish, if possible.