Catherine Keener Is Loved By the Gods and 'Percy Jackson'
Filed under: Action, Sci-Fi & Fantasy, Casting, 20th Century Fox, Family Films, Newsstand, Harry Potter
I don't know if Chris Columbus' Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief will be the next Harry Potter, but it certainly has a cast that can rival the one living at Hogwarts. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the latest to sign on is the always lovely Catherine Keener, who will be playing Sally Jackson, mother to Logan Lerman's Percy. Of course, Sally isn't just any ordinary single mother, she's one beloved by at least one Greek god. A forbidden love affair with Poseidon produced Percy, who just might be the boy to fulfill a prophecy. Sally tries to conceal Percy's identity from the gods and from himself, but of course that never works.
The Olympians cast so far include Uma Thurman as Medusa (I know, right?), Pierce Brosnan as Chiron, Melina Kanakeredes as Athena, Kevin McKidd as Poseidon, and Sean Bean as Zeus. They're still looking for a Hades and probably annoyed Clash of the Titans nabbed Ralph Fiennes as theirs.
I share Peter Martin's doubts that this will be the next Potter (I think that's a one time thing), and I'm so-so on the story because it flouts mythological convention and gives the man-disdaining Athena a daughter. But I am a sucker for a lot of the cast members (especially McKidd and Bean), and the idea of McKidd and Keener being so overcome with passion that they flouted the decrees of the gods? That is the stuff Greek myths are made of, so who knows? It might be pretty fun.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
4-17-2009 @ 4:34PM
Bob said...
Plus it's not like you see people sitting around and reading the "Percy Jackson" books - or is it book? I've never heard of it anywhere but here. Remember, there is real world and then there is Cinematical fanboy world. Trust me, they ain't the same place.
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4-17-2009 @ 6:35PM
mjryan said...
Just because a series isn't overexposed or reached critical mass in pop culture doesn't mean it isn't high quality. If you've read the books (yes, there are more than one) and don't like it for legitimate reasons, I respect that. But, to dismiss something you clearly know nothing about because it's not on the cover of every entertainment magazine known to man is ridiculous.
4-21-2009 @ 12:09PM
dremiel said...
Clearly, you don't have a preteen child. The kids I know are gaga for the series and yes, the release parties around here rival those of the Harry Potter books. It may not be the next Potteresque movie franchise but among the target audience this series is huge.
4-28-2009 @ 12:08AM
CStanley1028 said...
I have read all four books with my eleven year old son and eagerly await book 5. this series is much less scary than harry potter and allows kids to interact with mythology without having to know all the intricate details.
4-17-2009 @ 5:38PM
mjryan said...
I highly recommend the books. I discovered them because the author came to my son's elementary school a few years back. I think you'd be pleasantly surprised with the quality of the storytelling. I'm no expert on Greek myths or Athena, but her children in the book aren't created in the typical way, but more in the line of how she was born. If I remember the explanation correctly (and you don't get it until the fourth book) it's an intellectual affair versus physical. What's more important, IMO, is that the books encourage children to read more about the real myths on their own. I've seen that in my own experience reading the series aloud to my son's fourth grade class. The little girls in the class, especially, are coming up to me with books they've checked out of the library about goddesses from myths around the world. It's been wonderful to see their curiosity peaked in an area that children get so little exposure to anymore.
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4-17-2009 @ 6:52PM
caitism said...
Hmmm, if I remember my years of obsessive myth reading correctly, Athena didn't hate or disdain men, merely chose not to have sex with any of them. There were several she loved and many she admired for their mind - Odysseus being one of the biggest examples that comes to me.
I had doubts at first as well but Percy Jackson completely follows that tradition. If you're like me you'll be pleasantly surprised when you find out how Annabeth and her siblings were 'born'.
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4-18-2009 @ 3:34AM
Simon said...
I live in Vancouver, where the movie is currently filming, and I actually met Chris Columbus at my local community center. They were just about to start filming in the underground pool when I ran into him upstairs...
Funny thing is that I read the first Percy Jackson book and hated it...
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4-20-2009 @ 12:34PM
Julie said...
When I first heard about this I thought it sounded silly. But, the comments about the books above and the cast that has signed on really piqued my curiousity. And as MJRyan pointed out above, anything that gets kids reading is a good thing. I'm really interested in taking a look at the books and I'm now more interested in the film as well. Looks like there could be more there than initially meets the eye.
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4-20-2009 @ 3:17PM
laura said...
hmmm who could play Hades, the underlord who is fed up with how many souls he has to annex and lord over? I would say Rutger Hauer. Older guy, once powerful, but now is like a warden in an overcrowded jail.
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7-08-2009 @ 7:47PM
Sarah said...
I have read all 4 books and can't wait till the 5th once you read it you just want to see what happends next at first i tought it was stupid but then i actually liked it!
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5-05-2009 @ 11:07PM
Leslie said...
I work as a nanny and as such read a lot of the same books my kids read. Both the thirteen year old and the nine year old can't get enough. They were begging to go get book five that came out today. Not only do I very much enjoy them and have been counting down to book five I got my older siblings reading them too. They are on the bestseller list and a much anticipated treat. If anything I would worry that the movie, like many such movies, even with big names, will not bring give the story the justice it deserves and find in the books.
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