He brought us The Cell and The Fall and now director Tarsem Singh is back, but in, well, a more commercial way. His latest film, Immortals, is a big-budget, effect heavy, action adventure featuring Theseus (Henry Cavill), a man hell bent on taking down the individual responsible for killing his mother, Hyperion (Mickey Rourke). Hyperion’s on a mission to find the invincible Bow of Epirus and will do whatever it takes and kill anyone necessary in order to get his hands on it. And that’s where the gods come in, as they’re left with no choice, but to intervene for the sake of humanity.
The Immortals showing at San Diego Comic Con consisted of yet another Hall H extravaganza after which the cast and crew hopped on the roundtable circuit for some far more low-key discussions. First up was a chat with the film’s producers, 300 duo Mark Canton and Gianni Nunnari. Canton joked they only took on Immortals out of desperation, but, in all seriousness explained, “We’re very driven by stories and character, the two of us.” In terms of what differentiates this swords and sandals film from 300, Canton assured, “The look, the style, the way we shot it, it’s all different.” Nunnari wittily pointed out, the connection might have come from the fact that they printed “From the Producers of 300” on the Immortals poster. Oh, and Canton prefers Equal to sugar. Hey, I can’t judge; I only use Sweet’N Low.
The next team to grace us with their presence was the man behind the lens himself, Singh, and his star, Henry Cavill. When a film is delayed over and over again, you run the risk of losing the talent involved, however, Cavill was there from the start and held on tight. What made him so dedicated? Singh. And it’s no wonder, too; while Immortals is considered standard Hollywood fair, if anyone can put a fresh and visually stimulating spin on it, it’s Singh. He admitted that if he tackled any religion and misrepresented it in the least, he’d be in big trouble, but joked, “Greeks are okay because the only people who bitch about it is a couple of nerds on the Internet.” Sure, this is a complete generalization, but based on the film’s reception in Hall H, geek and fan boy/girl central, Singh is way off as it received an immense amount of support. Hopefully Cavill will be able to keep that bar high because soon enough, he’ll be back as Superman.
Wrapping up the roundtable session was Poseidon and Zeus, Kellan Lutz and Luke Evans, respectively. While the two do play gods, they’re not the kind of gods we’re used to seeing. As Lutz explained, “We weren’t sitting in thrones just being godly and like our grandparents.” He added, “We’re gods that want to be on earth and as you see in the movie, we fight. We’re very hands on.” When he’s not fighting, Lutz jokes, “I push [Zeus’] buttons.” Later on, Evans pointed out the usual series of events for an actor making a movie – shoot it, do press, hear about how it’s doing and that’s that. He explained that when you come to something like Comic Con, “it becomes a very personal experience. The passion that these people here have for film is really lovely. This is a very warming experience.” He compared it to his days in the theater, where after each performance, he received an instantaneous response. “This is my little bit of theater,” he said. “It feels like I’m meeting the audience and it’s really nice.”
