Rueben's Ramblings

This past April I had the opportunity to attend Wonder Con, which is an annual pop culture convention held in San Francisco and is the precursor to the San Diego Comic Con. As part of my press duties for this convention, I was invited to participate in round table interviews with some of the actors and creative team behind the upcoming box office film Immortals, which will be hitting cineplexs on November 11.

Isabel Lucas as Athena

The members of the cast in attendance included actors Luke Evans (Clash of the Titans) and Henry Cavill (The Tudors) as well as actress Isabel Lucas (Transformers 2). Director Tarsem Singh and producer Mark Canton were also on hand to discuss the film.

The basic premise behind Immortals is that King Hyperion (Mickey Rourke), mad with power, has declared war against humanity. The king has amassed a bloodthirsty army, scorching is way across Greece in search of a weapon of unimaginable power that was forged in the heavens by Ares himself. The one who possesses this weapon can unleash the Titans. If this weapon ends up in the king’s hands it will rain destruction on mankind and annihilate the Gods. Ancient law dictates the Gods must not intervene in man’s conflicts and they are powerless to stop the king until a peasant named Theseus comes forth as their only hope to defeat the king.

Henry Cavill as Theseus

In the hands of visionary director Tarsem Singh, the man behind the independent films The Cell and The Fall as well as the upcoming Snow White film that stars Lily Collins and Julia Roberts, Immortals will assuredly be vividly dynamic in color and scope. Singh himself is a man in motion, never sitting still and is very animated. He displayed passion for his craft and excitement for his work.

On the reverse side was producer Mark Canton who was calm and sedate; explaining the differences between Immortals and the film 300 was the approach to filmmaking as overseen by Tarsem. And, he raved about actor Mickey Rourke’s portrayal of the power-hungry king. “He is fierce in the movie; wind him up and get out of the way,” Canton explained.

As for the actors, the very soft-spoken Isabel Lucas seemed hesitant to answer questions almost as if she preferred being a bystander than in the spotlight; but she did share that filming the action scenes for which her character Athena participated in were hard, especially the rehearsing beforehand.

Luke Evans at Zeus

Actors Luke Evans, who plays Zeus and Henry Cavill, who plays the lead role of Theseus, both agreed the training for the film was difficult. In fact, Evans shared the training “changed me physically forever”. When asked what it was like working with Mickey Rourke, Cavill shared that “you can learn so much from just doing a scene with him”.

Both actors also felt the pressure of their next high-profile roles – Evans plays Aramis in the recently released The Three Musketeers and, of course, Cavill was cast as Superman/Clark Kent in the reboot of the franchise called Man of Steel that is filming right now but won’t be out in theatres until 2013.

If you are a fan of the “sand and sword” type of films, Immortals will be just what you are longing to see. Again, Immortals will open in theatres on Friday, November 11.

Here is the trailer for Immortals.