Someone should really keep Sam Worthington in the loop. Speaking to Collider last year in regards to his upcoming Wrath of the Titans, the actor swore that those involved had learned their lesson from the hugely derided, and completely God-awful, Clash of the Titans – a particularly atrocious 3D conversion.
“I think we start shooting early next year and it was be 3D this time. Shot in 3D. Do put that in and make them f**king aware.”
An empty promise, or so it seems, as today it comes to light that our next trip to Argos will also be shot on film, only to be later converted for our viewing displeasure.
Speaking to Cinematical (via Moviefone), director Jonathan Liebesman (Battle: Los Angeles) talked at length about his movie-making dilemma.
“I think what you have to remember is the first film was neither shot nor edited with 3D in mind. It was shot as a 2D movie and edited as a 2D film, and they decided to convert it with six or seven weeks to go until release, which is insane; the technology was not there. That’s why we’re conceiving it from the start, from the ground up, in 3D, editing in 3D for 3D.”
Arguing that shooting in 3D would undermine the director’s intention to reimagine Wrath of the Titans as “Gladiator with fantastical creatures in it” Liebesman believes that the characteristics of film will allow him to pursue a grittier and more realistic image.
“I didn’t want to convert, but Warner Brothers showed me how far conversion’s come. You’ve got Chris Nolan doing ‘Inception,’ converting the DVD, you’ve got ‘Harry Potter’ being converted, ‘Star Wars’ being converted, so the conversion process has improved dramatically in the past two years. Now that we’re sort of conceiving the film for 3D, we’re shooting it in 1.85:1 as opposed to 2.35:1, and going to convert.”
With 2D (currently, at least) always an option, however, the quality of the 3D will perhaps be the least of Liebesman’s worries. With a back catalogue that includes The Texas Chainsaw Massacre remake and Darkness Falls, next month’s Battle: Los Angeles promises out first real reason to be excited about another Titanic feud – in any dimension.
