After the success of his film “The Incredible Hulk”, Louis Leterrier declined the offer to direct a film on the Marvel character Thor, in favor of “Clash of the Titans” on behalf of Warner Studios. He bit his fingers…
An acclaimed French filmmaker who made a name for himself in the Hollywood industry, Louis Leterrier began his career as a filmmaker under the auspices of the Besson stable by co-signing Le Transporteur in 2002.
The success of its sequel, which will be released in 2005, will make its name travel to the United States. Marvel then offered him the opportunity to direct The Incredible Hulk. The time was not yet for the insolent success of the MCU and the regulated division of this universe.
“They assured me that it would be my own project” confided the filmmaker in a long interview published in the magazine Les Années Laser, in October 2023. “I was not lied to: it was my film from start to finish. I had certainly proposed for the title role Mark Ruffalo that I adored and that I was able to direct in Elusive but who was not well known enough at that time, and as he then became Hulk in the saga Avengersthat consoled me.”
After this film, the proposals flooded in. Declining the production of a future Thor film, Louis Leterrier prefers to option Clash of the Titans at Warner; remake of a classic released in 1981, and final artistic contribution from an absolute master of visual effects who revolutionized cinema, Ray Harryhausen.
“You never speak to him again.”
Leterrier clearly suffered from it, as he told the magazine. “From the start, it was the worst professional experience of my life. First, I was refused to hire Ray Harryhausen, whom I admired and whom I had directly contacted to design in stop motion the main sequence with the owl Bubo.
The next day, phone call from Warner: “You never speak to him again, we are on trial with him”. What followed was just as unpleasant. I was controlled, strangely tricked, the Studio had no precise vision, they kept putting obstacles in my way, they imposed on me an abominable 3D conversion that everyone cruelly demolished Well Named…
I felt like another mythological character: Sisyphus, this unfortunate man condemned for eternity to hoist a rock to the top of a mountain which never stops coming back down.
Warner Bros. France
Her Clash of the Titans will collect a little over $493 million at the international box office, for a film that cost $125 million. A figure that is not dishonorable, but also not triumphant given the demands of returns on investments for these Hollywood blockbusters.
Still, given this painful feedback, we understand that Louis Leterrier was not particularly keen to get back on track. Wrath of the Titans, released two years later, will be directed by yes man Jonathan Liebesman. And will be punished at the box office, with barely 300 million dollars collected, for a budget of 150 million $.