On the tail of Terminator: Salvation and Avatar, Sam Worthington has given the chance to be part of another franchise, starring in both 2010’s Clash of the Titans and its 2012 sequel, Wrath of the Titans. In them, Worthington played Perseus, the son of Zeus–but his spin on the character’s appearance caused major issues with the director.
Considering Perseus was a demigod–or part human, part god–Sam Worthington took a unique approach to his physique when it came time to reprise the role in Wrath of the Titans. “I looked at it as Perseus was half a god and half a dad, and he had decided that he didn’t want the god part anymore…So I decided to develop a dad bod and that I wouldn’t care what I looked like.”
The problem there was that he never cleared it with the studio–and it probably didn’t help that dad bods weren’t exactly in yet. Sam Worthington said, “Of course, that’s antithetical to what a studio wants when they pay X amount of dollars to make a movie about a chiseled hero. My arrogance clashed with the studio and the director’s vision, and it turned into a horrible fight.” There are no plans for a third installment–what, did Worthington tell too many dad jokes, too?
However, Worthington did recall a story about Green Lantern that hinted at the risks associated with questioning too much about the character to filmmakers. “It didn’t make much sense to me — the suit comes out of his skin?…And I was like, ‘He’s got this powerful ring that can create anything. Well, what can beat the ring?’ The answer was, ‘Nothing.’ I was like, ‘Well, something needs to beat it, or it won’t be very interesting.” Worthington, of course, did not get the role of Hal Jordan/Green Lantern–it ended up being a major flop for Ryan Reynolds instead.
Still, despite being away from major motion pictures, Sam Worthington has been turning in some strong performances as of late, like in 2019’s Fractured. He is currently reprising his role as Jake Sully in Avatar: The Way of Water, in addition to being locked in to three more sequels. Avatar: The Way of Water is out in theaters now.