Trivia / Clash of the Titans (1981)

• Actor-Inspired Element: Maggie Smith recommended her friend Laurence Olivier for the role of Zeus, and he signed on because of their friendship.
• Awesome, Dear Boy:
  • Harry Hamlin had to choose between doing this film and an adaptation of Tristan and Isolde. He chose this because Laurence Olivier was in it. Tristan & Isolde was not made until 2006 (though the version that Harry nearly did became the film Lovespell).
  • Claire Bloom likewise only agreed to it because Laurence Olivier was attached, and it would only be a week of filming.
• Beam Me Up, Scotty!: The quote from Zeus commanding the release of the Kraken is "let loose the Kraken!" Many people, however, remember it as "release the Kraken!"
  • This is correct when he orders the destruction of Argos at the beginning of the film. However, at the climax, while he is secretly giving Perseus a Heroic Second Wind he does say "Release the Kraken."
• Billing Displacement: Despite being listed on posters and having main title billing, Ursula Andress (Aphrodite) only says one line in the entire film.
• California Doubling: Various places around Spain, Malta and Italy doubled for the different Greek locations. The opening scene of Danae and Perseus being forced into the box was filmed on the Cornwall coast in England.
• Channel Hop: Columbia Pictures were initially set to distribute the film having made most of Ray Harryhausen and producer Charles H. Schneer's films, but after a change of guard at the studio, they dropped the project during pre-production, saying it was too expensive. Schneer took it to Orion Pictures who insisted on Arnold Schwarzenegger playing Perseus, but the producer refused as the role involved too much dialogue. He then tried MGM who agreed to finance. "They loved the material, they loved the picture, and they were wonderful to us," said Schneer. "As I put the film together and the castings came up, they approved the additional castings and added that expense to the budget.
• Colbert Bump: It's been said that most people born from the 80s onwards owe their knowledge of Medusa to this film. She rarely appears in media made before this, including - notably - the Hammer Horror film The Gorgon.
• Creator Backlash: Ray Harryhausen viewed the stop motion on this film as some of his weakest work.
• Creator Couple: Maggie Smith was married to the film's screenwriter.
• Dawson Casting: Twenty-eight year old Harry Hamlin as twenty year old Perseus.
• Executive Meddling: John Gielgud was the preferred choice for Ammon, but MGM insisted on Burgess Meredith to have at least one American actor in there, and prevent the public from thinking it was a wholly British film.
• Follow the Leader: Bubo was used in the film to capitalize on the popularity of R2-D2. He does feature in Greek mythology though.
• Hey, It's That Place!: The scene of the entrance to Medusa's lair was filmed at the preserved temple of Hera in Paestum, near Salerno, in Italy. The harpies scene of Harryhausen's Jason and the Argonauts was filmed there 18 years prior.
• Money, Dear Boy: Part of the reason Laurence Olivier was cast as Zeus. Probably the same with Maggie Smith, who is on record that she prefers stage work but does films because they pay better.
• Playing Against Type: Maggie Smith as a vengeful goddess who isn't particularly funny — and is actually rather terrifying.
• Romance on the Set: Harry Hamlin and Ursula Andress began a relationship during the production of this movie, which produced a son, Dimitri Hamlin, born in 1980 after completion of principal photography.
• Sequel in Another Medium: The four-issue comic book miniseries Wrath of the Titans (2007), released by Tidal Wave Productions as part of their Ray Harryhausen Signature Series, picked up the story five years after the events of the film.
• The Shelf of Movie Languishment: The film was completed in 1979, but not released until 1981. (This sort of shows in the rather grainy film stock throughout; compare it to other effects-driven movies of '81.)
• Stillborn Franchise: According to Ray Harryhausen's official website, a sequel to this movie, titled Force of the Trojans, was pitched to MGM in 1984, but further development of the picture never eventuated.
• Stunt Casting: Name British actors were cast as the Greek Gods for this reason.
• Those Two Actors: This is the third time Laurence Olivier and Claire Bloom played a married couple, after the 1956 version of Richard III and Brideshead Revisited.
• Wag the Director: The original script called for Perseus to cut off Medusa's head simply by throwing his shield at her, in an attempt to appease UK Standards and Practices censors (as the producers felt that the hero decapitating someone would not be appropriate for children in the audience). Harry Hamlin was apparently resistant to the idea from the beginning, as it wasn't in keeping with the actual Greek Mythology. When the day came to film the scene and it still hadn't been changed, he threatened to quit the film and fly home. He remained in his trailer, much to the producer, director, and Ray Harryhausen's annoyance. In the process of trying to coax him out, he was gradually able to get some of the other crew members on his side, which resulted in the scene being rewritten accordingly.
• What Could Have Been:
  • The original storyline focused just on Perseus and Andromeda's romance, linking together a number of myths. Once Ray Harryhausen was brought on board, the story was changed to feature more monsters.
  • Early script ideas - such as Andromeda being naked when she's to be sacrificed (as in the myth) and the Kraken tearing Pegasus to pieces during the finale - were cut to preserve a U rating. It was given an A rating, which then meant advisable to no one under 14, but allowed children older than 5. Some cuts also had to be made to Perseus's final fight with Calibos.
  • Richard Chamberlain, Malcolm McDowell and Michael York were considered for Perseus. Arnold Schwarzenegger was briefly considered, but producer Charles H. Schneer felt that, with the exception of Hercules, Greek heroes were athletic, but not overly muscular, and relied more on cunning than strength. He also felt that casting a very muscular actor was a cliché, hearkening back to the cheesy Italian sword and sandal films made in the 1950s and 1960s.
  • Rex Harrison was asked to play Poseidon but rejected the role as being too tiny.
  • Initially, Calibos had no dialogue and was a purely stop-motion character. After a rewrite to the script, dialogue was added to two of his scenes, and the role was given to Neil McCarthy.
  • The Hellhound that Perseus fights in Medusa's temple was originally going to be Cerberus himself. However, Harryhausen thought animating three heads would be problematic, so the creature was replaced with a two-headed Orthrus expy instead.
  • John Barry was originally hired to score this movie, and recorded fifteen minutes of demos, which Harryhausen did not like.

---