The movie Sam Worthington apologised for making: “I let the audience down”
Being the star of Avatar comes with a lot of perks, but Sam Worthington’s career outside of James Cameron’s science fiction franchise hasn’t been quite as successful, and while many of his subsequent projects have met with nasty reviews, Worthington has become his own harshest critic.
Avatar is a unique franchise because excitement for its upcoming instalments is dependent on the profile of director James Cameron, and his well-known ability to create visually dazzling environments, which supersedes the appeal of any of the film’s performers, even though Sam Worthington played the lead role of Jake Sully.
The casting of Sully has been a contentious topic; although Matt Damon suggested that he was offered the role, Cameron shot down his story, stating that they only had a meeting. Worthington was a relative unknown at the time he was cast, as he had only ever starred in a few obscure Australian television shows and played smaller roles in films like Hart’s War and The Great Raid. When Avatar surpassed all box office records to become the highest-grossing film of all time, Worthington was suddenly offered far more opportunities than he’d ever been given.
Being plunged into the spotlight isn’t always an easy task, and Worthington has been somewhat regretful when talking about the films he made in the immediate aftermath of Avatar. In talking with The Scotsman, he was particularly critical of the performance he gave as Perseus in Clash of the Titans.
“I fucked up,” he claimed, “In the first one, I let the audience down by not delivering a character. I was a fucking, generic, bland action dude. That was it. I was like a Barbie doll, and I didn’t like myself for doing that. I dropped the ball, man. I’ll admit it.”
Clash of the Titans was a remake of the 1981 fantasy action film of the same name, which explored a new story with Greek mythology in which mankind engages in a war against the Gods. Worthington’s character, Perseus, is the son of the all-mighty Zeus, played by Liam Neeson, and emerges as a hero who fights against monsters like the Kraken.
Worthington is fairly scathing in taking the blame for the film’s failings, but in hindsight, it’s hard to suggest that he was the reason why Clash of the Titans didn’t work. The film wasn’t shot in 3D, but the success of Avatar prompted Warner Bros to add the extra dimension in a post-conversion process that simply looked inferior to the nuanced way that Cameron had done it. On top of that, the haphazard script spent far more time setting up action scenes than it did exploring the complex feelings Perseus has about being descended from the Gods.
Despite the actor’s apology, Clash of the Titans was considered to be a box office success, and even prompted Warner Bros to make a sequel with Wrath of the Titans, which saw him, Neeson, and much of the original cast reprising their roles. While Worthington’s performance is clearly improved, the film suffered from the same generic action and bland writing, which ultimately prevented the franchise from moving forward with another instalment.
It may have been a tough blow for Worthington, but he has thankfully found other avenues to show his talent. In addition to giving a more complex and emotional performance in the Avatar sequels, he has been praised for his roles in the Hulu miniseries Under the Banner of Heaven and the Oscar-winning World War II drama Hacksaw Ridge.
