Though derived from a Young Adult book series that seems hell-bent on reproducing the HARRY POTTER series for maximum monetary gain, Chris Columbus's film adaptation of PERCY JACKSON AND THE OLYMPIANS: THE LIGHTNING THIEF feels more like a throwback to the director's classic Amblin period, when he was knocking out one blockbuster screenplay after another (from GREMLINS to THE GOONIES to YOUNG SHERLOCK HOLMES), than a trip to Hogwarts. All the familiar elements are there: a yearning for adventure, genuine danger (these kids get cut up at times), and a smartass sense of humor. There are also many familiar names in the credits (e.g. cinematographer Mark Goldblatt, who shot YOUNG SHERLOCK HOLMES). But, interestingly, the key component to recapturing the magic of Columbus's earlier movies isn't necessarily Columbus, but, rather, a screenwriter who, like many Gen X film lovers, grew up admiring his work. Hollywood is infested with bullshit artists who feign geekiness, but Craig Titley is the real deal. Though his screenwriting career got jump-started with decidedly un-geeky gigs like CHEAPER BY THE DOZEN, SEE SPOT RUN, and SCOOBY-DOO, he's paid his studio dues and is now getting to write the kinds of movies both he and his inner-twelve-year-old would like to see. His adaptation of Jules Verne's 20,000 LEAGUES UNDER THE SEA for producer Sam Raimi is currently speeding forward (now that McG's Disney "prequel" has been kiboshed), while, last year, he contributed a script to THE CLONE WARS animated series. The latter job was something of a dream come true for Titley, whom I met eight years ago at a birthday gathering for Drew "Moriarty" McWeeny, and whose love for STAR WARS is pure and undiminished. So, yes, Titley is a good friend, and I'm totally biased in hoping PERCY JACKSON AND THE OLYMPIANS: THE LIGHTNING THIEF does for him what GREMLINS did for Columbus twenty-six years ago. If this comes to pass, I just hope Titley can finish his dissertation - he's currently pursuing his PhD in, what else, Mythological Studies - before the offers come flooding in. In the below interview, we talk about Titley's early days toiling as Joe Dante's assistant, his disconcerting Medusa fetish (which did not start with Harryhausen's CLASH OF THE TITANS), the un-cinematic nature of the Chimera, the indefatigable cheerfulness of a Chris Columbus shoot, and THE FRENCH CONNECTION pinball game. I did my best to not make this an unbearably chummy interview, and, shockingly, I think I succeeded. Hope you enjoy!

Mr. Beaks: What was the first script that got you in the door and established you as a working screenwriter?

Craig Titley: My very first spec that I wrote, and I wrote it while I was working for Joe Dante, was basically a GOONIES ripoff. It was like THE GOONIES MEET THE HEADLESS HORSEMAN. That spec didn't sell, but it ended up in the hands of people at Chris Columbus's company. He read it, and liked it, so they gave me an office and a two-picture deal. And one of the movies that came out of that was CHEAPER BY THE DOZEN. Then Chris went off and did the POTTER things, and I went off and did some other things. But from having had that office, I was still very close with everyone in his company, like [producers] Michael Barnathan and Mark Radcliffe. They were still in touch with me. And you've met Michelle Miller, right?

Beaks: Yes.

Titley: Michelle is their story editor. She's from my hometown, so she keeps them up to date on me like a big sister. I was getting my PhD in Mythological Studies, so when the book [PERCY JACKSON AND THE OLYMPIANS: THE LIGHTNING THIEF] came across Chris's desk, they were like, "Who could write this? Oh, wait! Craig!" So they sent it over. I had just finished school a week before, and then this shows up. To be able to play in the world of the Greek Gods with Chris directing? It was serendipitous, I guess.

Beaks: Knowing that Chris was going to direct, did you have to think much about the size of the world or did you just run wild with it?

Titley: The book is just really rich with material: there are many more set pieces; it would've been a four-and-a-half-hour movie. So it was just whittling it down to the key set pieces that were really fun. We both had a Medusa jones from our childhood, so we had to have the Medusa scene. And then it was just the scenes that served the story the most. But there were times were I was like, "Man, this thing moves literally from heaven to hell and everywhere in between. It's going to be huge." There were discussions about "Should we lose Hades?", "Should we lose Olympus?" and whatever. And somehow, with a pretty reasonable budget, everything stayed in; from pretty close to the first draft, there were no big set pieces yanked. The people Chris works with, they're like a fine-tuned machine. They can pull off big movies rather economically. It's amazing. This thing started shooting in April [2009], so for a giant movie like this - where there's an effect in every scene and Heaven and Hell - to be in a theater in less than twelve months from when we started shooting? I mean, that's how long it took to make AMERICAN PIE. You probably know more about this than me, but that seems like a feat that is not accomplished very often.

Beaks: It's rare.

Titley: And it's not like we compromised with crappy f/x or anything. It's pretty much the movie Chris wanted to make, and on the quality level he wanted to make.

Beaks: The only person I know who works on that scale that quickly is Spielberg. But he has everything at his disposal, and a very well-oiled machine - at least, he used to.

Titley: And Chris does as well. He's been working with the same people for a long time. They can read each other's minds. And they're always in good moods! How does that happen? They're always smiling! Nobody gets angry, no one throws tantrums. Happiest set ever!

Beaks: How much contact did you have with the author Rick Riordan?

Titley: None. Once they started production, there was maybe a little more contact. But the thing about this film, the fan base kept growing and growing during the making of it - to the point where everybody started getting nervous. It was like, "Did we change too much? Did we leave something out that the fans really love?" Things like that. So I think during the production, Chris and the producers were in contact with him just to make sure that if they're lucky enough to make more movies, certain things weren't being cut out that could create problems later. But it was just to get his blessing overall, because he did create this world and these characters. I have not met him, but I would like to, though.

Beaks: Did you find yourself playing favorites with the various figures from Greek mythology? Were there certain characters you just had to have in the film?

Titley: Yes, and I think Rick Riordan did that as well. The characters that got cut out are lesser-known characters from Greek mythology who aren't as exciting. But Medusa... ever since I was a little kid and stayed up late one night watching the Hammer film THE GORGON while my parents were away... you don't see Medusa until the very end. And I remember waiting and waiting, and they when I saw her, I was like, "Ah! I shouldn't have waited!" It freaked me out for a long, long time, and ever since then, I've sort of been Medusa obsessed. I think that's one of the reasons, when I read the book, that I just had to do this. So Medusa, the Minotaur, the Furies - they were all the big creatures in the book, so they all stayed. I didn't have to play favorites too much.

Beaks: What about they Hydra? How do you not love the Hydra?

Titley: The Hydra is from the second book, actually. That was actually Chris who decided to replace the monster in the book, which was a Chimera. The Chimera has never been seen in film, and there's a darn good reason. When you describe it or read about it in a book, it sounds kind of scary; but when you try to production design it... it's got the body of a lion with a goat head sticking out of its spine, and then the tail of a snake. It's got a lion head, a goat head and a snake head. No matter how badass you try to make it, It's kind of hard to look at that and not chuckle. It wasn't even painted a lot by the Ancient Greeks. So Chris made an audible, and decided to yank that out and replace it with the Hydra from the second book. There are monsters aplenty in the second book; if they do decide to make the second book, it hopefully won't be missed.

Beaks: In the book, do they use Medusa's head to defeat the Hydra?

Titley: (Laughs) No, they don't. That was my contribution.

Beaks: But they have to take Medusa's head!

Titley: They don't. And it seemed like a missed opportunity to not have the kids taking Medusa's head. As a Medusa fanatic, it felt wrong to leave her behind. There was one draft where she continued talking. She was still alive, so they had to duct tape her mouth.

Beaks: Columbus rounded up a real murderer's row of cool actors for this: Pierce Brosnan, Sean Bean, Uma Thurman, Steve Coogan. Were you envisioning any of these actors in the roles when you wrote the script?

Titley: No. I just assumed, for budget reasons or whatnot, that the money would all go into the f/x and that these would be unknowns. Then I start reading in the trades, "Oh, James Bond is in my movie. Oh, The Bride is in my movie!" Suddenly, I was like, "Wow, I'm involved in a really big movie here." You know, there's always the danger that they'll play it as the actor and not the character, but I think it really works well. I love what Uma Thurman did with Medusa. She's awesome. And I love the little touch that Chris added, giving her the red-and-white snakes instead of the traditional green leathery things. I thought that was kind of cool. I've never seen that in Medusa.

Beaks: If I was a kid, this would be exactly the kind of universe I'd want to romp around in. It must've been fun.

Titley: Oh, yeah. When I was writing this, I was listening to the original JASON AND THE ARGONAUTS soundtrack, and just constantly going back and watching JASON and CLASH OF THE TITANS and all of that stuff. I just tried to write a movie where kids could have that same feeling we had when we watched JASON AND THE ARGONAUTS for the first time, when we first got our Greek God cherries popped by Ray Harryhausen. I tried to make it fun and scary, and, from day one, I think Chris had that vision as well. It has that playfulness and scariness that his work used to have in the Amblin days.

Beaks: Tonally, the film may be skewing younger than you anticipated, but in Percy's first battle with Annabeth, she nicks him up pretty good. That was a little more violent than I expected.

Titley: That's the tone we were kind of going for with the movie. [Chris] said he wanted that scene to be like GLADIATOR; he wanted blood and bruises, and wanted [the audience] to think the kids could actually die in their training. I thought it was awesome that he wanted to do that, so I'm psyched that's been left in. How badass is Annabeth [played by Alexandra Daddario]? Did you like her?

Beaks: Yeah! She's very spirited. She's kind of like a young Lucy Lawless.

Titley: This might be a little presumptuous, but I think she ranks right up there with some of the best kickass chicks in movies. She looks so cute and innocent, but there's this edge to her; and when it turns on, it's like, "Uh-oh." When I first saw the film, I went up to her and said, "I'm scared of you now." (Laughs)

Beaks: She's very capable. When you see performers of any age doing combat onscreen, you can always tell who might be trouble in a fight. And she seems at ease with the combat.

Titley: It didn't look bad at all. Like remember that western BAD GIRLS? Everything looked fake in that. But [Daddario] looked completely authentic.

Beaks: That's the thing you expect from Columbus: going back to ADVENTURES IN BABYSITTING, he's always had a knack for casting young actors. As this was coming together, did you get to see how, for instance, Logan Lerman distinguished himself from the other actors chasing Percy?

Titley: No, I didn't see any of that. I just got an email saying Logan had been cast. But he's really good. This cast has great chemistry. They made me look good.

Beaks: I have to mention the FRENCH CONNECTION pinball machine in the Lotus Casino. Was that your addition?

Titley: Nope! That was Chris. I can't remember what it was in the script, but there was always a '70s guy. I think he was playing something like Pong in my draft. But I thought that was cool. I got a chuckle out of that. I didn't even know there was a FRENCH CONNECTION pinball machine! I want one now! That's not the kind of movie you'd think they'd make into a pinball machine. I wonder if it was a retro thing that came out in the '80s. I've got to look into this.

Beaks: So when you were first starting out as Joe Dante's assistant, did you see yourself getting to this place as a screenwriter?

Titley: No. When I was younger, I didn't read many scripts. It wasn't until I saw YOUNG SHERLOCK HOLMES when I said, "Oh, there's that name again. This Chris Columbus guy wrote GREMLINS, THE GOONIES and YOUNG SHERLOCK HOLMES." Those are three of my favorite movies. He was the first writer I was aware of, other than Billy Wilder and Preston Sturges. So when I had access to all of these scripts [via Joe Dante's and Mike Finell's personal, and quite massive, screenplay library], I could read them and learn how all of this worked from the first draft on. They had drafts of THE GOONIES and YOUNG SHERLOCK HOLMES, so I literally spent that summer studying Chris's technique. I think that's why we worked so well together: I'm his Mini-Me. He just doesn't know it. (Laughs) But idiosyncratic things in the writing, like certain words that would be capitalized... when we were going back and forth on [PERCY JACKSON], I noticed, "Oh, yeah, I got that from him." We both like to capitalize certain words in the scene descriptions. It was kind of fun. So I was thinking back a lot to the days of working for Dante when I was writing this; that's when I was reading Chris's scripts.

Beaks: I really like that you're preserving the aesthetic of those Amblin films. There was something so big-hearted about them, this idea of being open to adventure.

Titley: And I think Chris was intentionally going back to that with PERCY. Did you see who the DP is?

Beaks: Stephen Goldblatt!

Titley: YOUNG SHERLOCK HOLMES. I don't think that's a coincidence. Chris knew what kind of film he wanted to make. In a lot of ways, I think he was making his fourth Amblin film, only this one he got to direct. That's just my take on it all, but the final product certainly feels like that to me.

PERCY JACKSON AND THE OLYMPIANS: THE LIGHTNING THIEF opens Friday, February 12th, in theaters everywhere. Congratulations, Craig! Faithfully submitted, Mr. Beaks