‘Clash of the Titans’ Director Louis Leterrier: 3D Is a ‘Gimmick to Steal Money From the Audience’

By  · Published on May 28th, 2013

While 3D films (and those viscous little post-converted jobs) seem old hat nowadays, it was only a few short years ago that 3D wasn’t the standard mode of presentation for cinema’s biggest blockbusters. After Avatar, 3D was suddenly hip again and, more importantly, one hell of a moneymaker, which was why director Louis Leterrier’s Clash of the Titans was famously post-converted to 3D to even more famously terrible results. The director has moved on from the bashing that his Clash took, but while chatting about his latest film, the magicians-gone-wild feature Now You See Me, the director still had plenty to say about the “gimmick” of 3D.

Basically, Leterrier hates it, hates the practice of it, and doesn’t want to do it his audiences ever again. Point to Leterrier.

In an interview with Mike Ryan over at The Huffington Post, Leterrier was incredibly candid when it came time to chatting about Clash, telling the outlet: It was a very tough experience. I was literally thrown under the bus…but at one point it was like, ‘Yeah, Louis chose the 3D.’ And I was like, ‘No, guys, I didn’t choose the 3D. I actually told you it’s not working. I couldn’t control it. I said don’t do it.’” The filmmaker continued on: “It was famously rushed and famously horrible. It was absolutely horrible, the 3D. Nothing was working, it was just a gimmick to steal money from the audience. I’m a good boy and I rolled with the punches and everything, but it’s not my movie. Clash of the Titans is not my movie. And ultimately that’s why I didn’t do the sequel.”

Leterrier does deem the film “a fun action movie, all in all,” but he clearly doesn’t have good memories of the project, saying “I tried to do the best I could, but it was not the best experience of my life, I must say. I wasn’t protected. Talking about surrounding yourself with the right people – I felt like I was really thrown at the wolves.”

Ryan’s interview also contains a ton of information about Leterrier’s notoriously difficult Incredible Hulk movie, including the one scene he and star Edward Norton clashed over, who he originally wanted to cast in the role, and the cut scene that the director desperately wanted to open the film.