Q: Do you think people will be upset if you haven’t paid enough homage to the original?
SW: Uh…I don’t think my 9-year-old nephew will care! To be honest, this is hopefully a Clash of the Titans for his generation. And for the people who will remember the one from their childhood, it will probably bring their childhood back out of them.
We do give a couple of nods and winks to that one. But if you do too many of them, they can be a bit cheesy. And as I said, it goes over the heads of the people who don’t know the original. But you have to be careful, just as you had to be careful about remaking the movie.
But you know, we’re not remaking Casablanca or Godfather, are we? Those movies stand by themselves. So hopefully what we’ve done, is ramped it up, with things relevant to this generation.
Q: So what has your transformation been like in these blockbuster movies, and do you see yourself as the next big thing?
SW: You mean, like did I used to be a woman?
Q: No, more like being more out there now, and less quiet.
SW: I am quiet. I am quite shy, man. I may play tough guys, but I’m not a tough guy in real life.
Q: Well, does it mean you’re ready for the big time?
SW: Hey, I had a career in Australia for 10 years. And a successful career, in a massive way, And it put me in there with the big boys. But there’s no rule book to what you do. You just keep your head down, stay out of trouble, and try to do the best you can.
But you have to keep the caliber of your work up, or I won’t be here in 10 years time. Because there’s always somebody better than you, snapping at your heels. But how it’s changed me, I don’t know. I kinda keep myself grounded, and just try to figure it out.
I didn’t set out to be a star. What I did was set out to do movies that I like to do, and that I like to see. And hopefully you do that to the best of your ability, and give the audience their bucks worth. And that hasn’t changed much, that’s been in my head since Australia.
Q: With Avatar and now Clash of the Titans, what was the challenge of fighting with that other formidable opponent, the green screen?
SW: That’s what acting is all about, and you’ve got to get into it. Which is just using your imagination and playing for a bit.
Q: How pissed are you about the gossip around those cheap shoes you wore to the Red Carpet?
SW: Ah I don’t give a crap. They were comfy!
Q: It seems that afterwards, they got all sold out at that bargain store where you bought them, Payless.
SW: They did? That’s kinda cool! Hey, I don’t worry about it. All the tinsel in Tinseltown doesn’t bother me. I’m not there for an image job, I’m there to make a movie.
And the shoes they gave me to wear, they made me look like a hobgoblin! If J-Lo wore them, she would have fallen off the stage and ripped her dress. It was ridiculous.
Q: Do you feel like you may be setting a new Hollywood trend in shoes?
SW: Yeah, like the Payless poster boy! Hey, I went for what was comfortable, and that was the closest store!