On January 20th the Borders in Novi, Michigan hosted an event for several cast members of the upcoming movie, Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief. Over 500 people turned out to meet Logan Lerman (Percy), Alexandra Daddario (Annabeth), Brandon T. Jackson (Grover), and Jake Abel (Luke). The event started about half an hour late so the Q&A portion was very brief, but here’s an excerpt:

Moderator: So if everybody would just go down the line, starting at the end with Logan, and tell us a little bit about what you’ve done before Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief.

Logan: .I’ve done a few movies and I was part of a television show, that’s like really where I started, it was called Jack & Bobby. I’m not sure if anybody really saw it [applause], yeah there was like two people here who saw it. I did a movie called Hoot. I did this movie called 3:10 to Yuma. And Gamer. But Percy, that’s what we’re here for, right?

Brandon: I did a movie called Roll Bounce, if anybody’s seen that movie. I did a movie for the adults, for the parents, called Tropic Thunder. [Crowd applauds] Apparently you let your kids see rated R movies, but uh, okay. .My favorite movie right now is Percy Jackson. This movie is really good, guys. You’re going to have a great time. And parents, you can enjoy the movie – we got Uma Thurman, Pierce Brosnan in the movie.Alexandra: I’m Alex. I was on a soap opera called All My Children a long time ago. You guys probably haven’t seen it. And I’m on a show called White Collar right now. And, um, this is my first big movie. I’m very excited.

Jake: Years ago, when I was first starting out, I did a Disney Channel movie called Go Figure. I did The Suite Life of Zack and Cody (Twins at the Tipton). And, uh Supernatural. Do you guys watch Supernatural? I’m coming back to that in February, I go back and shoot some more Supernatural.

Moderator: Were any of you ever interested in Greek mythology or Roman gods before getting involved in this project?

Logan: Yeah, yeah, no, I mean, everyone loves Greek mythology, right? It’s fun. It’s great to learn. I love it. My knowledge before doing the movie was that of any other elementary school student, you know in like 8th grade studying Greek mythology in class. But, you know, the movie was a great excuse to learn more.

Jake: I wish I was as lucky as you guys to have had Greek mythology as part of my school projects when I was a kid because we only touched on it. I think you guys are really lucky to have this as part of your learning experience.

Brandon: Especially with this movie, you guys can learn about the Greek. mythology and everything. You guys can lean a lot in a fun way where it’s not, uh, hitting you over the head. You can be entertained and watch us cut off some heads of Hydra. Right? And Medusa. And have a good time. It’s really cool.

Moderator: Thank you guys. We’re going to open up the floor here. Does anybody up front have a burning question?
Little girl: Logan, where were you born?

Logan: Where was I born? Los Angeles. I’m an LA guy – born and kinda raised. I mean, you travel so much doing movies that you kinda, you – I’ve been doing this for so long that I’ve been able to grow up in so many places across the country. You know, like working in New Mexico for like months or Texas, Arkansas, but I was born in Los Angeles.

Girl: Did you read the Percy Jackson books before auditioning?

Brandon: .My little sisters have the book, but I told them I was going to be playing Grover and they was like “Oh my god, you’re playing Grover, you’re goat boy!” And I was like, “What’s goat boy?” And they told me what the books were and just read them and fell in love with them.

Logan: I discovered the movie first and then fell in love with the books, so it was kind of a backwards situation.

Alexandra: I think I read the book on the plane on the way to the screen test. And after I read it, I knew I had to do the movie. I loved it.

Jake: I was surprised to not know about the books because I’m a big Eragon fan. So, I love fantasy and I was shocked because I hadn’t heard of these books. But I read the book in two days, in two sittings, when I found out this movie was happening.

Moderator: Percy’s viewed as an outcast, a little bit of a troublemaker, if you will. Have any of you ever identified with that stereotype?

Logan: I think everybody does, you know? Percy is symbolic to any other teenager. He’s got problems like anyone else. Disabilities, like anyone else might have. He has ADHD, dyslexia, his parents are separated. He kind of looks down on himself, but, you know, he finds out he’s a son of Poseidon – that he really isn’t who he thought he was, you know? His whole world gets turned around and he takes his disabilities and makes them his strengths. He takes his weaknesses and learns how to harness them. It’s all about embracing yourself.

Brandon: I was class clown in high school. kids, do not do this, do your work because I graduated with a really bad grade point average, 1.9 yes. [Laughter] Don’t be like me in school, trust me. But, what I did, I took my weakness of being a comedian and uh, being funny in class and I turned that around in my career and uh, made a career out of it. But, I encourage everyone to read here and know that your greatest weakness can be your greatest strength. At the same time, make sure whatever you do you find that magic inside and find that thing inside that make you great and that’s how you grow and become great. As I watch all you guys’ faces, I see, you know, so much in you guys and just know you guys can do so much with your life. And never think that your down and out just because you can’t so something.

Alexandra: And it’s really clichéd, but follow your dreams. It’s definitely true.

Jake: Is it my turn? I kind of forgot the question after all that. I think my original thought was. I think all of us here are kind of the black sheep in our respective families, you know, we’re all doing something no one else in our family has ever done or is doing.that’s all I have.

Woman in the crowd: When you signed for this movie, did you also have to sign on for future movies?

Jake: Ninety-five movies.we gave them our souls.

Alexandra: We have to do Percy Jackson movies until we’re 90.

Jake: It’s up to the audience, it’s up to you guys, the fans of the books and the movie to want to see another one, to go see the movie and bring that draw so we’re allowed to.

Alexandra: But we would love to keep doing them.

Logan: But we are contractually signed on to do three. But we would love to do the whole series [Crowd applauds]

Like I said before, they only spoke for a few minutes, but it was fun to see them in person. The little girls in the audience were going crazy over Logan and I think he was a great casting choice for Percy. He doesn’t look like a 12-year-old, but he still looks like how I pictured Percy when I was reading the books. When Alexandra said that she’s on White Collar, I realized that’s where I’d seen her before. On that show she plays a twenty-something, so it just seems really weird to me that she’s playing Annabeth, but I’ll try to reserve judgment until I see the movie. Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief will be in theaters on February 12, 2010. Check out more coverage on the movie on Daemon’s Movies.

Source: Daemon Books