Author Rick Riordan has updated his blog with news of the upcoming Disney+ Percy Jackson and the Olympians series, giving fans an update on some early footage.
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According to the author, the team has already begun receiving dailies from the filming that’s underway in Vancouver, BC, and Riordan says they look “divine.” “This cast is electrifying. They own their characters and turn their lines into magic on screen,” said Riordan. “That’s even before editing, soundtracks or special effects.”
Riordan then revealed that another reason for the series looking so good early on is because the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series will be partnering with Industrial Light and Magic to utilize a Volume stage in Vancouver, similar to the StageCraft system that other shows have used in the past. For those unaware, StageCraft is a system that uses photorealistic and dynamic renderings of real backgrounds projected on huge screens that surround a set. It allows the actors to then act without having to pretend to see what they’re reacting to. The technology has been used before in shows like The Mandalorian, Obi-Wan Kenobi, and more.
The author went on to say that the Volume Stage is the first of its kind, and the team behind the series is already beginning to use it for things that “have never been attempted before.”
“Another reason why the raw footage is so great,” said Riordan. “I am pleased to reveal a secret that I have been dying to share with you for over a year: Percy Jackson and the Olympians has partnered with Industrial Light and Magic to build a new Volume stage here in Vancouver, and we are the first people to use it! Based on the groundbreaking technology that created The Mandalorian, our new Volume stage is an even more cutting-edge version of that wraparound virtual environment, making it one of the most advanced production stages in the world. We are using it for things that have never been attempted before, creating settings so realistic that if we do it right, you should never be able to guess which scenes were done on location and which were done on the stage.”
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Percy Jackson and the Olympians series will be directed by James Bobin from a screenplay co-written by Riordan and Jon Steinberg (The Old Man), based on Riordan’s first installment of his hit Camp Half-Blood Chronicles book series.
Executive producers are Riordan, Bobin, Steinberg, Dan Shotz, Rebecca Riordan, Bert Salke, Monica Owusu-Breen, Jim Rowe, and Gotham Group’s Ellen Goldsmith-Vein, Jeremy Bell, and D.J. Goldberg. 20th Television is set as the studio.