At the age of 19, Logan Lerman (The Patriot, Jack & Bobby, Gamer) has been acting for over a decade and later this year will take on the most iconic character of his career — one of the most recognizable heroes in literature, even: D’Artagnan in Paul W.S. Anderson’s Three Musketeers. Lerman made his first trip to WonderCon with footage from the October 2011 3D action pic in tow and sat for a quick chat with Movieline about Anderson’s insane-looking take on the Alexandre Dumas novel, the reportedly in-the-works sequel to Percy Jackson and the Olympians, and a little-known YouTube user known as monkeynuts1069.
What was the appeal of playing D’Artagnan?
When it first came about, the first thing that came to mind was my grandfather; it was his favorite novel growing up, and D’Artagnan’s one of his favorite characters — one of the most iconic characters in literature. It was a big deal for me, and I looked at it as an opportunity unlike anything I’ve ever gotten to do. Really different from me — he’s a really cocky, cool, suave guy. I’m nothing like him. But it was a fun challenge, a cool time.
You were surrounded with quite a cast — Milla Jovovich, Luke Evans, Matthew MacFayden, Christoph Waltz, Orlando Bloom…
Everybody was fantastic. Everybody brought what they wanted for their character to play. The musketeers and I, we all became very close because we were around each other for five months straight. We made a pact that we were really going to do something cool with this, that it was going to work. Everything has an intention, there was nothing that was gratuitous.
Nothing gratuitous, except for those flying pirate ships! But really, with a story like this that’s been adapted many times before, how do you make sure you’re doing it in a fresh new way?
Well this Musketeers is kind of like an untold chapter of the story, where the Musketeers are like weaponry experts, the James Bonds of their time. They’re the Navy S.E.A.L.s of their day, and that adds a different element to that story. It really separates itself from the rest of the Musketeers films that you’ve seen — it’s not just sword fighting.
Your most recent film was Percy Jackson and the Olympians, which was oriented to younger audiences. Do you consider Three Musketeers a first step in your adult career?
Yeah, definitely. Every day that I get older, hopefully. You know, I was younger back then when I started. It’s definitely more mature, another step. I just don’t want to repeat the same thing over and over again, so I’m always looking for something that’s going to be challenging and make me nervous every time I start a project.
It was recently announced that a sequel to Percy Jackson was in the works. What’s the status of your involvement in that, and what have you heard so far?
I know nothing about it, actually. I heard about it from everyone [at WonderCon] but I don’t know much about it. I know what you guys know. I’m very curious to see what’s going to happen with it.
Lastly, let’s talk about monkeynuts1069.
Hmm? Oh, that’s my best friend’s YouTube account!
A while ago I stumbled across it and found the shorts you two made.
Yeah, those are a little embarrassing. [Laughs] My buddy Dean [Collins], my best friend and I growing up, we made all these videos. That was our childhood. Whereas other kids would be playing sports or whatever they do, we would be making films. So we thought, hey! Especially when YouTube started becoming really popular. Why not throw them on there? It’d be fun. We can show people something a little inside, what we did when we were younger.
Do you and Dean plan on making more films together?
We haven’t had any time or any reason, really, to make a new short. We’re kind of hoping to cross over into real, legitimate filmmaking. [Laughs] But Dean’s a great guy.
Three Musketeers will be released in 3D on October14.
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