When Rick Riordian created the character of Percy Jackson as part of a bedtime story he used to tell his young son, it is doubtful he realized the full impact the creation of this character would subsequently have. Now with five books total in the Percy Jackson & The Olympians series and a place on the #1 New York Times Bestseller list, Percy Jackson has become a household name among young people all across the country. The series focuses on its main character, Percy Jackson, a demigod (half-god half-man) and son of Poseidon, the Greek god of the sea, and chronicles his journey, discovering his status as a demigod and a powerful warrior. Although Percy is a demigod, he is still at heart a young adolescent boy who is still learning, among other things, how to be a kid and how to navigate his dynamic journey into adulthood.

In anticipation of Percy Jackson & The Olympians: The Lightning Thief, the first book of the series, making its film debut, I was recently given the opportunity to sit down with a few of the young adults responsible for bringing the Percy Jackson characters to life on the screen. This was by far one of the most fun panels I have had the privilege of sitting in on. All four of the young actors, consisting of Logan Lerman, Alexandra Daddario, Brandon T. Jackson, and Jake Abel, were very well spoken individuals, all with a hilarious sense of humor, an amazingly cohesive rapport with one another, and a very interesting and mature take on how sometimes what you believe is your greatest weakness can actually be your greatest strength. Here is some of what they all had to say, in their own words:

[note: Brandon T. Jackson's character, referred to throughout the interview, was not actually a demigod but a Satyr which, in this film, refers to a being who is half-goat half-man]

What are the highs and the drags about being demigods, or being, in Brandon's case, satyric?

Logan: Well as characters, being a demigod, there's a lot of training involved. You know, all these guys have inherited abilities like being able to sword fight, archery, and learning how to fly&ellips;

Alex: [There was] a lot of wire work for these guys&ellips;

Logan: It was very physically demanding, learning how to [do all the things required for this role].

Brandon: We all had to do physical training. You know, everybody had to work out and we were in the weight room at night. I don't know if you [noticed] we were all a little bit bigger in the film.

Logan: I had to work hard at getting there&ellips; I'm a little guy.

Brandon: We're all, like, skinny.

Alex: We had a makeshift gym, next to the trailers&ellips;

Logan: So I could lift weights at lunch.

Brandon: I still workout and it still doesn't work for me. Only on that film did I look a little bigger. But yeah, it was a lot of physical training.

How did you guys deal with the struggles of playing a character that's half god, basically something that doesn't exist, and coinciding that with something that you're all familiar with, that is, being in your young adult life, in school? How did you fuse those together to make your characters who they are?

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