'Percy Jackson' actress Alexandra Daddario

The first Friday afternoon in February was blustery, windy, and pre-blizzard-y; the cast and director of Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief were holed up in the comfortably-heated Empire State Building, however, talking enthusiastically about the aforementioned film. The film is about a sixteen-year-old boy named Percy who discovers that he is the son of Poseidon—and that the entirety of Mt. Olympus thinks he is responsible for the recent theft of Zeus's lightning bolt. Accompanied by Annabeth, the daughter of Athena, and by Grover, a satyr who has secretly been protecting him for years, Percy sets off to prove his innocence to Zeus. While at the Empire State Building the other day, I was able to speak with the lovely Alexandra Daddario (Annabeth) about Greek mythology; about her role on the hit TV series White Collar; and about returning to her Manhattan hometown.

You know, this is the first time I haven’t been the youngest person at a press day!
[laughs] That’s great! Yeah, they’ve worked really hard to involve younger people with the marketing campaign. Do you live here in New York City?

Yeah, I do. Didn’t you grow up here?
I did, yeah. I went to Brearley and then I went for two years to the Professional Children’s School on the Upper West Side. So—uh, yeah. [laughs] Sorry, it’s been a long day.

[laughs] I can see! Well, parts of the movie take place in New York, and I don’t know if you personally did much here, but…
They filmed a week in New York, yeah. Actually, they didn’t film for a week; I think they filmed for three days. They were here for a week; Logan and Brandon had some stuff outside the Met. And we filmed in Vancouver. Vancouver is a really amazing place to film. I mean, financially there are a ton of incentives, but they also have all this space and they have these huge Sears warehouses that have been converted into sound studios.

Oh, wow, that’s perfect.
Yeah, and they build the sets in the studios. So we built a complete replica of the Parthenon, and we built the roof of the Empire State Building…

Movie magic. Wow.
Yeah! It’s really epic.

I know you also play Kate in White Collar—
Yes! First White Collar question of the junket!

[laughs] Really?!
Yes.

Of the entire press junket? That’s crazy.
Yes. Yeah!

My family watches White Collar, so one of the first things on my mind was, “That’s crazy—she’s jumping from playing an adult back to playing a teenager!”
Well, that was something that I heard some people were mentioning, and it’s interesting.

Was it kind of like a mindfuck?
No, not at all! I feel very young, and I also feel mature in some ways. I approached Kate as an adult in White Collar, and I approached my character with a little bit of a younger heart in Percy Jackson, but I think she has some very mature qualities as well, so it didn’t seem like as much of a stretch to me.

Right. Well, Annabeth is certainly far less sinister than Kate so far. I said so far!
Yyyy…yyyes.

Right now we’re still not sure what her deal is.
You’ll see what happens! It’s comin’ up! Comin’ up.

I can’t believe I’m the first person to ask about White Collar.
You really are. It’s a wonderful show; people love it. Matt Bomer is just the nicest guy, and very talented.

USA is a great network, too. They’ve got a fantastic track record.
Yeah, they’re great.

Now, I’m personally kind of a Latin nerd, so I related to a lot of the mythology in Percy Jackson, but in my head I was like, “You mean Minerva, not Athena! You mean Jupiter, not Zeus!”
[laughs] Right.

Did you learn any Roman mythology while working on the film or just the Greek stuff?
I didn’t learn much about the Roman mythology. I had a sort of basic knowledge of Greek mythology. I studied The Odyssey, I think, in History in 8th grade or something like that; I had a course in middle school on Greek mythology. You know, the thing… you get distracted by other subjects along the way, and this was a great excuse to go back and study more about it. I think Greek mythology is extraordinarily interesting; there are really interesting lessons to be learned, and I think they’re interpreted in an interesting way in this film.

Yeah. And, I mean, I know the Romans stole everything from the Greeks.
Yes, yes, I remember that from… 8th grade History! Yes.

I will acknowledge that, Latin geek though I am!
[laughs]

But the Romans did have Aeneas, and he was badass.
You sound like you know much, much more about this than I do!

[laughs] Read The Aeneid, because it’s so good. It’s so good.
Okay. I will. I guess I should.

I’m geeking out now. I’ll stop. [laughs]
No! No, I love that! I mean, I think this is what’s great about the film. Clearly you have a passion for it, and the film is getting people to be introduced back to Greek mythology, and to something they forgot about or something they never knew about, and to take the opportunity to learn more about it. That’s great.

Now that the film is over, have you been going back and looking at that?
A little bit. You know, I… also, now you’ll notice more when there are references to Greek mythology. It’s just something that you can pick up more.

You get the in-jokes.
Exactly. Something you wouldn’t have noticed before, now you’ll notice. And much more studying has been going on now than ever before.

…You mean, as an actor…?
No, I mean as far as mythology.

Oh! Oh! Okay. For a second I thought you were like, “Actors study their roles a lot more now than they used to.” [laughs]
Oh, no, no, no! [laughs] No, the mythology. But, yes, the film definitely gave me a great interest in that topic.

So how does it feel to be back in New York, at least for this press day?
It’s amazing.

Especially on a blizzard weekend.
[laughs] It’s exciting! I don’t know. I love New York. There’s nothing like New York; it has a palpable energy to it that no other city has. You know, you walk down the street and you can feel it. Every city is different, but there’s really nothing like New York and going to the highest point on the Empire State Building and looking out. You know, it’s incredible. I’m very lucky to have grown up here and to be doing this incredible thing at this great juncture in my life in this place that means so much to me.

Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief hits theaters February 12th. Go see it.