The magic behind the monsters in 'Wrath of the Titans' - New York Daily News

As appealing as Sam Worthington is as Greek hero Perseus, there are far more eye-catching creatures in “Wrath of the Titans.”

The mythical monsters in the movie opening Friday are as gory and scary as the Aussie actor is sexy. And it was no easy task creating them.

“The design process probably started even six months before we started shooting,” says director Jonathan Liebesman. “In mythical lore, creatures were described in a certain way. And a lot of us have interpreted them with certain bells and whistles. And we wanted to take them back to basics.

“Storytellers, like Homer, describe them a certain way,” he adds. “So we just wanted to take the tactic of, ‘What did these things really look like?’”

Among the monsters is the Minotaur, who in Greek mythology is said to be a creature with the head of a bull on the body of a man. In the film, the Minotaur’s face is not quite all beast.

“It was a warrior who had been stuck down in a labyrinth for so long that his hair, kind of like a rhinoceros, had almost melded into horns,” Liebesman explains.

Nick Davis, visual effects supervisor for 2010’s “Clash of the Titans,” returned for the sequel. Many of the monsters took form when he and other artists worked with digital visual effects companies like Framestore and the Moving Picture Company.

While the Minotaur was purely prosthetic pieces and makeup on actor Spencer Wilding, other creatures were computer-generated.

Either way, the sight of them onscreen is sure to make audience members stir in their seats.

The Minotaur

Wilding, a Welsh actor and stuntman, stars as this part-man, part-bull. And he even had himself convinced he was the gruesome creature.

“When I first saw him, he just went straight into character and freaked me out when he arrived onset,” Liebesman says. “He became the Minotaur. And I was like, ‘Spence, it’s okay. I know you’re an actor. You don’t have to go all Minotaur on me.’ But he embodied the character, so it was cool.”

The horned beast plays an essential part in the film. “The Minotaur is the Gatekeeper at the end of the labyrinth,” says Liebesman. “You have to get through him in order get to where Zeus is being held.”

Unlike many of monsters in the film, the Minotaur didn’t involve computer-generated imagery.

“I’m sure it was at least four or five hours of makeup a day,” Liebesman says. “And very physical. It would get hot in the suits. And I’ve discovered that the more wet a prosthetic looks, the better it looks. So we watered him up at all times so that it has maximum impact for the frames.”