SlashFilm was the first with the news out of the Empire Awards and it was also confirmed by the Sydney Morning Herald as Gemma Arterton, the oiled up and tossed aside one night stand from Quantum of Solace, has said she will be playing the part of Io in Louis Letterier’s Clash of the Titans remake for Warner Bros.
The Io character was not featured in the 1981 classic, but according to Wikipedia she is a priestess of Hera in Argos who was seduced by Zeus, who changed her into a young female cow to escape detection.
Starring as the lead in the film is Sam Worthington as Perseus, but the Wiki page has no mention of anything between the two characters yet Arterton comments on Worthington to the SMH saying, “I hope he’s nice because we have to fall in love.”
The only thing I found in a brief online search was the following mention at site called TimelessMyths:
Perseus was son of Zeus and Danaë, daughter of Acrisius, king of Argos, and Eurydice. Perseus was also a descendant of the heroine Io, who was living in exile in Egypt. A descendant of Io, named Danaüs returned to Io’s homeland, and became king of Argos.
I have no idea if the above statement is true, but if it were, based on this family tree it would be a bit of an “interesting” relationship between the two, but I have a feeling there will be a few diversions from history as there will obviously be differences to the 1981 version.
Arterton was also quoted at Empire talking about the film and the story specifically saying, “The script is very different… Obviously the story is the story, but it’s much more about Perseus’ mission, and how he deals with being the son of Zeus, and things like that, so it feels a little more about him, and about the issues around that.”
Arterton begins filming Clash of the Titans in about three weeks in Tenerife, Spain as it is set for a March 26, 2010 release. She will next be seen in The Boat that Rocked on August 28 and then following Clash of the Titans she will be seen in Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time on May 28, 2010.
