Talking with
Collider while promoting
What To Expect When You're Expecting, actor Rodrigo Santoro discusses the upcoming spin off to the film adaptation of Frank Miller's
300. He confirms that the film (in which he reprises his role as Persian king Xerxes) will begin production in July, potentially in Europe. He also discusses preparation for the movie, as well as confirming that the story will be an explanation of Xerxes' backstory.
On When Production Commences And If The Film's A Sequel, Spin-Off Or Prequel:
“We start shooting in July. They’re working on the very, well you never know, but last draft of the script. I think they’re calling it a spin-off because it’s not exactly a prequel, it’s not a sequel. It takes place in the same time, you start a little earlier but then you see that it’s like a different point of view, a different camera, a different angle. While that battle was happening, the one that you saw in 300, there was another battle happening next to it and you will have a chance to see all of that happening and how they interact. I don’t want to ruin it.”
On Bringing In Xerxes' Backstory:
“They are working on, right now, trying to explain it, I think they will try to do a little backstory on Xerxes and they will explain how he became ‘the God King,’ which I’m excited about. I don’t know what it’s going to be. I’ve never played a character twice. It’s interesting. I think the challenging thing for me now will be to try to bring something new for the fans, for the audience and for myself just to make it interesting to play it again.”
On Preparation For The Film:
“I’ve got to be honest, it’s a real hard process to get there, not only working out like crazy, [but also] shaving. I’ve got to shave all over my body. It’s a really intense, bizarre character, so it’s a lot of work to get there. Make-up: like five or six hours of make-up every day. When you see it, it looks cool, but there’s a lot of work behind it. That’s all very challenging and I’m looking forward to it. I hope it’s going to be great.”
300: Battle Of Artemisia is set to hit theaters August 2nd, 2013.