In an exclusive interview with the La Times' Hero Complex, the Watchmen Director revealed that the wheels are in motion for him to bring the(as yet unwritten) 300 prequel story by Frank Miller to the screen...
It’s official: Zack Synder, the director of “300,” is going back into battle on the side of the ancient Greeks — and Frank Miller. “We closed the writing deal on ‘Xerxes.’ We started writing about a week ago,” Snyder said, referring to his script work with “300″ collaborator Kurt Johnstad. “So we’re doing it. It’s happening.”
Snyder has a first-look deal with Warner Bros. and the presumption is that Snyder will direct this film, but that’s not a done deal yet.
“It’s really going to depend on what the studio wants to do and what we do when we finish; I don’t have a directing deal in place but we are writing it, so call it intent,” Snyder said with a chuckle when I visited his office the other day. “If there was a crime they could probably convict me.”
As for the story, Snyder says..
"This movie follows Themistocles and the Battle of Artemisium, which coincidentally happens on the exact same three days as the Battle of Thermopylae [which was the basis of '300']," Snyder said. "This one starts off with a quick retelling of the why of the Persian wars. It starts off at the Battle of Marathon and then it goes back to Themistocles finding out that Persians are invading again. and off we go over to learn a little bit about why Xerxes is the way he is. Darius [the Persian king and father of Xerxes] gets wounded at Marathon and he's super cool and like a great guy. Even the Greeks are like, 'Darius is awesome.' After Darius dies, Xerxes is so distraught, but Darius had told him, 'Don't attack the Greeks, only a god can punish the Greeks.' So that's when he calls his mystics and wizards and says, 'Make me a god so I can avenge my father.' "
Gotta love Snyder's dude speak! So, it sounds like it won't only be a prequel but also a simultaneous-quel! I may need to come up with a better word for that. Snyder also says that a cameo from Leonidas(Gerard Butler's character from 300) is a possibility.
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Mark Cassidy is a writer, photographer, amateur filmmaker, and Rotten Tomatoes-approved critic from Dublin, Ireland.