Dawn of the Dead ’04 director Zach Snyder is getting his giant green screen ready for 300, and now he’s got several humans to stand in front of it.
The movie, an adaptation of Frank Miller’s graphic novel, stars Scotsman Gerard Butler as Spartan king Leonidas, who rallied his hardy troops against Xerxes and his invading hordes. Now the production has gained another actor with warrior training in Lord of the Rings’ David Wenham, and also hearing the call for military support are chiseled thesp Dominic West (HBO’s The Wire), Vincent Regan (Troy) and Brazilian actor Rodrigo Santoro (Love Actually). But it’s not all phalanx shields and phallic weaponry – Brothers Grimm cutie Lena Headey (not Hedley) will play Gorgo, the lovely wife of Leonidas.
The story is a vividly brutal dramatization of the legendary Battle of Thermopylae, where 300 Greek soldiers fought the entire Persian army to a near-standstill at a mountain pass. Snyder is pulling a Sin City, shooting the Warner Bros. film on Montreal soundstages and digitally adding in backgrounds during postproduction.
Wonder when Val Kilmer will join on our message boards!