Sorry Xerxes, you sexually deviant, body modified, godking… Warner Brothers doesn’t think your name has the right ring to it or the power to slay audiences before your might. With that in mind, your name is out and they’ve engaged the bottom-rung marketing technique known as the good ole fashioned bland subtitle. 300: Battle of Artemisia will know be the title of the film telling your story… and before you send a horny goat-man to pound the WB P.R. department, just know their security is pretty tight…

So yeah, the 300 prequel that has long been in gestation has a new title, but the bigger news is that two directors are being actively vetted for the job. Obviously Zach Snyder, who is part of the writing process, will be unable to direct the film with his Superman duties filling the schedule. The directors in question are Jaume Collet-Serra and Noam Murro, with Collet-Serra on the radar with Unknown, and Murro retaining cred mostly for his Halo commercial work. Whoever is brought will clearly be under pressure to mimic the speed-ramping style that has become so associated with Snyder, but it is unarguably part of the 300 aesthetic. I’m wondering if Murro is not the top choice for that reason, as the Halo campaigns have employed some interesting visual techniques progressed from Snyder’s signature flare.

Last Snyder spoke of the film, the story was going to cover:

“… 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.”

It seems like it would be quite easy to mimic the structure of 300 with those story threads, with an interesting focus being put on Xerxes story. I’m actually interested in that story, as it could be fun watching a vengeance-driven Persian fashion himself into a God, just to get around his father’s dying prophecy that the Greeks could only be punished by God. Those are some hardcore daddy issues that would make even Leonidas blush.

Oh, and if you need your hyper-stylized ancient warrior fix- there’s always The Immortals most recent trailer.

Source | Deadline (via JoBlo)

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