Although Dawn of the Dead was a scintillating Hollywood debut for Zack Snyder, it was his adaptation of Frank Miller’s graphic novel “300” that really put him on the map. Filmed entirely against green screen (à la Sin City) and built with enough testosterone to power a city, it made a star of Gerard Butler and opened the door to Watchmen for Snyder.
Snyder has now (according to the LA Times) signed a writing deal for “Xerxes”, a new Frank Miller prequel/sequel to 300 and has already begun working on the script with his 300 collaborator Kurt Johnstad. We reported here on the development of the graphic novel and speculated on whether Snyder would direct again and although that has not been confirmed yet, Snyder did call the fact that he was writing the script a show of “intent”.
Xerxes will begin many years before the events portrayed in 300, showing Xerxes relationship with his father Darius and then telling the story of Themistocles and the Battle of Artemisium, a battle which happens to take place on the same three days as the battle at Thermopylae (as shown in 300). Snyder sees Themistocles as a very different character to Leonidas, a democrat rather than purely a warrior, an “everyman” rather than a superman. Nothing has been said yet about whether Leonidas will make a cameo appearance, however Snyder has said that he sees Xerxes as being the same visually as 300. Most intriguing is the final sea battle, with ships crashing together and men fighting across the decks of the ships as they collide.
Snyder did such excellent work on 300 and although many (not least the Iranians) protested about its portrayal of the Persians and sometimes questionable historical veracity, it was nonetheless a thrilling, visceral experience and scooped up over $450 million at the worldwide box office into the bargain. Warner Bros (who have given Snyder a first-look deal on the project) should have confidence that Snyder will be a safe pair of hands for this, but given how quickly reputations are made and ruined, the box-office performance of Snyder’s upcoming “Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga-Hoole” (yes, that’s right) will surely have a bearing on how Warner Bros decide to proceed.
