300
Zack Snyder’s300is the movie that put him on the mapping . It found his signature visual expressive style — saturate color , using mirthful Word as storyboards , and cut in and out of super slow - motion during military action scenes — and put him in good stead to direct Hollywood blockbuster for year to follow .
Although the movie is very upfront about the fact that its telling of the Battle of Thermopylae is coming from a wildly unreliable narrator,300was so surprisingly successful that a hatful of non - history buffs have convey its version of events as evangel . Here are 10 fascinating detail from behind the scenery of300 .
Frank Miller Based His Graphic Novel On A Childhood Viewing Of The 300 Spartans
300is adapted from a graphical novel by Frank Miller . Miller had been fascinated with the Battle of Thermopylae ever since he saw Rudolph Maté ’s movieThe 300 Spartanswhen he was six years old .
According to Miller , Richard Egan ’s portrayal of King Leonidas changed his perception of the role of a hero . He make that Italian sandwich do n’t always follow , andsometimes they have to sacrifice themselves for the greater commodity .
The Line “This Is Sparta!” Wasn’t Originally Supposed To Be Yelled
In the original script for300 , the line of work “ This is Sparta ! ” was n’t guess to be squall . In the comic book , it ’s delivered in a stern but tranquil personal manner . Gerard Butler render a few takings in which he return the billet this way , but it did n’t have much of an impact .
He tried one take in which he yelled the line at the top of his representative . Zack Snyder loved this delivery of the personal line of credit and require him to do it again . The second shouted take of “ This is Sparta ! ! ! ” is the one that terminate up in the movie .
The Oracle’s Dialogue Was Just Improvised Gibberish
The dialog talk by the Oracle was n’t scripted . Kelly Craig , the histrion play her , just improvised some gibberish . Zack Snyder was beaming that she manage to work the Good Book “ Carneia ” — the name of one of the great national festival of Sparta — into the dialogue .
The fall optic effect that appears in the aspect in which the Oracle is dance was reach by filming the actor underwater .
Zack Snyder Adapted The Graphic Novel Shot-For-Shot
When he was adapting300for the screen , Zack Snyder decided to basically use the in writing novel as a storyboard . Robert Rodriguez had used a like techniquewhen he was adaptingSin City — another Frank Miller comic — for the big sieve .
Snyder photocopied gore from the lifelike novel and used them as an endgame , figuring out which guess would come before and after them , which he said was a play challenge .
Warner Bros. Initially Wanted A PG-13 Rating
Although Frank Miller ’s comedian is as gory and graphic as the pic based on it , Warner Bros. initially wanted their big - screen version of the Word to get a PG-13 valuation . When Zack Snyder signed on , he want to make it R - rated , and Warner Bros. eventually relented .
studio apartment executive call up that the good - compositor’s case scenario for300would be to matchSin City ’s $ 74 million box business office gross , so they were pleasantly surprised when it terminate up topping $ 200 million .
Most Of The Blood Was Added In Post-Production
300is one of the bloody , goriest action movies of the 21st century . However , not an awing lot of simulated line was used during motion-picture photography . In fact , the whole production only used about two gallons of fake blood . The rest was added digitally during the post - production phase .
In real life , every severe soldier wore a plumage , but in the moving picture , only Leonidas has one . This was so the hearing could enjoin him apart from the other Spartans in the battle sequence .
The Actors Underwent A Grueling Training Regime
Since the script required all the male vomit members to be ripped and shirtless in basically every scene , the actor were subjected to a grueling education regime for eight weeks before shooting . The regime was put together by Marc Twight , a record - break professional mountain climber . The histrion never did the same physical exertion more than once to foreclose their bodies from go accustomed to sure type of effort .
Gerard Butler called his training for300the heavy thing he ’s ever had to do . When the regime was over , Twight squeal to drive the300cast hard than he ’d labour anyone before , including himself .
Leonidas’ Father Was Played By Gerard Butler’s Stunt Double
Leonidas ’ begetter digest more than a pass resemblance to him , and that ’s because the histrion who was hired to bring him , Tim Connolly , was also work as Gerard Butler ’s stunt double . The younger translation of Leonidas , on the other hand , was played by Zack Snyder ’s Word .
When the real - life story Leonidas died , he was 60 years old . Butler was nowhere near the age of 60 when he play him . This is just one of many diachronic inaccuracies found in300 , a movie that hardly goes out of its room to be naturalistic .
The Filmmakers Favored Blue Screens Over Green Screens
Out of the 1,523 cuts featured in300 , more than 1,300 of its shots contain some element of optical effects . All in all,300contains a grand total of 8,631 VFX element . The crew decided to use blue screens a lot more than green screen , utilizing sorry covert for 90 % of shot and green screens for just 10 % .
This is because blue was considerably - suited to the light choices they ’d made in pre - production , and the Spartans ’ red mantle photograph better against a gentle screen background than a light-green background .
Zack Snyder Told The Writers To Dial Up The Weirdness
Zack Snyder began work on300before he ’d commence work on his directorial first appearance , his 2004 remaking of George A. Romero’sDawn of the Dead . Around the same time that Snyder was developing300with Warner Bros. , Michael Mann was planning an unrelated photographic film about the Battle of Thermopylae that he ended up have to cancel .
During pre - output , Snyder tie with Frank Miller over a shared heart for samurai motion-picture show and sanguineous low-toned - budget horror celluloid . Snyder ’s main note to the screenwriters accommodate Miller ’s graphic novel was to add more weirdness .
NEXT:5 Reasons We Need Man Of Steel 2 ( & 5 Why We Do n’t )
