Blog Number 75 - Brazilian actor Rodrigo Santoro as Xerxes in Frank Miller's '300'

Once Scottish actor Gerard Butler was announced as having been chosen to play King Leonidas in Frank Miller's '300', I wondered what actor would portray his nemesis, King Xerxes of Persia. I had read a Zack Snyder interview where he said that they had worked on a model of Ephialtes that conformed to the comic book version, which meant that if they stayed consistent, the appearance of the characters would conform to Frank Miller's illustrations.

Which brings us to the character of King Xerxes! One of the interesting names that I had seen being thrown around by the Frank Miller fans as to whom they wanted to play Xerxes was that of Laurence Fishburne who played Morpheus in the Matrix trilogy and who did resemble the Miller illustration. Another choice mentioned was that of Obed Fehr who played Ardeth Bey in 1999's 'The Mummy', however, in my opinion, he looked more like David Farrar's Xerxes in 'The 300 Spartans'.

Then out of nowhere came the announcement that Brazilian actor Rodrigo Santoro had been cast as Xerxes. If you had noticed the announcements so far, each of the actors had either an English/Scottish/Irish/Australian accent. However, for those who have reservations about Santoro, his accent in 'Love Actually' should dispel any qualms about whether or not he will be able speak like the rest of the cast.