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.

Blog Number 74 - Xerxes in Frank Miller's '300'

The character in Frank Miller's '300' that I found the most intriguing next to Ephialtes was that of Xerxes, the king of Persia. It wasn't King Leonidas for the reason that Frank Miller's version of the King of Sparta encompassed all the virtues that I had seen in 'The 300 Spartans' and in all of the books that I had read. Specifically, it was the illustrations of Xerxes which made me take notice and while they weren't as startling as the appearance of Ephialtes, they differed greatly from the images of the Persian king that I had seen.

It was a combination of the shaved head, body piercings and the Nubian-like appearance which seemed so enthralling. Once again, I was perplexed as to why Frank Miller had taken a character so deeply ingrained in the psyche of those of us who had seen the movie 'The 300 Spartans' and radically altered his appearance.

The only theory that I could come up with was that since Xerxes led an army comprised of 46 nations spread over three continents, his appearance was a composite of the multicultural forces that he commanded.

Blog Number 73 - Ephialtes in Frank Miller's '300'

It was reported several weeks ago that the role of Ephialtes would be played by British actor Andrew Tiernan. Zack Snyder who is the director of '300' said in an interview last year that they had worked on a maquette that looked exactly like the character as illustrated by Frank Miller. Therefore, we can only assume that Ephialtes will appear as he does in this image and that Andrew Tiernan will have to endure hours sitting in a chair while they prep him for all the prosthetics and makeup.

Let's not forget the artists whose skills prepare the actor so that they appear according to the director's vision. Even the most subtle application of sweat, dirt, blood, etc. provides the realism which is needed. It is almost too easy to see the character as a 'finished product' and to forget the hundreds of hours that are spent getting the characters ready for how they will appear on camera.

I tip my hat off to the artists behind the scenes and hope that some of their magic is made available as extras on the DVD!

Blog Number 72 - An illustration of the '300' Spartans at Thermopylae

Here is an image of the Battle of Thermopylae by the renowned illustrator J. Steeple Davis. This illustration reflects the vantage point of the Persian army and while the landscape depicted is incorrect, it does provide that claustrophobic feeling that must have been prevalent amongst the warriors on both sides. The Pass of Thermopylae was chosen as the battlefield by Greece because according to Herodotus it was approximately 50 feet wide in 480 B.C., which would have reduced the effectiveness of the much larger enemy force.

With CGI, the landscape of the battlefied at Thermopylae can be duplicated so that it looks like it did 2,500 years ago which would be phenomenal!

Blog Number 71 - A different illustration of death of the Persian messengers in Frank Miller's '300'

Here is an image of a print illustrated by J. Steeple Davis which is similar to Frank Miller's version from Blog Number 70. While they are depicting the same event, it is difficult to say which one I prefer. Is it the b&w Davis illustration or the Frank Miller version which was colored by Lynn Varley and included in the previous blog?

Blog Number 70 - Death of the Persian messengers in Frank Miller's '300'

In Blog Number 55, Frank Miller talked about how even though he took some creative liberties when writing '300', part of it was based on fact. To illustrate this point, here is the image of the Persian ambassador being thrown into the well by King Leonidas. This was the response by the Spartan king in '300' when he was asked for earth and water which were symbols of submission.

According to Herodotus, heralds were not sent to Sparta and Athens by Xerxes as was the case a decade earlier. When Xerxes' father Darius had sent his emissaries to Sparta and Athens before the invasion of Marathon in 490 B.C. they had been thrown into a well by the Spartans and a pit by the Athenians.

I wonder if this is the derivation of 'Don't kill the messenger', probably not, though!

Blog Number 69 - Unconfirmed report on the filming location of Frank Miller's '300'

One of the nice features of Blogger is that it allows readers to leave comments which I always appreciate since it invariably provides me with an idea or two for my next blog. I've also received comments from others who have let me know before it was announced that Andrew Pleavin would be portraying Daxos (the leader of the Arkadians) and that the Spartans would be portrayed without crests on their helmets, etc.

Several weeks ago, I received an anonymous comment which an individual left on Blog Number 49 which stated that '300' would be filmed at Mel's Cité du Cinéma. It was extensively reported by the Canadian media and other outlets that Ben Stiller's 'Night at the Museum' was to be filmed in Montreal at Mel's, however, that never came to fruition because Stiller's filming location changed to Vancouver. This could also account for the initial reports which turned out to be erroneous that '300' was to be filmed in Vancouver, however, it was later learned that '300' began filming in Montreal. Could this have been a classic case of mistaken locations? '300' went from being filmed in Vancouver to Montreal and 'Night at the Museum' from Montreal to Vancouver. Very interesting!!!

A search revealed that Mel's is a sprawling complex of studios and facilities spread out over different locations. Therefore, in all probability, director Zack Snyder, Gerry Butler and all those involved in the filming of Frank Miller's '300' could still be in one of the Mel's locations. Of course the $64,000 question is 'Which one?'