300 (film)

For the video game based on the film, see 300: March to Glory.

300
File:300Poster.jpg
Directed by	Zack Snyder
Written by	Screenplay: Zack Snyder Kurt Johnstad Comic Book: Frank Miller
Produced by	Gianni Nunnari Mark Canton Bernie Goldmann Jeffrey Silver
Starring	Gerard Butler Lena Headey David Wenham Dominic West Rodrigo Santoro Andrew Tiernan
Cinematography	Larry Fong
Edited by	William Hoy
Music by	Tyler Bates
Distributed by	Warner Bros.
Release dates	March 9, 2007 March 22, 2007 March 23 2007
Running time	117 mins.
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$60 million

300 is a 2007 film adaptation of the graphic novel 300 by Frank Miller about the Battle of Thermopylae. The film is directed by Zack Snyder with Frank Miller attached as an executive producer and consultant, and was shot mostly with bluescreen to mimic the original comic book work. 300 stars Gerard Butler, Lena Headey, Rodrigo Santoro, Andrew Tiernan and David Wenham. The film was released in both conventional and IMAX theaters in America on March 9, 2007.

Synopsis

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Leonidas bids his family farewell

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Leonidas makes his last stand

The film is a close adaptation of the graphic novel 300 by Frank Miller in which Spartan King Leonidas (Gerard Butler) and 300 Spartans fight to the last man against Persian King Xerxes (Rodrigo Santoro) and his massive army of one million soldiers. Facing insurmountable odds, the Spartans' sacrifice inspires all of Greece to unite against the Persian invaders. The story is loosely based on the Battle of Thermopylae which took place in 480 BC.

The movie starts with a message from the Persian King, Xerses, to the Spartan King, Leonidas. Leonidas is greatly offended by what the messenger says, and kicks the messenger to his death in a abyss.

Since it was rejected by his council to go to war at the time, he finds a loop in the law, taking 300 of his best men, as his "personal bodyguards," to defend Sparta at a narrow strait and fight the massive army of Persians in a vital and strategic position. On the way a group of few hundred Thespians joined them.

He succeed in defending his position for few days, even Xerxes call him to give up after failing to defeat him. But he give up only when he was betrayed by an Spartan that inform Persian King, Xerxes that there is a passage exist that can turn around Spartan king and lynch his small army.

In last effort, Leonidas tries to kill Persian king by an spear while pretending to surrender. His throw misses Xerxes though cutting his face. Leonidas is the last Spartan alive, standing up after falling, and is cut down by hundreds of arrows. Although the Persians succeeded, their army was greatly embarrassed by the adept Spartans. One warrior of King Leonidas's small group was send back by the King in order to spread the news of the bravery of Leonidas and the 300, and to deliver a final message to his wife, retuning her necklace. The warrior, after deliving the "message" to the queen, rallies the council, causing them to change their minds. The last scene shows this warrior finishing the story of Leonidas, rallying his 10,000 soldiers (mixture of Spartans and other Greeks) to take on and defeat the 30,000 warriors from Persia.

Cast

• Gerard Butler as Spartan King Leonidas
• Lena Headey as Queen Gorgo: Leonidas' wife.
• David Wenham as Dilios: Narrator.
• Dominic West as Theron:
• Michael Fassbender as Stelios:
• Vincent Regan as Captain Artemis:
• Rodrigo Santoro as King Xerxes: King of the Persians.
• Andrew Tiernan as Ephialtes:
• Andrew Pleavin as Daxos:
• Tom Wisdom as Astinos:

In August 2005, Gerard Butler was cast to portray King Leonidas. On September 26, 2005, a casting call was issued for the role of Pleistarchos, younger portrayals of Leonidas, as well as a Persian messenger. Three days later, a second casting call went out for the role of the Oracle Girl, a slave to the Ephors.

In October 2005 Lena Headey was announced to join the cast as Gorgo, Leonidas' wife. Actors David Wenham, Dominic West, Rodrigo Santoro, and Vincent Reagan were also announced to join the cast. Santoro was familiar with the graphic novel before ever auditioning.

Production

Producer Gianni Nunnari had a passion for the Battle of Thermopylae since he was a child yet the story was already in development under director Michael Mann as Gates of Fire. He discovered Frank Miller's graphic novel 300 and felt that the film should be made the same way and negotiated with Miller. By May 2003, the project was being produced by Nunnari and Mark Canton, whilst Michael B. Gordon had completed a second draft of 300 that was 121 pages long. In June 2004, director Zack Snyder (Dawn of the Dead) was hired to direct the film. Snyder had tried to make the film before Dawn of the Dead, and worked with screenwriter Kurt Johnstad to rewrite Gordon's script for production. Frank Miller, the author of 300, was also attached to the project as executive producer and consultant.

The film is a shot-for-shot adaptation of the comic book, similar to the film adaptation of Sin City. Snyder said that he had photocopied panels from Frank Miller's comic book and worked to plan out the shots that would lead up to the moment and the shots to get out of it after. "It was a fun process for me to kind of have to go, to have a goal, to have a frame as a goal to get to," said Snyder. The director also worked to craft the film style to be similar to the comic book. Numerous images and pieces of dialogue are taken frame for frame from Miller. One exception to the direct adaptation was using the character Dilios to narrate the story. Dilios was used by Snyder to show the audience that the surreal "Frank Miller world" of 300 was through the perspective of Dilios taking artistic license in his storytelling about the Battle of Thermopylae. Snyder also added the sub plot of Queen Gorgo trying to rally support for her husband.

The film spent two months of pre-production in creating 125 shields, 250 spears and 75 swords, although some were recycled from Troy and Alexander. An animatronic wolf and 13 animatronic horses were also created. The actors trained alongside the stuntmen, and even Snyder joined in. 600-700 costumes were created for the film, as well as extensive prosthetics for various characters and the corpses of Persian soldiers.

Above: A scene during filming. Below: The finished scene.

300 entered active production on October 17, 2005 in Montreal, and was shot over 60 days in chronological order. Warner Bros. provided a budget of $60 million to back the 300 project. The director employed the digital backlot technique for the film, which was shot at the now-defunct Icestorm Studios in Montreal using bluescreens. Gerard Butler said that he didn't feel constrained as an actor by Snyder's direction of the film, however saying, "If you are performing in a way that's trying to be so truthful to the comic, then, of course, there are certain freedoms that are limited to the way that you perform." David Wenham said there were times where Snyder wanted to capture iconic moments from the comic book specifically and times where the director gave actors "absolute freedom and liberty to explore within the world and the confines that had been set". Lena Headey said of her experience with the bluescreens, "You can't sort of relate to any world, so it's very odd, and emotionally, there's nothing to connect to apart from another actor." The only scene shot outdoors is a shot of horses travelling across the countryside. The film was an intensely physical production, and Butler pulled an arm tendon and gained a drop foot.

In post-production Snyder enlisted the assistance of Montreal's Meteor Studios to work on 250 visual effects shots to fill in the film footage of bluescreens and near-empty film sets. Chris Watts and Jim Bissell created a process dubbed "The Crush". It allowed the team of 70 Meteor artists to manipulate the colors in 300 by increasing the contrast of light and dark, and certain film sequences were de-saturated and tinted to establish different moods for the scenes. Ghislain St-Pierre, Meteor's GM, described the look, "Everything looks realistic, but it has a kind of a gritty illustrative feel." The filtering meant props were painted differently on set due to the eventual process. The team worked on creating visual effects shots for scenes including a battle between Spartans and Immortals (elite Persian soldiers) and an expansion of the city of Sparta. The programs Maya, RenderMan and RealFlow were used to create the blood, and Piedmont contributed to 45 minutes of the film, including the wolf and the Persian army. Overall, the year long post-production was handled by a total of ten special effects companies.

In August 2006, Warner Bros. announced that 300 would be released on March 16, 2007. In October 2006, Warner Bros. moved the release date to March 9, 2007, a week earlier. The MPAA issued an R rating for 300 for graphic battle sequences throughout, some sexuality and nudity.

Soundtrack

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Special Edition soundtrack cover

In July 2005, composer Tyler Bates had begun work on the film, describing the score as having "beautiful themes on the top and large choir", but "tempered with some extreme heaviness". The composer had scored for a test shot that the director wanted to show to Warner Bros. to illustrate the path of the project. Bates said that the score had "a lot of weight and intensity in the low end of the percussion" that Snyder found agreeable to the film. The score was recorded at Abbey Road Studios and features the vocals of Azam Ali. A standard edition and a special edition of the soundtrack containing 25 tracks was released on March 6, 2007, with the special edition containing a 16-page booklet and three two-sided trading cards.

Marketing

In December 2005, the official site for 300 was launched by Warner Bros. Conceptual art and Zack Snyder's production blog were the initial major attractions of the launch. The website added video journals that covered a range of production details from comic-to-screen shots to creatures of 300.

At Comic-Con International 2006 in July, the 300 panel showed a preview of the film. Afterward, a Q&A session was held with panelists Zack Snyder, Frank Miller, Gerard Butler, and David Wenham. Due to the audience's positive reception of the 300 preview, the footage was shown twice more before the conclusion of the panel.

On September 20, 2006, the promo trailer for 300, shown at Comic-Con International 2006, was leaked onto the Internet. On October 4 2006, Warner Bros. released the official trailer for 300. The music used in the trailers was "Just Like You Imagined" by Nine Inch Nails. A second 300 trailer was attached to Apocalypto, which was released on December 8 2006. The trailer was released online the day before. On January 22, 2007, an exclusive trailer for the film was broadcast during prime time television.

In April 2006, Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment announced its intention to make 300: March to Glory, a PlayStation Portable game based on the film 300. Collision Studios is working with Warner Bros. to capture the style of the film in the video game. 300: March to Glory will be released simultaneously with the film in March 2007.

The National Entertainment Collectibles Association is producing a series of action figures based on the film, including the characters King Leonidas, an Immortal warrior, Queen Gorgo, and Ephialtes, to be released in the winter of '06-'07. In addition to the figures, NECA is producing prop replicas based on the film, including an Immortal mask, dual Immortal swords, a Spartan sword, and a Spartan helm.

Warner Bros. Pictures plans to promote 300 in a unique sponsorship of Ultimate Fighting Championship's light heavyweight champion Chuck Liddell beginning with a match on December 30, 2006. Liddell will also make personal appearances as well as participate in other promotions of the film up to its release.

In January 2007, the studio launched a MySpace page for the film. As promotion for the movie, MySpace users were given the opportunity to upload 300 pictures to their profile.

At WonderCon on March 2, 2007, a special screening of 300 was available to be seen by convention attendees.

On March 4 2007, it was announced that the National Hockey League and Warner Bros. would be partnering to make a 30-second TV spot[1] to promote the film as well as the upcoming Stanley Cup playoffs. The commercial uses a combination of teaser footage from the film, and recordings of several notable NHL players, and will be broadcast on NBC, Versus, TSN, as well as at games.

The Art Institutes launched a micro-site to promote the film and a Q&A session with Frank Miller and Zack Snyder. The micro-site was marketed to over 200,000 Art Institute students and prospective students.

Reception

300 have got positive and negative feedbacks. In an early screening in August 2006, Mark Cronan of Comic Book Resources gave a positive review for the film. Cronan described most of the film as being "a bit of a cross between Gladiator and several scenes from the Lord of the Rings movies". He found the film compelling, leaving him "with a feeling of power, from having been witness to something grand". However, he admitted, "This is a chest thumping, dirty, writhing mass of violence at times... It is all quite stylized and probably less gory overall than Miller's other big screen success, Sin City. Still, it's there, and if you don't want to see men fighting and dying, do not see this movie." IGN's Todd Gilchrist disagreed. Giving the film a score of five stars out of five, he said "Leonidas' relationship with his wife Gorgo offers a rare display of tenderness and devotion that is seldom seen in 'guy movies' like this one". He acclaimed Zack Snyder as a cinematic visionary as well as the visual sensibility of the film. George Rousch acclaimed the film, citing its visual appeal and Gerard Butler's performance.

300 had its world premiere at the Berlin International Film Festival on February 14 2007. At a press screening hours before the premiere, Erik Davis says that the movie was received poorly by critics. "It started shortly after the opening credits; small groups of folks began heading for the door. It got worse when the main villain appeared on screen and all the audience could do was laugh. And, yes, it ended when whatever was left of a packed house booed Zack Snyder's 300 as the end credits scrolled up the screen." At the premiere, it received a standing ovation from its 1700 strong audience according to Warner Bros. Pictures. Alex Billington said "be ready to be blown away on March 9th," calling it a film ahead of its time. Kirk Honeycutt praised it, saying "those turned off by the sex-and-violence cartoonery of Sin City can embrace 300". Emanuel Levy also praised the film, complimenting Snyder in that he "retells Miller's saga not as an ancient tale (sort of "once upon a time..."), but as a classic and eternal one." Todd McCarthy of Variety gave it a positive review, and praised Lena Headey, though he criticised Butler as he "bellows most of his bellicose lines, which become tiresomely repetitive", as well as the lack of focus on geography. Erik Davis heavily criticised the film, calling it "one of the most overly hyped films in history... a boring, fast-food version of better films, with better scripts, better acting and better battles. 300 men fought to defend their freedom but, in the end, 300 people (including me) wanted their two hours back." Daily Ta Nea newspaper gave 300 zero out of 10.". The New York Times film critic A. O. Scott, described 300 as "about as violent as Apocalypto and twice as stupid." He also criticised the color scheme of the film as well as well as racist undertones promoted by the film. Film critic Wesley Morris wrote: "the film never feels like more than an exercise, for the filmmakers and the actors." Greek film critics Dimitris Danikas and Robby Eksiel have blasted the Hollywood film. Robby Eksiel said moviegoers would be dazzled by the "digital action" but irritated by the "pompous interpretations and one-dimensional characters." Film critic Curt Holman called the film a "ultraviolent, hyperstylized treatment of the Battle of Thermopylae". Holman also expressed concerns about the content of the film as "In the wrong hands, 300 could be a lethal weapon." Critic John Zwick warns that 300 is a few too many degrees separated from the real thing to be an accurate look at history. Washington Post's critic Stephen Hunter considers the film too cartoonish to be taken seriously. He criticized the action as being "all showy and stylized, never quite realistic". Hunter added: "It's kind of a ghastly hoot, and while I suppose it does no harm, it also contributes nothing. It's a guilty unpleasantness."

Criticisms

Political aspects

The filmmakers assert that any parallels to the Iraq War have not been intended. The studio and filmmakers had discussed the sensitive issue about the film's "contemporary resonance" of the East versus West conflict.

Snyder reports that after advance screenings, he was taken aside by reporters at a screening for the international press, and asked about political implications by one reporter who insisted that Xerxes had to be symbolizing George W. Bush, only to have a second reporter suggest that Leonidas represented Bush. At a later showing at the Berlinale, Snyder says he was asked "Don’t you think it’s interesting that your movie was funded at this point?" Snyder recalled being asked in Berlin. "The implication was that funding came from the U.S. government."

Film's derogatory image of Persians

Some have critisized the movie as Anti-Persian by showing persians in derogatory ways including showing persian army to include monsters. Most of such negetive image roots in Greek history's negetive account of Persian empire which is expectable as Greeks were discribing their main enemy at the time.

Greek critic Dimitris Danikas criticized the movie for showing Persians as "bloodthirsty, underdeveloped zombies," and went on to say, "They are stroking [sic] racist instincts in Europe and America." Victor Davis Hanson, a military historian, farmer, and classicist, but certainly not a disinterested party, who was asked to write a forward to the novel that was released with the movie has the following to say about why critics may not like the film:

"Ultimately the film takes a moral stance, Herodotean in nature: there is a difference, an unapologetic difference between free citizens who fight for eleutheria and imperial subjects who give obeisance. We are not left with the usual postmodern quandary ‘who are the good guys’ in a battle in which the lust for violence plagues both sides. In the end, the defending Spartans are better, not perfect, just better than the invading Persians, and that proves good enough in the end. And to suggest that unambiguously these days has perhaps become a revolutionary thing in itself."

Many Iranians (Persians) have protested against the villainious appearance of the Persians and Xerxes in the movie. There have been number of articles and petitions in this regard of the movie. A petition calls the movie "fraudulent and distorted according to all historical documents" and "the violation of undeniable international legal rights"."

External links

• Official site
• Official trailers
• 300 at IMDb
• 300 at MySpace
• Template:Shh
• 300 at Rotten Tomatoes
• 300 at Metacritic