snap judgments

Personally, I’m horrendously excited about the 300 movie. I know this is not a ‘historical epic’, I know this was based of Frank Miller’s graphic novel which in turns was based off of Gates of Fire which in turn was based off an historical event, so I’m not expecting accuracy, I’m expecting KICK ASS. From everything I’ve seen, there will be some kicking, possibly explosions.

There was little to no room in the panel to sit, so I took a back seat and opened up the laptop to make notes. Zach Snyder (Dawn of the Dead) came out, intro’d a Frank Miller recording of his best John Wayne impression, expounding that ‘Any culture worth a damn has their own Thermopylae’ and proud for being as true to his work as he can. Muy macho, the recording seemed to be set for the screening last night and ended with the killer line of “Here it is, come and get it.”

Next they introduced the actors Gerrard Butler (King Leonidas) and Lena Headey (Queen Gorgo), both admittedly very pretty people. Almost … too pretty, but I’ll get to that in a sec. They played a clip that had it’s mid-point around the stunning splash of the 30O pushing the Persians over the cliff; it was, quite possibly, the most bad ass combat sequence ever filmed. Wow. Everyone read along with the movie.

Then came questions.

Remember how I said they were pretty people? Apparently, Gerrard Butler has a fan club. A BIG FAN CLUB. Almost all of the questions came from them and though the panelists wre genuine and rather charming, I watched as people started to leave after the twentieth “Gerry, you’re so hot!” questioneer. So as much as I would like ot come back with cool info on the making of 300, maybe something about the fight choreography or the filming techniques between 300 and Dawn of the Dead, I can tell you about Gerrard Butler.

He wants to do comedy. He’s very humble. Many women think he’s sexually attractive. One even compared him to Elvis. He adopts a lot of bad habits from the characters he plays. Being the Phantom in the 2004 Phantom of the Opera left him depressed for a time. He’s a fan of 300 presenting a “new male archetype” and believes people should “follow their purpose”. After awhile, he warmed up his adoring fans, since he seemed a little off put by them at first. Questions about what role was more difficult and how he prepared for portraying King Leonidas made things feel a little James Lipton-y, but by the end he was expounding on unity and waxing poetic about 300. “These are the heroes I always wanted to see in a movie,” he said.

Don’t get me wrong, he didn’t take up all of the questions, just the majority. Lena Headey got a couple of side comments (“Wow, you play a strong female, what’s that like?” and “There was a lot of testosterone on the set, what was that like?”) and Zach Snyder fielded a few regarding storyboarding and working from Frank Miller’s artwork and a few production notes.

When asked about the legacy each other will leave, all three panelists seemed a little perplexed.