Summary
300might have been a massive blockbuster and a bit of a cult classic for fans of its director’s unique approach to visual storytelling, the movie’s leading man has revealed that the filming of the project was almost as perilous as its plot.
While300has come to be the prime example ofZack Snyder’s earlier visionary tendencies thanks to its novel cinematic look and distinct dark overlay, the story at the core of it was an adaptation of Frank Miller’s graphic novel of the same name. The film would simultaneously receive massive praise as a masterpiece of visual artwork and derision for its supposed political and social idiolization of the Spartans. Beyond this, the film was seen by many as a project heavy on style over substance with one dimensional characters across the board. Despite its divisive critical reception, the commercial success of the first film did manage to spawna300sequel that isn’t quite considered required viewingby many fans, this time based on an unpublished prequel work of Miller’s.
WhileWarner Bros. killed Snyder’s plans for a third ‘300’ moviedue to the failure of the sequel to properly justify the investment, the first film was reportedly pretty costly in its own way according to leading man Gerard Butler. In a recent interview withPeople, Butler explained just how much of a toll the action-packed film exerted on its cast and crew during the process of filming. “I remember every day somebody was getting taken to the hospital,” Butler revealed. “You’d be doing a fight, you turn around, there’s a guy down there, a spear went in his eye. Another time, you turn around, there’s a guy over there who just fell, broke his ankle. I mean, it was insane.” While the claim of daily casualties might be a bit of an exaggeration on Butler’s part, it certainly sounds like the making of300was fraught with a perplexing amount of on-set injuries, even for an action flick of its scale.
While Butler confirmed that he managed to escape the production without getting his own day at the hospital, that doesn’t mean he’s had an easy ride of it. Butler went on to share other projects he’d worked on that saw him hurt, including an incident on the set of the 2012 filmChasing Mavericksthat saw him downed by a huge set of waves and coming uncomfortably close to drowning. “I thought I was done. They had to take me out, take me to hospital, put me out, give me the defibrillator. I mean, it was intense,” the star revealed, later expressing in a summary of incidents over this career that he’d been, “-shot by bullets, casings, explosions. A whole camera rig once fell down on Hilary Swank and I.” This seems pretty on brand for a star like Butler, whose Hollywoodcareer has been a real lesson in all kinds of actioneering.
That sort of safety record really can’t be justified for any Hollywood production, even if it was a successful adaptation ofone of Frank Miller’s best comic book works. Butler doesn’t mention the sequel film, as he wasn’t involved in that project, but the set ofRise of an Empirewas probably bereft of similarly frequent casualties. Addressing safety protocol failures while doing principal shooting can be a death sentence for deadlines, but considering the seven year gap between the two films, its expected that these issues were addressed by the production to a satisfactory degree.
Warner Bros. Discovery is looking to breathe new life into the franchise viaan upcoming 300 series still in early development at Warner Bros, which could potentially bring an all-new experience to fans of Miller’s work. Snyder, along with his wife and Wesley Coller, is currently in talks to board the project under his Stone Quarry production company and return to the IP he helped build as co-writer and director. Fans can only hope that this new project will be a lot easier on its cast, and safer for everyone.
Both300and the sequel film300: Rise of an Empireare available to stream on Netflix.
