When just a few minutes worth of footage of 300 was shown at the 2006 San Diego Comic Con, the film quickly became one of the most talked about upcoming releases. The buzz has been growing since the summer of 2006, and writer/director Zack Snyder (Dawn of the Dead) and 300 creator Frank Miller are doing their best to keep the film in the spotlight. The twosome even teamed up for a special sneak peek at extended footage from what’s quickly become one of 2007’s most anticipated films.
After showing specially selected scenes from the film, Snyder and Miller took part in a Q&A with the media. But before Snyder introduced each of the clips, and before he opened up the floor to questions, he offered the following insight into why he believed Miller’s graphic novel could translate well into a feature film.
“As far as 300 [being] a strange choice,” said Snyder, “when you read the graphic novel I don’t think you think right away, ‘Easy. Make it into a movie, of course.’ It was daunting in its scope. The next thing I knew [producer Gianni Nunnari and I] were meeting with Warner Bros and saying, ‘Hey, you know, we want to make 300.’ At this point actually I have the timeline a little bit wrong because the first time we met with Warner Bros was right before I did Dawn. I remember talking to them about it and they were getting ready to go make Troy. And I understand, but they were not into a movie about Greece because they had Troy and they had Brad Pitt and I had just me and a graphic novel.
Now, time is a thing that I think heals all wounds and gets people excited again. And I think that because 300 is what it is, because of its take, because of Frank’s perspective on the Battle of Thermopylae compared to what I’d call a Hollywood-sort of epic, they said, ‘You know what? Maybe that is cool. Maybe that is a way to do it.’ And to their credit, having pretty much Troy and Alexander… I mean, Greece was pretty much covered as far as they were considered. And so they said, ‘Yeah, let’s do it.’ That became the actual odyssey of then making the movie.
I feel like what Frank did with Sin City vindicated us and actually informed us on this process of shooting this movie. We shot it in Montreal, which I know instantaneously brings to mind ancient Greece for a lot of people, for me especially. For the harsh winters and the French and all that. It was great. We got up there and we were in a warehouse, basically. We got an old train factory where they built trains and we built our world in there. It was hard for the actors, but I think in the end it was our little dusty home and we loved it. We hated it, but we loved it too. Every time I look at the movie I think, ‘Gosh, right over there is snow. You can’t see it but it’s right behind that dusty Thermopylae.’ That was the process and everyone up there, they all suffered the same. But everyone loved it and I hope it’s in the movie. I feel like it is.”
Besides Frank's original work, what were your visual influences?
Zack Snyder: “Absolutely the book was where we started. We're doing a Making Of book that has basically pretty much storyboard to final frame, Frank's art, everything. The cool thing about that, I think, is that it does show you how at every turn, we always had the book. One of the big things I said on set was, we'd be talking about what to do and they’d say, 'Well, what should we do with this rock? Or what should we do with this guy?' And I always would say, because Frank had the same problems when he drew the book as we had when we shot it, 'You still have to tell the story. You still have to know who's who. You still have to understand in a picture what's happening.' That was a big help to the making of the movie. After that, as far as the slo-mo and all that stuff goes, I like violence so I'm sorry. I can't help that. It's a disease more than anything.”
How did you make the perfect moonlit butt shot when you were working on a green screen stage?
Zack Snyder: (Laughing) “That was difficult. We had to brighten it a little bit, I gotta admit, when we were in the telecine. They composite it a certain way and then we have it, and then you've got to go, 'Okay, put a little power window on the butt and brighten it.' Debbie, my wife, was in the telecine going, 'You know, it's probably bright enough,' or 'No, not bright enough,' so I deferred to her a little bit for that. If it was up to me, it'd be super bright. No, I’m just kidding.”
Are the actors’ six packs real or visual effects?
Zack Snyder: “I had the guys train really hard. They hate me probably because we really - I will be perfectly honest with you. There is a little bit of makeup, airbrushes to help some of the abs, but I've got to say, 99% is just sweat and muscle and caring. Because the actors really… Vince Regan, who plays the Captain, when he came to Montreal he had no idea that he was going to be basically naked in the movie. I showed some of this footage in England and we were in London and I was talking about the movie. Most of the actors in the movie are English. I told them, 'I cast English actors because they're notoriously health conscious people who love fitness over most other pursuits.' And that is totally not true, as you know. And where do we go? Montreal! They love fish and chips and beer. They don't love turkey breasts and weights. So they really worked hard and I think the day the film ended, if you were to bring them here today and take their clothes off, you'd be like, 'Who are these guys? Where are the Spartans?' I've seen Gerry [Butler] recently and I love him more than anything, but for the premiere, I don't think he's going to be taking his shirt off.”
Page 2: The Costumes, the Lighting, and the Visual Effects
