Ahead of UK its home-entertainment release on September 29th on Blu-ray and DVD, co-screenwriter Zack Snyder and producer Deborah Snyder talk 300: Rise of an Empire…
Give me a brief snapshot of how the parallel storylines work between Rise of an Empire and the first film.
DEBORAH SNYDER: Well this film takes place on the same three days as the battle of Thermopylae — We just get to see a different perspective. We’re not from the Spartan perspective, we’re from the free Greek perspective, and we’re following this leader Themistocles, who is a naval commander.
ZACK SNYDER: The other thing we get to see that’s different in this film is it jumps forward and backward a little bit, and because it also paints the origins of Xerxes. So you get to see Xerxes’ birth, and what caused him to become the character that you saw in the original film. You get to see him transform before your eyes. And that’s a mystery too and it’s fun to watch that — and then you also get to see some elements of the original film, kind of woven through to let you see where you are in context of the timeline. Every now and then you’re just sort of checking in with that sort of the Spartans and what they’re up to. So it’s kind of fun that way too.
I love that there are moments when you go, “Oh that’s the messenger.” It’s not just the characters you expect to see coming back.
ZACK SNYDER: Right…or like when Daxos rides up and tells Themistocles, “The Hot Gates have fallen!”, you’re like, “That’s awesome.”
DEBORAH SNYDER: “That’s where he went! We remember him leaving!”
ZACK SNYDER: “That’s where he went right when he got off of the horse, remember?” Then he rides in, you know — it’s cool.
DEBORAH SNYDER: It’s a fun way to see the characters that connect us to the original film.
Were there some interesting conversations that you had with Rodrigo Santoro and Lena Headey coming back, things that they really wanted to do with the roles that they didn’t get a chance to the first time or that they were looking forward to this time?
DEBORAH SNYDER: Well, (laughs), I think Lena came back because we told her she would get to fight in this one, because she’s such a strong female character in the original movie and she really is the emotional core of that film. She also grounds us emotionally in this film, but the fact that she gets to put a sword in her hand and she gets to fight with the guys, I think that was very appealing to her.
ZACK SNYDER: Yeah that was a non-negotiable I think.
Something I know that we’ve talked about before that’s important in these visual effects films for you as film makers is to say: if the actor can touch it pretty much really needs to be there. I’m really struck reading the press release on this — I knew it but I was reminded of it — the level of talent in Alexandra Byrnes (Costume Designer), in Patrick Tatopoulos (Production Designer), in the people that came onto this film and were responsible for those tangible things. How does that collaboration work? How much say do you guys have in what’s real, what’s not real?
ZACK SNYDER: I think that because the rules that we’ve established are not just us, but are established and sort of work, they understood. Patrick really understands it in an incredible way. He’s working with us now on Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice and we’ve had a great experience with him. He’s awesome, and I think the sets that he’s built — these ships and the Persian capital and Athens — they all look pretty amazing. I think that he’s done a really amazing job letting the scale exist, because that’s where you get into trouble with a movie like this. Even though it seems like everything’s limitless and you can make the scale infinite, what happens is — because you’re on a green screen, it’s human nature to go, “No, this is sort of an intimate thing.” If, for instance, you could see to the horizon, you end up putting a mountain there, or a thing there. You close the space off because that’s how you feel comfortable with it, that’s how you shot it. I think Patrick was a key force behind expanding the scale.
DEBORAH SNYDER: There was also an enormous benefit to being in Bulgaria because there are so many genuine craftsmen there. So we were able to build all the weapons. Even the construction department, there were so many talented men and women in these departments — you know, the painters and the scenics. It really shows on camera, and to be able to have that kind of talent was really terrific for the film.
This movie takes place in terms of real history over two thousand years ago, but it doesn’t feel dated. There’s a connection that we make to characters — even like Artemisia, but also Themistocles — that resonates today. What do you think that is? What gives Artemisia a timeless quality as a female character, Themistocles a timeless quality?
ZACK SNYDER: Well I think you look at Themistocles and he’s just a guy who’s trying to organize chaos. He’s democratic, but the democratic process is lumpy, it’s not clean. In a weird way Xerxes’ political process is way easier — he’s able to just go “WAR!” And they’re all, “Okay we’re going to war, I guess.” Meanwhile Themistocles is clearly like, “We’re going to get the snot kicked out of us if we don’t do something” and people are still like “Well, you know, let’s just talk, maybe there’s a deal.” –or whatever it is — you just see the real frustration of everyone having a voice , though we are advocates of that . We want the side of democracy to win, but you still have to portray it as not easy, you know, because it’s not. It’s a conversation right? So the difference between democracy being a conversation, and this dictatorship being sort of the single idea, that’s some of the sort of contemporary ideas that are put forth by film.
DEBORAH SNYDER: I also think that a lot of the film is about human struggle, and family, and revenge, and love, and I think that these things are both universal and they’re timeless. I feel like the way they’re depicted in this visual style with the undertones of Frank Miller and the graphic novel, and the first film as a springboard — it gives it this modern quality.
ZACK SNYDER: Yeah there’s something interesting about the idea that the prism …so here you have history, right? You have this, you have Herodotus, and then Frank Miller reads Herodotus, writes a graphic novel, now he’s taken this history book and turned it into like a graphic novel, which is bizarre anyway. Then I take it and turn it into a movie, and then we make another movie based on that movie, which is in a weird way…
DEBORAH SNYDER: …which is based on that graphic novel, which is based on history (laughs).
ZACK SNYDER: Well yeah, which is cool — and suddenly it is contemporary, right? Now it exists outside of the time that it depicts because …it could be on another planet. You know, it’s literally like it becomes universal in that way.
300: Rise of an Empire is out on Monday.
Originally published September 25, 2014. Updated April 13, 2018.
