Frank Miller's Project: XERXES

[DocHoliday]

Actually looking forward to this. Athenian Navy and more insight on Xerxes!

 

[Drz]

Zack Snyder is going to make Xerxes movie!

 

[Drz]

 

[Watchman]

Great news! More Dark Horse presents and Frank Miller. Hope to hear more about this and Holy Terror soon.

 

[Project862006]

http://collider.com/frank-miller-xerxes-300-zack-snyder/67849/

Frank Miller Talks Xerxes

The time frame begins 10 years before ’300′ and the story starts with the Battle of Marathon, which was killer to draw, by the way, even if it was a lot of work. The lead character is Themistocles, who became warlord of Greece and built their navy. The story is very different than ’300′ in that it involves Xerxes’ search for godhood. The existence of gods are presupposed in this story and the idea is that he [is] well on his way to godhood by the end of the story.

With Themistocles I have a character who is almost the dead opposite of Leonidas in that Themistocles was a lying, conniving, brilliant, heroic figure. He was nicknamed ‘The Subtle Serpent’ and he always manages to do the exact right things that will result in him benefiting greatly.

The story will be the same heft as ’300′ but it covers a much, much greater span of time — it’s 10 years, not three days. This is a more complex story. The story is so much larger. The Spartans in ’300′ were being enclosed by the page as the world got smaller. This story has truly vast subjects. The Athenian naval fleet, for instance, is a massive artistic undertaking and it dwarfed by the Persian fleet, which is also shown in this story. The story has elements of espionage, too, and it’s a sweeping tale with gods and warriors.

There is an aftermath that is like an extension of ’300′ because ’300′ ended so abruptly with all of them getting mowed down by arrows. I do get into what happened after that and what the entire thing means to Xerxes. Xerxes is a megalomaniac and takes everything as a sign of his godhood. I’ve known people like that.

While 300 was wildly popular in the US, the portrayal of Xerxes in the film was met with outrage in Iran, with many calling the character offensive given his revered status in the country. When asked about this, and how the character might be received in this follow-up given his more expanded role in the story, Miller responded accordingly:

Yes, I suppose it will be seen as provocative, but really to me he is such a pivotal character and in this story I get to explain him so much more fully. I do my best to crawl inside his head rather than have him be this iconic force that simply commands this huge army. There are many scenes with him alone or just with his people. There’s an extended scene set in Persepolis, for instance, where he takes power and there are several scenes where he is going through his transitions and he’s shown speaking to his mother and his wife and with all of that he becomes that much more interesting as a character.

 

[Drz]

http://spinoff.comicbookresources.c...or/?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

Film will be named 300: Battle of Artemisia and Zack Snyder will only return as a Producer.