In Sight: STAR CHOICES

In Sight: STAR CHOICES



Asahi.com (Japan)


In Sight: STAR CHOICES


06/22/2007


By Ronda Cornelius, Staff Writer


Would he or wouldn't he? Would King Leonidas aka Gerard Butler, star of the hyperstylized Spartans-vs.-Persians battle pic "300," bare his phenomenal six-pack or not? Asked repeatedly about his body during the "300" press conference held in Tokyo earlier this month, Butler seemed poised to unbutton his shirt.

But, coyly, he didn't.

He's apparently gotten self-conscious about the he-man physique he hammered out with trainers, bodybuilders and stuntmen during hours of grueling workouts for the film based on Frank Miller's graphic novel.

"I now have a lot more anxiety about taking my clothes off because people expect me to still have a great body," Butler joked, adding that his movie musculature was the buffest he'd ever been. "It's kind of cool to think that a lot of people are looking at your body and going 'wow' because I spent a lot of my life with people looking at my body and going 'eww.'"

Miller also attended the press conference with director Zack Snyder, Snyder's wife and "300" producer, Deborah, and two other producers. Miller said he initially went to the battlegrounds of Thermopylae in Greece and walked around for hours for inspiration. But he decided to forgo realism and crank up something more hellish, he said.

"I didn't want my book to look anything like reality," he said. He wanted to create "how it felt" instead because that would carry more "epic punch."

For punch lines, though, Butler was the man of the hour in Tokyo.

"Could I be a Spartan? I would love to say 'yes,'" he mused. "No, actually, I'd probably go and live in Lesbos." Still, he said he found much to admire about the simple and meritorious life of the Spartans: "There's a lot to be said for fighting and earning your happiness or your way in life."

--By Ronda Cornelius, Staff Writer


http://www.asahi.com/english/Herald-asahi/TKY200706220057.html