Comic Con: Boneman's Report 3-300 Panel

Comic Con: Boneman's Report 3

Posted By: The Boneman
Posted On: Thu Jul 27th, 2006

Day 3

300 Panel

This was a day that was going to bring surprises, strange disappearances and heroic acts of brevity. It got off to a good start as Jerry's kids got what they came for when Zack Snyder came out and introduced the revered writer of the Graphic novel 300 the hottest property in Hollywood Frank Miller. Hot on their heals were the stars of the show Gerard Butler, and LOTR's David Wentham. I'll have to say I was right away caught up in Jerry fever – the man was charming, funny and his enthusiasm for the project bordered on child-like. They opened with the teaser clip and as neither actor had seen any finished footage both Butler and Wentham went over and sat on the floor before the monitor to watch. They were as impressed as the rest of us were. The script showed off Miller's terrific wordplay, and I'll just say this one has all the earmarks of a big winner. True we've been witness to plenty of films of this ilk, Troy, Arthur, Alexander, the one with Orlando Bloom – it'll come to me – still and all this one tells the story of perhaps the most legendary fighting force in history – the few, the proud, the Spartans.

Butler and Wentham discussed the lengths they went to to prepare for their roles – the physical training, the research, the steroids. You might laugh, but how do you think Brad Pitt got so big in Troy? Come on, that's not Wheaties, don't be naïve. It's not like his acting career is going to carry an asterisk now. Why do you think they went to Namibia to have the baby – just in case it came out wearing a codpiece. That's a joke, there's no evidence to suggest that steroid use leads to birth defects, or Governor Ahnold would have to keep his brood locked in the basement. "Honey, did you feed the . . . things" Maria would ask. "No honey I forgot," as he heaves a side of beef calumphing down the stairs. "Bon apetite boys." Speaking of codpieces, Gerard did a fair share of complaining about that part of the shoot. At one point during the Q&A someone asked if this were going to be a historically accurate portrayal, meaning were there going to be any Greek on Greek action? To which Miller quickly quipped, "No – this is a work of fiction." What with all the faint-hearted Jerry's kids swooning at his every expression it was a fun panel. One audience member asked something about how much tweaking was necessary to take a graphic novel and make it ready for film and Zach Snyder promptly replied, "Graphic novels don't need to be tweaked, they just need to be filmed." One of the more cute things that happenes was that the crowd clamored to see the teaser again and before it was over they screened it 3 times, and each time Butler and Wentham walked over to a spot on the stage and sat down on the hardwood so they could get another look – it was as if no one could get enough.

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