300 PREVIEW:Warner Bros. treats the press ...

300 PREVIEW

Warner Bros. treats the press to a sneak to next year's blockbuster.

Blackfilm.com

by Wilson Morales

November 14, 2006



When Warner Bros. decided to bring the film “300”, based on a graphic novel by Frank Miller, to San Diego Comic Con this summer, I don’t think anyone had any idea as to how it would be perceived. With “Spider-Man 3”, “Ghost Rider”, “Saw 3”, “Snakes on a Plane”, and countless other anticipated films being previewed as well, “300” didn’t seem to be on anyone’s radar. Then the trailer was shown to a packed audience of 8000 and holy smoke, did it ROCK! It was first time to my recollection that a single trailer of one film was repeated a whopping 3 times after hearing “RUN IT BACK” over and over. “Superman Returns” got 2 repeat viewing in 2005. “300” was THE BEST trailer of Comic Con this year and yet, the film comes out in 2007.

Now, 4 months later, Warner Bros. has started to show some footage of the film to various journalists of the press, consisting of internet, print, TV, and comic book outlets. Being in New York, I hated to read how other folks have seen the footage already. I can’t escape the greed. I want to be first to see this after what I saw this summer. Hence, not only did they bring us 30 minutes worth of footage shown in New York, but here to introduce the piece was Director Zack Snyder, along with producer Mark Canton, actor Gerard Butler, and the author of the graphic novel, the legendary Frank Miller.

In front of the screening room, which can only seat about 70 folks, yet was SRO, Zack proceeded to explain the order of what we would be seeing and clued us in on what the story was about. That was a good thing because I didn’t read the novel. Then we were privileged enough to see the first 10 minutes of the film. We see a young Leonidas being born and set unto the world to fight his way through life, beginning with some kids and then thrown out in the wilderness to battle a ferocious wolf. He can’t come back until he proven himself and believes he’s a Sparta and king of his people. As an adult, he’s played by Gerard Butler, with Lena Headey playing his wife, and Dominic West as one of his soldiers. When a messenger of his enemy shows up and wants him to surrender, Leonidas doesn’t take kindly to being ridiculed in front of his wife and people and set an example to the messenger so that his action is indeed louder than words!

Zack then gave us more insight into the story before he showed the next clip which has Leonidas standing butt naked in his room and talking to his wife, Lena Headey as Queen Gorgo. Leonidas seems skeptical of his decisions but the Queen reminds him of his duty and then we see some sexy slow love scene. Since this is a footage, we didn’t see all of what you expect to see. Zack was smart enough to tease us with this. Lena, who was seen in “The Brothers Grimm” and some indie films, will be a name you recognize now that her profile has blossomed since being cast as Sarah Connor for the TV series based on the Terminator. Anyway, we then see King Leonidas meet up King Xerxes where they talk about his surrender. I definitely have to read the book. Things can be confusing with these names. Xerxes looks like Goliath to Leonidas’s David.

After more yada-yada from Zack, we saw the first battle scene with the Spartans against The Immortals. In every film battle scene, you see blood and guts, but with this film, it the visuals that will get you. The cinematography, the color, the look, and every thing about this film smells REPEAT VIEWINGS. Afterwards, the filmmakers sat down for the usual Q & A that go along with a presentation. Frank talked about the special effects, and Zack was asked about the score of the film, which was composed by Tyler Bates. Also discussed was the transportation from book to film and Frank’s involvement. If you haven’t seen the trailer or pics of the film, then click here for more details, http://www.blackfilm.com/20060805/features/300.shtml

As the cliché goes, I CAN’T WAIT FOR THIS FILM TO COME OUT!!

In the meantime, take a look at some of the props that brought to the presentation as well as pics of Frank, Zack, and Gerard.

“300” opens on March 9th, 2007





http://www.blackfilm.com/20061110/features/300preview.shtml