Set Visit: 300

Set Visit: 300

IGN.com



Spartans, Persians, Frank Miller, green screens and the best abs you've ever seen.
by IGN Staff

January 5, 2007


Late in 2005, IGN Movies was invited to the Montreal set of Warner Brother's exciting adaptation of the Frank Miller graphic novel 300. We toured the sound stage sets, spoke with cast and crew, and viewed one of the film's many intense battle sequences.

The film is an impressive endeavor, attempting to translate Miller's intense graphic novel about the legendary battle of Thermopylae into a feature film comparable in style to Miller's previous film adaptation of Sin City (with help from Robert Rodriguez, of course). Directed by Zack Snyder (Dawn of the Dead), 300 is being shot using blue and green screens and computer post effects to not only give the film a stylized look similar to that of the graphic novel, but also to enable the crew to shoot epic battles that will ultimately include thousands of combatants. In reality, however, only a fraction of those numbers will be used to shoot the scene.

The cast includes Gerard Butler as Spartan King Leonidas; Lena Headey as Queen Gorgo; David Wenham as the narrator, Dilios; Dominic West as Theron; Vincent Regan as Captain; Michael Fassbender as Stelios; and Rodrigo Santoro as the Persian King Xerxes.

Walking through the sets, various Persian and Spartan soldiers (playing both extras and major roles) pass by. It's strange at first, but we get pretty used to it by the end of the day. The Spartan warriors, in particular, sport a very similar and intimidating look. Each one is more impressive than the last, with abs that would make even the most fit feel in need of a trip to the gym. The conditioning of these soldiers is extremely impressive -- they look as though they are wearing prosthetic chest plates. Not so… the muscle is all real.

During the course of our tour, we are taken to various departments and shown the impressive level of detail and dedication Snyder and crew are putting into the film.

First stop is the training area where we speak to Mark Kwight, who has been given the task of putting each and every soldier and stuntman through a grueling series of training sessions to prepare for the film.

"The training regimen is like nothing you've ever seen," says Kwight. "There are no machines in here with the exception of a couple of rowing machines. There are some big tires… Our point is not to make people look a certain way, but the look that they achieve is a consequence of the fitness that they achieve rather than putting on soft, useless muscle for the sake of looking a certain way.

"The request in the beginning from Zack was to do something that would forge the actors into a cohesive group," continues Kwight. "There's been a lot of suffering, a fair amount of vomit and a real tightening of the core actors and a lot of the stunt guys. We did have two months prior to the shoot where nothing except training was happening. The stunt guys were either involved with conditioning with us or fight training and fight choreography for up to six hours a day. We had some people make rather remarkable progress, depending on whether they were committed or not."

In the props department, we meet Amy Crepenteir, who shows us assorted shields and weaponry used in the film. Spears that appear to weigh a ton are surprisingly light, as are the famous Spartan shields that the warriors sport for the majority of the film. Some of the shields have been modeled to a smaller scale to make the soldiers look bigger and more intimidating.

"We have almost 125 shields for the Spartans," says Crepenteir. "Around 250 spears. We have around 75 swords. We use a lot of design [from the book]. We show everything to Zack and he gives approval on everything."

Model makers show molded severed heads of massacred Persians. Each one is in a less enviable position than the last, with spears through heads and eyes. Many have bulging eyeballs showcasing their horrified expressions in the final moments of their lives. Of an amusing side note is the fact that many of the dead Persian heads are based on various cast and crew from the production.

300's costume designer Michael Wilkinson, whose resume includes Dark Water and Garden State, flips through the pages of Miller's graphic novel, which can be found just about everywhere on set. Wilkinson goes through the pages of the costume concept design book and shows us some of the costumes that have been constructed. The attention to detail is impressive, in many cases looking as though it has been directly lifted from the pages of Miller's original artwork.

"It has been an incredible gift as a costume designer to work on something like this," says Wilkinson. "Frank's book has been so inspiring. He has a great sense of clothing and he's inspired by lots of different things, from ancient Greece right through to contemporary fashion and everything in-between. I was inspired by influences as disparate as Africa right across through to Asia and Japan… Xerxes army was compiled from tribes from those countries too. It was a huge slice of the world.

"We also wanted to show big differences between the Greek army and the Persian army, so we established different color palettes for both," continues Wilkinson. "We wanted to make sure the Greek army was full of warm, rich Earthy tones. The vibrant red of their capes was very important… the worn leathers. Their main look is their bodies, because the Spartans were bread to be fighting machines. In contrast, the Persian army is all covered up and mysterious; adorned with silk and gold. It's the other kind of aesthetic extreme. It's all about covering up the body."

Now, it's on to make-up to speak with make-up supervisor Shaun Smith. Within this room, assorted prosthetic war wounds hang on the wall, each one numbered to keep track for later scenes.

"Each artist has two or three characters that they take care of, so they keep track of what number scar goes where," says Smith.

Again, the Miller book is seen sitting on the tables of the make-up room. Smith says the book is a constant resource.

"We use the book as much as we can, except for the characters that aren't in the book obviously. I don't know if you've seen Leonidas made up, but he looks just like the character in the book."

Finally, we meet up with production designer Tim Bissel, who has the daunting task of creating the film's endless CG environments from scratch. Within his area are sketches of assorted locations from the film. Since much of the film is being created digitally in post, Bissel's job is to create environments that they can later match with the final designs in post-production.

"It's unique in the way that we did build sets, we did design things for the whole movie," he explains. "We designed Sparta, we designed the counsel chambers, we designed all the terrains. And then we do key frame illustrations to say, 'Well, this is what it would look like,' and then we all sit down and meet and build as little as possible.

"We create as much as we possibly can CGI, but we have to still create terrains so that the relationships of the actors match what we want the locations to look like. If they're climbing up a hill, we have to still have them climbing up a hill. CGI can't miraculously levitate them or anything like that.

"We design sets that come from either Zack's sketches or Frank's illustrations in the book," continues Bissel. "We create 3-D models in the computer to say, 'OK, this is what the action's gonna be.' And from those models we extrapolate and do our own key frame renderings to show what we can do."

Now that we've spoken with the team behind the scenes, it's time to watch director Snyder, cast and stuntmen in action.

The scene is taking place in a large battlefield, but on set the area looks quite different. Basically, it's a dirt terrain with green screens surrounding the set. About 30 soldiers, both Persian and Spartan, await the sequence. They are adorned in full battle gear, with assistants helping them to make final adjustments on their costumes before the shot.

Finally, with everyone in position, Snyder yells "action" and the soldiers race into battle. Persians charge Spartans, wielding swords, spears and blocking with shields. Spartans plunge retractable blades into Persians, the dead falling to the ground and lying still. Others pretend to spear their foes, lunging the weapon to the side of an opponent while the victim lets out a groan and falls to the ground.

The sequence ends when Leonidas' (Butler) sword flops to the side. "Cut," yells Snyder. While the sword is obviously fake, the flopping rubber must look real on screen. Snyder and crew laugh, though later the director later admitted that the occurrence was rather common and sometimes frustrating.

A few more takes of the sequence go more smoothly. In post-production, these 30 soldiers will be made to look like 100's. This small battle room will grow to a giant battlefield. Minor fake blood, cuts and scars will be amped-up in post as well. Aside from a few necessary on set splatters, nearly all of the blood (and there will be a lot of it) will be added digitally later on.

And so that brings us to the end of our 300 set visit. Before leaving, Snyder and crew showed us the test footage that was shot before the film was given a full green light. It features soldiers running into battle and massacring Persian opponents. The sequence showcases great action and plenty of bloody carnage. It's a strong indication of the final product, which is visually stunning to say the least. If the battles in the feature are half as cool as the short test, fans of Miller's work are in for a very special treat.

Stay tuned to IGN Movies for more coverage from the 300 set including on-set interviews with Zack Snyder, Frank Miller and Gerard Butler.



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