Ever since Zack Snyder greased up Michael Fassbender, Gerard Butler et al for 300 and made a mint in the process, chatter has been generated about a prequel or sequel or something.

Frank Miller, author of the original and masterful graphic novel about the heroic stand of 300 Spartans at Thermopylae, was working on a follow-up graphic novel called Xerxes, set before the events of 300 and we’ve brought you an assortment of rumours so far about what might become of a film adaptation.

The title for the film is now said to be “300: Battle of Artemisia” and it will focus, like Miller’s source novel, on the rise of Xerxes following the death of his father Darius. Zack Snyder remains on board in a producer function and has co-written the script , despite now being wholly preoccupied with Man of Steel for WB and Christopher Nolan.

Director-wise, we now seem to be down to two possibilities. Noam Murro and Jaume Collet-Serra. Who they? Well, Murro only has one feature credit on his CV, namely Smart People, though IMDb has him down to direct Die Hard 5. Collet-Serra directed House of Wax, Orphan and Unknown, so has a little more pedigree, but these are hardly big names for what one might hope would be a big project.

So, still more rumours, still very little concrete. No doubt, as with lots of films in development, decisions will suddenly be made, announcements will be announced and all will crack on apace. We’ll keep our ear to the ground, just for you.

Source: Deadline.

Previous articleCarey Mulligan To Star In Australian Sci-Fi “Outback”
Next articleDwayne Johnson and RZA Enlisted by G. I. Joe
Dave has been writing for HeyUGuys since mid-2010 and has found them to be the most intelligent, friendly, erudite and insightful bunch of film fans you could hope to work with. He's gone from ham-fisted attempts at writing the news to interviewing Lawrence Bender, Renny Harlin and Julian Glover, to writing articles about things he loves that people have actually read. He has fairly broad tastes as far as films are concerned, though given the choice he's likely to go for Con Air over Battleship Potemkin most days. He's pretty sure that 2001: A Space Odyssey is the most overrated mess in cinematic history.