UPDATE: Heat Vision says that director Noam Murro has landed the 300 prequel job (his initial competitor Jaume Collet-Serra will instead be making the live-action AKIRA).
June 27, 2011: We knew that the 300 prequel XERXES (based on comic creator Frank Miller’s follow-up graphic novel) would be getting a different name. Unsurprisingly (and sensibly), the movie will capitalize on the successful first movie with this new title…
300: BATTLE OF ARTEMISIA.
The sure-to-be-bloody Warner Bros. project, which reportedly once sought SHERLOCK HOLMES director Guy Ritchie to handle the speed-shifting mayhem, is also now deciding between two directors for the epic tale of warriors and gods. The studio will apparently pick between Noam Murro (known for HALO commercials, but also linked to DIE HARD 5) and Jaume Collet-Serra (HOUSE OF WAX, UNKNOWN).
As expected, the carnage will be presented with all the same green-screen appendage-chopping hyper-style as Zack Snyder’s original take. Snyder co-wrote the script and will produce, but is going to be pretty occupied for quite some time with directing MAN OF STEEL.
Miller previously described the 300 prequel story like so: “The time frame begins 10 years before ‘300’ and the story starts with the Battle of Marathon, which was killer to draw, by the way, even if it was a lot of work. The lead character is Themistocles who became warlord of Greece and built their navy. The story is very different than ‘300’ in that it involves Xerxes search for godhood. The existence of gods are presupposed in this story and the idea is that he well on his way to godhood by the end of the story. With Themistocles I have a character who is almost the dead opposite of Leonidas in that Themistocles was a lying, conniving, brilliant, heroic figure. He was nicknamed ‘The Subtle Serpent’ and he always manages to do the exact right things that will result in him benefiting greatly.“