300: Rise of an Empire is a forthcoming American historical action film. It is a prequel to the 2007 film 300.
Plot
The film centres on Themistocles (played by Sullivan Stapleton) and Artemisia I of Caria (played by Eva Green), as well as Xerxes I of Persia, played as in 300 by Rodrigo Santoro. It originally went under the working title of Battle of Artemisium (widely mis-reported as "Battle of Artemisia"). The Battle of Artemisium was a naval engagement, concurrent with the battle at Thermopylae, and was fought between an alliance of Greek city-states and the Persian Empire in September 480 BC, in the straits between the mainland and Thermopylae. The film will probably also focus, in part, on the Battle of Salamis, in which Artemisia played a major role, as well as possibly the Battle of Marathon. Salamis was fought once the Persian Empire had advanced into southern Greece and occupied Athens.
The movie will cover some of the backstory of Xerxes, and will explain how he became "the God King"
Cast
- Eva Green as Artemisia
- Sullivan Stapleton as Themistocles
- Rodrigo Santoro as King Xerxes, King of Persia. Santoro previously played Xerxes in the 2007 film 300.
- Callan Mulvey as Scyllias
- Jack O'Connell as Calisto
Production
In June 2008, producers Mark Canton, Gianni Nunnari and Bernie Goldmann revealed that work had begun on a sequel to 300.Legendary Pictures announced that Frank Miller, who wrote the 1998 comic book limited series the film 300 was based on, was writing a follow-up graphic novel, and Zack Snyder, co-screenwriter and director of 300, was interested in directing the adaptation, but instead chose to develop and direct the Superman reboot Man of Steel.Noam Murro has signed as the director, while Snyder is set to produce. The film will be centered on the Greek leader Themistocles, portrayed by Australian actorSullivan Stapleton.
During pre-production, the film was titled 300: Battle of Artemisium (although this was widely mis-reported as "Battle of Artemisia"); the film was retitled 300: Rise of an Empire in September 2012.
