Zack Snyder and his 300 collaborator Kurt Johnstad are writing an adaptation of Frank Miller’s Xerxes (see “Miller’s ‘Xerxes’ Underway”), a “sequel” of sorts to 2007 smash hit 300, which was the highest earning “R” rated film of the year with a worldwide box office of over $456 million.  300 revived the sword and sandal genre.  It definitely put Snyder on the map as a major director (Warner Bros. is highlighting his Sucker Punch film at Comic-Con) and it made a star out Gerard Butler who played the Spartan leader Leonidas.

Snyder didn’t exactly confirm to the Los Angeles Times that he would also be directing Xerxes—saying there’s no “ directing deal” in place yet—but everyone in Tinseltown is sure that Snyder will take the reins and end up helming the cinematic version of Miller’s six-part comic book series, which Dark Horse will begin publishing this year. 

As was the case in 300, the focus in Xerxes is on a Greek leader, only this time it is the Athenian Themistocles, a populist leader of democratic Athens who is far different in temperament from the straightforward Leonidas of 300.  Themistocles was a “politician,” with all the craftiness and subterfuge that politics demands.  Nicknamed the “subtle serpent,” Themistocles crafted a maritime strategy that defeated the massive second Persian invasion and created the basis for the Athenian Empire.  In the Battle of Salamis, which provides the climax of Xerxes, Themistocles lured the Persian fleet into the cramped straits of Salamis and soundly defeated the much larger Persian force.

Xerxes is certainly not a typical sequel—it is more Greeks versus Persians, but it’s really “the rest of the story.”  Unlike 300, which took place in just a few days, the action in Xerxes extends over 10 years and should provide Miller and Snyder a chance to present a more balanced portrait of the Persians as well as to show how Athens, with a much different tradition than militaristic Sparta, managed to mobilize its citizens to help defeat the invading Persian forces. 

In 300 Miller presented the Persians as the Spartans saw them, a huge overwhelming horde with leaders who weren’t “manly” in the Spartan way.  According to the Times in Xerxes Miller portrays the Persian king Darius in a very positive light, and the actions of his son Xerxes are explained in terms of a quest for vengeance.  Perhaps it will be enough of a change that the Xerxes movie won’t provoke the same reaction from the Iranian government, which filed a formal complaint against 300 with the United Nations.