In the 'Arts & Leisure' section of Sunday's New York Times, Robert Ito profiled Zack Snyder's film of Frank Miller's graphic novel 300, which is now slated to open on March 9th.  Ito talked to both Miller and Snyder for the article entitled 'The Gore of Greece, Torn From a Comic.'  Miller told him of the genesis of his graphic novel -- watching the movie The 300 Spartans as a six-year-old back in 1963 and realizing for the first time 'that the hero wasn't necessarily the guy who won.'

According to Snyder one of the chief problems faced by the filmmakers was differentiating their film from two more conventional Hollywood Grecian epics from 2004, Troy and Alexander, neither of which was exactly scintillating at the box office.  By hewing closely to the visual style of Miller's graphic novel (which is confirmed by a stunning graphic from the movie that accompanies the article) and by providing a surfeit of choreographed violence, Snyder hopes to be able to create an idiosyncratic epic with more than enough edge to appeal to contemporary audiences.

The fate of the film as Ito sees it lies in whether it 'will attract an audience not already predisposed toward tales of brave warriors in capes.'  Snyder, who previewed the film with an 'all gore, all the time' teaser at the San Diego Comic-Con, hopes he has produced something wildly different and shocking -- something that will get 'the average moviegoer to go: 'What the hell?  That's not normal.  I've got to see what that's about.'