Gerard Butler played King Leonidas in the original 300 (Warner Bros.)
Director and screenwriter Zack Snyder has revealed he’s written a third installment of the 300 films, which centers around a same-sex love affair. Unfortunately, the studio that owns the rights to the films, Warner Bros., passed them on.
The first 300 film, directed by Snyder, was released in 2006. It starred Gerald Butler and retold a legendary story of 300 Spartans who fought the armies of the King of Persia in 480 BC. It was based on a 1998 comic book series of the same name. The film version was known for its stylized cinematography… while some viewers reveled in its homoeroticism.
Snyder, 56, co-wrote and produced the sequel, 300: Rise of an Empire, in 2014. While he hasn’t repeated the success of the first film, it appears Warner Bros. was interested in doing a third and final opus.
Snyder revealed this week on The Fourth Wall podcast that the studio asked him if he could create a screenplay. He took to writing it last year during the lockdown.
However, he says, “I just couldn’t really put my teeth in it,” and instead he came up with a slightly different idea than what was originally discussed with the studio.
“During the pandemic, I had a deal with Warner Brothers and wrote what was going to be essentially the last chapter of 300.
“When I sat down to write it, I actually wrote a different movie,” he said. “I was writing this thing about Alexander the Great, and it turned into a movie about Hephaestion and Alexander’s relationship. It turned out to be a love affair.
Snyder continued, “There was this concept, and it turned out to be really great. It’s called Blood and Ashes, and it’s a great love story, really, with war. I would like to do it, [Warner Bros.] said no… you know they’re not big fans of me. It’s like that.”
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Hephaestion was Alexander the Great’s closest confidant. Part of his personal security bodyguard, Hephaestion has been described by Roman historian Curtius as “by far the dearest of all the king’s friends; he had been brought up with Alexander and had shared all his secrets.
Snyder has enjoyed a productive 15-year relationship with Warner Bros, directing films such as Justice League and Man of Steel.
Snyder left the Justice League during its production in 2017 to mourn the death of his daughter, Autumn, and Joss Whedon has taken over as director. Whedon made some significant changes to the film. This led to an unprecedented fan campaign for Warner Bros. to release the Synder version – which it did in March for HBO Max.
Following his spell with Warner, Snyder recently switched to Netflix for his latest zombie horror film, Army of the Dead.
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