Update: Deadline confirms that Santoro will be back as Xerxes and "300: Battle Of Artemisia" will shoot this summer. Santoro and Eva Green will pair up as the bad guys in this one.
So, that "300: Battle Of Artemisia" movie is still rolling along, with the most randomly assembled cast ever, including Sullivan Stapleton (Craig Cody from "Animal Kingdom"), some guy you never heard of named Jamie Blackley, and the gorgeous Eva Green. You know, if Warner Bros. shut down "Arthur And Lancelot" for being a big budget movie, starring nobodies, you would think this would be next. Guess not. Anyway, it continues to move along, and at least one recognizable face from the first movie may be back.
Rodrigo Santoro recently chatted with Collider, and confirmed he was circling the movie. "We are talking about it. Let’s see what happens. It’s a long story, my friend. A long story," he said. Details on the Kurt Johnstad and Zack Snyder penned script have been kept under wraps, but it seems the plot will criss-cross with the events of "300" as it takes place before and after (which certainly seems to gel with reports last year that the story would span ten years).
"The movie is set at the same time. The idea is to show another point of view. While that battle from the first '300' is taking place, there were others going on…Actually, it’s all of this and then there is an intersection point with the first movie. It goes back and then goes beyond that. That was the initial concept," he explained, seeming to suggest the story is still being worked out. But that does seem to indicate the hints that Gerard Butler and Lena Headey may reprise thier roles, essentially as cameos, are likely accurate.
No word yet on when the Noam Murro directed movie will roll, but it looks like they are slowly but surely getting the cast in place, so don't worry, greased up and sweaty men will be yelling homoerotically at a multiplex near you sometime soon.
Back in 2006 Butler was more or less a complete nobody, as were just about everyone else in 300. As long as the cast has six-packs I doubt a lack of names will hurt it much.