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So, which one is supposed to be George W Bush, King Xerxes or King Leonidas?
That's a question that Zack Snyder, the director of 300, a historical epic adapted from a graphic novel by Frank Miller, has often been asked.
Some audiences have drawn parallels between the film, which opened in Singapore yesterday, and the issue of Americans in Iraq.
Depending on which side of the fence you're on, the story of King Leonidas and his 300 Spartan warriors — who face off against the invading Persian army led by King Xerxes — could be interpreted as an analogy for Americans fighting for democracy in Iraq.
Or, if you choose to see the Spartans as representatives of the Middle East, then the Persian army becomes the American bullies, with Xerxes standing in for Bush.
But whenever Snyder — whose debut feature was the remake of zombie movie Dawn of the Dead (2004) — is asked that question, he just thinks: "Wow."
"I don't think that's the point. The thing about Xerxes is that he's not necessarily a bad guy. It's hard to hate him. He's just too over the top," he said, laughing, during an interview in Los Angeles.
"To him, he's a God, he should own Greece, and so it's really nothing personal to the Spartans. Xerxes is just puzzled when he runs into these creatures who don't know how to kneel and obey him. I think that's the fun of it."
The other question that people tend to ask Snyder is, since so much of the film has been enhanced with digital effects, are the actors' buffed bodies real?
According to Snyder, Gerard Butler and Rodrigo Santoro, as Leonidas and Xerxes, respectively — as well as all the other actors who play the Spartans — worked out crazily to get the perfectly-sculpted muscles audiences see in the film.
"It's been asked of me quite often ... their bodies are not touched up. Spartans are going to be near-naked the entire time so their bodies have to be acting even when the actors are not. It's different from when an actor has just got to look good for one moment," he said.
In fact, pretty much everything in 300 looks good, thanks to countless special effects.
While the visually groundbreaking Sin City (2005), also based on Miller's work, served as the inspiration for Snyder and his team, they went down a different, yet equally unique, road with 300. The actors had to work against blue and green screens, with the film's backgrounds added post-filming to achieve a distinctive look — that of a grim watercolour come to life.
"The intention with 300 is to create something different, but also for it to be a movie-ride experience," Snyder said. "We want people to see the movie and go 'I've never seen anything like that', yet have it still resonate with their movie sensibilities."
- TODAY/so
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