Thermopylae Film!

[Narukami]

Very interesting discussion and many good points have been made.

A couple of thoughts if I may ...


First, Pop Classics (who has a degree in the classics) has just written a very amusing review of that old Hollywood Warhorse, The 300 Spartans. You will find her review here:

http://popclassicsjg.blogspot.com/

For those who may not be familiar with her blog, I recommend it highly -- her writing is excellent and her wit quite sharp. (That said, I do like this film more than she does. :wink: )

And second, with regards to a new film about this battle, as several others have said, we should think not in terms of a feature film, but rather of a limited series, a format currently being used with great success by HBO. Even with a single season of 10 - 13 episodes there would be ample time to allow the story to develop and for the characters to become three dimensional.

I think Pressfield's book would be a good start and if not the source material than perhaps the series "bible" so to speak. (I agree that the HBO Rome series would have been more fun if they had started earlier in the time line, say with Sulla. They should have used Tom Holland's book, Rubicon, as their series bible.)

If funding could be found, this series might be able to pull off the fabled "Hat Trick" --
Be entertaining
Be historically accurate
Be profitable

And finally, as others have noted, George Clooney did option the rights to Gates Of Fire (I once found a pre-publication copy of the book with a cover sheet outlining Clooney's involvement. It was siting at a used bookstore in North Hollywood - Would that I had the wit to purchase that copy.) but the project never got out of Development Hell thanks in large part to all of the other films that did make it before the cameras only to stumble at the box office. After all, they call it Show Business for a reason. More is the pity.

:wink:

Narukami