Ugh…in case you were not aware (lucky), we hate to break it to you: Xerxes, the…unique villain of Zack Snyder’s 300 is getting his own spin-off film. Deadline has it that this spin-off will be titled 300: Battle of Artemisia and that competition for the director’s chair has narrowed to Noam Murro (Smart People) and Jaume Collet-Serra (Unknown).
The sequel is actually a prequel, based on the work of Frank Miller—who also created the original graphic novel 300 was based on. The story follows Xerxes who vows revenge on the Greeks after his father is mortally wounded during the Battle of Marathon. Warning his son that the Greeks could only be punished by a god, Xerxes sets out to become one. One can only imagine that piercings and body glitter followed shortly after that.
You would be right to cringe at Murro’s sole directorial film credit (Smart People), but don’t count him out of the running just yet. He was also behind the (highly) successful commercial campaign for Halo: Reach, has an extensive background in commercial work (just like Snyder prior to 300) and is also in pre-production for the next “Die Hard” film.
Collet-Serra has already made a decent impression on the action genre with his sleeper success Unknown. His other credits include Orphan and the 2005 remake House of Wax. So of the two…we would be surprised to see Murro get the job—unless Collet-Serra agrees to do it for less.