BODY TALK

For our 300th issue, we catch up with Zack Snyder to chat about his Spartan epic – a film that split opinion but paved the way for a new kind of sword-and-sandals blockbuster while changing the rules for comic-book movies…

- JACK SHEPHERD

This is the gayest film ever made,” Zack Snyder tells Total Film. It’s May 2020 and we’re discussing 300, the alpha-male Spartan fantasy that redefined the historical epic, but not without attracting some controversy. The director’s comments may jar with some critics – there’s no homosexuality portrayed on screen and the Spartan king, Leonidas, played by Gerard Butler, even disparages the Athenians by calling them “boy lovers” – and yet Snyder vehemently disagrees with those who allege otherwise.

“It literally celebrates this masculine form in a way that is transformative for people,” Snyder continues. “I remember being asked, ‘Is your movie pro-gay or pro-NRA?’ I was like, ‘What? It’s both, I guess?’”

As luck would have it, the filmmaker – who has since directed the superhero flicks Watchmen, Man Of Steel, Batman V Superman, and Justice League – just happens to have watched 300 a few days before our chat (it’s about to be re-released in HDR).

“When I watched it the other night, did I think, ‘Oh?’” he says. Would he change anything? “I think it could be a bit weirder. But I don’t think I would change it necessarily. I don’t feel that way about any of the films I’ve made.”