Remember back in 2007 when Zack Snyder delivered his first motion comic? Sorry, no, we mean remember back in 2007 when Zack Snyder directed his first graphic novel adaptation which stuck closely to the visuals of its source material? Well, audiences worldwide loved it to the tune of about $450 million, and although it's taken nearly five years to set up a sequel, the pieces are finally beginning to fall into place for the prequel "300: Battle of Artemesia."
We initially thought Snyder would be back to direct but he's busy with some bloke who most certainly does not wear his underwear on top of his suit, and Warner Bros chose Noam Murro (who directed the irritating indie "Smart People") to direct instead. Eva Green joined the cast as the title character Artemesia, and Sullivan Stapleton snagged one of the two lead roles (that of Themosticles) after his "Animal Kingdom" co-star Joel Edgerton reportedly turned it down.
The film now looks to have rounded out its primary cast with Deadline reporting that Jamie Blackley has been cast in the role of Calisto "a teen whose desire to become the heroic man/soldier his father was leads the 16-year-old to become a leader of a small band of soldiers." You may not know Blackley yet because the 20-year-old Brit's most high-profile role to date was in William Monahan's little seen and poorly-received "London Boulevard," but he'll also be playing a character with the exotic moniker of Ian in "Snow White and the Huntsman" later this year. Let's hope Blackley has been hitting the gym in preparation for the role, otherwise Murro might have to nip down to Staples and pick up an extra ab-stencil and some spray paint that he'll be using on the rest of the film's extras.