Gerard Butler Makes 'Insane' Claim About The Filming of 300

300 might have been a massive blockbuster and a bit of a cult classic for fans of its director’s unique approach to visual storytelling, the movie’s leading man has revealed that the filming of the project was almost as perilous as its plot.

While 300 has come to be the prime example of Zack Snyder’s earlier visionary tendencies thanks to its novel cinematic look and distinct dark overlay, the story at the core of it was an adaptation of Frank Miller’s graphic novel of the same name. The film would simultaneously receive massive praise as a masterpiece of visual artwork and derision for its supposed political and social idiolization of the Spartans. Beyond this, the film was seen by many as a project heavy on style over substance with one dimensional characters across the board. Despite its divisive critical reception, the commercial success of the first film did manage to spawn a 300 sequel that isn’t quite considered required viewing by many fans, this time based on an unpublished prequel work of Miller’s.

While Warner Bros. killed Snyder’s plans for a third ‘300’ movie due to the failure of the sequel to properly justify the investment, the first film was reportedly pretty costly in its own way according to leading man Gerard Butler. In a recent interview with People, Butler explained just how much of a toll the action-packed film exerted on its cast and crew during the process of filming. “I remember every day somebody was getting taken to the hospital,” Butler revealed. “You’d be doing a fight, you turn around, there’s a guy down there, a spear went in his eye. Another time, you turn around, there’s a guy over there who just fell, broke his ankle. I mean, it was insane.” While the claim of daily casualties might be a bit of an exaggeration on Butler’s part, it certainly sounds like the making of 300 was fraught with a perplexing amount of on-set injuries, even for an action flick of its scale.

While Butler confirmed that he managed to escape the production without getting his own day at the hospital, that doesn’t mean he’s had an easy ride of it. Butler went on to share other projects he’d worked on that saw him hurt, including an incident on the set of the 2012 film Chasing Mavericks that saw him downed by a huge set of waves and coming uncomfortably close to drowning. “I thought I was done. They had to take me out, take me to hospital, put me out, give me the defibrillator. I mean, it was intense,” the star revealed, later expressing in a summary of incidents over this career that he’d been, “-shot by bullets, casings, explosions. A whole camera rig once fell down on Hilary Swank and I.” This seems pretty on brand for a star like Butler, whose Hollywood career has been a real lesson in all kinds of actioneering.

That sort of safety record really can’t be justified for any Hollywood production, even if it was a successful adaptation of one of Frank Miller’s best comic book works. Butler doesn’t mention the sequel film, as he wasn’t involved in that project, but the set of Rise of an Empire was probably bereft of similarly frequent casualties. Addressing safety protocol failures while doing principal shooting can be a death sentence for deadlines, but considering the seven year gap between the two films, its expected that these issues were addressed by the production to a satisfactory degree.

Warner Bros. Discovery is looking to breathe new life into the franchise via an upcoming 300 series still in early development at Warner Bros, which could potentially bring an all-new experience to fans of Miller’s work. Snyder, along with his wife and Wesley Coller, is currently in talks to board the project under his Stone Quarry production company and return to the IP he helped build as co-writer and director. Fans can only hope that this new project will be a lot easier on its cast, and safer for everyone.

Both 300 and the sequel film 300: Rise of an Empire are available to stream on Netflix.

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Source: People