Enjoy These ‘300’ Facts Now, For Tonight We Dine in Hell
If you’ve seen 300, then you’re very familiar with the Spartan soldiers’ costumes: A helmet, a cape, a shield, a spear, and not a whole lot else. Among those Spartans, only one, Gerard Butler’s King Leonidas, has a helmet with a plume on it. But did you know that the real historical Spartans all had plumes on their helmets? Director Zack Snyder decided to change that detail in order to make Leonidas easier to identify in the midst of the film’s battle scenes. That’s just one of the facts featured in the newest episode of You Think You Know Movies!
Thinking about trying to get one of those rippling Spartan physiques yourself? Think again. To get into shape for their roles, the lead actors trained at least four hours a day for up to seven months straight. Michael Fassbender claimed he lived on a diet of almonds and cottage cheese as he was preparing to play Stelios. No great art is made without sacrifice, I guess.
You Think You Know Movies? is a ScreenCrush original series that dives deep into the cinematic worlds of your favorite movies and freeze frames a few tidbits you might not have known. We’ve already tackled Star Wars, The Avengers and Spider-Man, but this time we’re headed to ancient Greece to learn about 300 and maybe eat almonds and cottage cheese and get really big muscles. Watch more installments of ‘You Think You Know Movies?’ below and let us know in the comments what movies we should cover next.