Eva Green To Play Female General Artemisia
300: Rise of an Empire will feature a rather confusing narrative structure in terms of chronology, as it takes place before, during and after the original 300 film. This movie though won’t include Gerard Butler’s Leonidas, despite his wife Gorgo (Lena Headey) set to make an appearance. The protagonist is a Greek navy commander named Themistokles played by Sullivan Stapleton, so yes; the Greeks are taking to the high seas.
Despite this, the most rejuvenating fact is the choice of villain, a female played by Eva Green. She’ll be acting as Artemisia I of Caria, the only female commander to King Xerxes, who will be present in this installment as well. It is a rare site to witness a female villain on screen, and I can’t recall any chance of actually seeing a serious antagonist played by one.
Artemisia has her own haunting back story. Her family was murdered by the Greeks while she was a child and this started a vendetta of sorts. The Young Artemisia will be played by Caitlin Carmichael, who has her own impressive resume, acting in several TV shows, but only in cameos of course. As a result, siding with Xerxes gives the perfect opportunity to exact retribution, and she does most of the dirty work for Xerxes as well. In Green’s own words, she calls the character a “Lady Macbeth/ Cleopatra” that is “obsessed by vengeance and wants to go to war with the Greeks.” Calling herself Lady Macbeth implies that she may be the manipulative character that controls Xerxes himself. Was it she who put him down the path of the “God King?”
The previous movie was known for its graphic violence and some decent sexual material. Green has had her own fair share of film nudity (seen “Dreamers”?) and since the movie has an R rating, I suppose it is safe to expect some scintillating scenes from her.
Most believe this film to be a generic copy of Gerard Butler’s original hit but I would have to oppose this view. Firstly, most of the battles will be at sea so there’s plenty of new action sequences to be seen and more siege weapons in use, something that was rather absent from the original. We have a different hero and the film will also focus on the origins of Xerxes and how he truly claimed the title of God King. The perspective of the film, too, seems to be titled toward the Persians and might serve to provide a grander and more detailed outlook to the movie. We might not even consider the Persians as enemies, especially given Artemisia’s backstory. Come August 2 2013, I will definitely be at the cinema for Rise of an Empire.
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| Eva Green as Artemisia |
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