Noam Murro, a name you may have never heard before but which has been at the top of Hollywood’s short list for years. Before he directed 300: Rise of an Empire he was attached to A Good Day to Die Hard, but he left to take the reins of this sword ‘n’ sandal sequel, which stars Eva Green as Artemisia, the Greek leader of the Persian navy who does battle – and has sex with – the leader of her Greek enemies.
I sat down with Noam Murro to talk about how he became an A-list director with only a single independent comedy feature to his credit, what was up with all the sea monsters, how he pulled off that awesome sex scene and whatever became of Frank Miller’s graphic novel follow-up to 300, which was supposed to be the basis of the movie but remains unfinished.
Noam Murro: Did you see the movie?
CraveOnline: I have seen the movie.
And?
It hits two of my big buttons. 1) Naval warfare, not nearly enough of it in movies. 2) Eva Green. At what point did you realize that Eva Green is totally the star of this movie?
Five minutes into reading the script.
I wasn’t sure. In the trailers I couldn’t tell if it was supposed to be Sullivan Stapleton’s movie, but then I watch the film and it’s all about her, and that’s fantastic.
It’s all about them, but there’s no Bond without a great villain, right? Same thing here.
My Greek history may be a bit hazy. Is she a real character?
Oh, she’s a real character.
They actually had a Greek naval captain in charge of the Persian Navy?
Absolutely.
Wow. That’s cool. Was that originally part of the plan for this movie?
100%. She was at the heart of it from the get-go. That’s part of what really attracted me to it, is that at the heart of this movie is a woman, is a female presence, an unapologetic female presence. That to me was a very enticing thing.
The first film was very male-centric.
Sure.
Was that your response to the original film when you first saw it?
Well, it was astonishing and a game changer, and it was unbelievable thing. I think that the beauty of this is we didn’t repeat ourselves.
It’s interesting because we had heard for so long – we were following the development of this film – that it was going to be entirely a prequel, and then it was all going to be a sequel. Now it’s everything.
It’s an “Equal.”
It’s happening at the same time.
That’s the beauty of it. I think part of what really attracted me and what I think the genius of the writing is, is really about the fact that you’re looking in a way at the same exact time, but from a different perspective. That is original. That to me is… it’s not a prequel, and it’s not a sequel, it’s an equal. It happens at the same time… just zoom out. What’s interesting is how integral the first movie fits into it, but as the piece of a jigsaw puzzle as you pull out. It’s as if the first movie was a zoom in on the piece of a jigsaw puzzle, and we pulled out and go, “Oh, there was a whole puzzle around it.” That’s the interesting part about it.
That was one of the cool things about the original, that it was a microcosm. There’s all this Greek history but here’s just one conflict. Now you’re expanding it, but were you worried that you were going to lose the audience’s focus?
No, because we didn’t go wide enough to lose interest. The beauty of it is we didn’t do a history lesson. We did a look at those days in history. It’s interesting. If you didn’t see the first movie, you’ll be satisfied, and if you did you’ll go, “Shit! That’s what happens!” It’s all sewn together.
There was talk originall that Frank Miller was going to come out with a new comic and that Rise of an Empire was going to be an adaptation of that.
Correct.
He never published that.
Never published it.
But does that exist in any way? Was that a template or did you go in a different direction?
No, it’s not a different direction. I think that he [Frank Miller] came up with the original [idea], and talked to Zack [Snyder] and [Kurt] Johnstad about it as the original idea for the movie, but never really completed the graphic novel. We did not work with a finished graphic novel. It hasn’t been done yet.
Were there any sketches or anything you wanted to evoke?
There was very little to look at, but his influence is so immense through 300 you can only imagine. And there was also a freedom in it because we were left to create some of that world under his influence.
But to come into a franchise where the look and the style of the film has been cemented… you’re almost not allowed to bring anything “too” new into the style of it.
Well you’re allowed. You’re not allowed and very much allowed, the demand from the get-go was “how do we push this visually?” I haven’t seen a naval movie like that before. Have you?
No.
That’s what it’s about. It’s about the ability to take the spirit, or the visual style of 300 and extend it in a way that 300 would have done, given technology, given time, given everything. So I think that the interesting part about this is, how do you take something and still have your roots planted in that seven years ago, but push it to the next level.
But to push it to the next level you still have to work with what came before. You couldn’t this the way that they shot, say, The Bourne Identity. You might risk losing the audience, who would go, “That’s not 300.”
That’s exactly the point. I mean, there is an historical aspect to film that had to be respected, so the responsibility is almost like a double-edged sword. On one hand you have to create something new. At the same time you can’t really forget the past. That’s the tightrope we walked on, and I think that we managed to give somebody, the core fan, an experience that extends 300 but still respects it.
Tell me about the sea monster bit.
Sure.
It’s an awe-inspiring image. I thought that’s where the movie was going for the next few minutes, but then we’re just out of it. Was someone just like, “Put some sea monsters in. We gotta have a good trailer moment…?”
No, not at all. I don’t even think it’s in the trailer!
It feels like it should be. It’s a great image. Tell me about it.
I think that there were a few ideas of how to interpret it. As you remember, in the movie basically what happens is you think he’s gone, you think he’s drowned, and he comes to on the beach after the fire battle. I think that that was just a way to create a nightmare that, on almost a populist level, almost throws you out.
It really throws you out because we haven’t seen “monsters” in this universe before. You could have done that where he had too much armor on and was going to drown. That could be nightmare enough. You threw in monsters. Incidental monsters. You got some balls on you.
That’s the beauty of it, that it takes this subconscious or nightmare of what’s happening and really plays with the audience in that way. This is something that only he sees and we see, and nobody else.
May I be crass for a moment?
Yes!
So the sex scene gave me a boner.
Sure. I heard… [Laughs.]
You heard my boner? My god, I didn’t know it was that pronounced.
I heard it over and over. Many people.
It’s so rare to see a movie, A) with a sex scene nowadays, B) with nudity in it, C) with a sex scene that…
That is sexy!
That is sexy! That actually inspires that reaction and doesn’t feel like just a plot point, although it is a plot point.
Sure.
What was your direction on that?
I think that they had great chemistry between them. I think it is such a wonderfully complex moment between two archenemies.
I’ve never seen James Bond have sex with one of his villains. [Note: Actually, now that I actually think of it, I have.]
That’s right. Not necessarily bond, between two archenemies actually. Because I think part of what makes this great is that thematically the idea is that at the end of the day, two archenemies… from a psychological point of view, there is a sexual element. When you go fight a woman on the other side, and she fights a man on the other side, there has to be a sexual component. Just by the sheer nature of psychology. I think we just gave that freedom.
Now from the outside looking in, your career progression has been very interesting because we have only seen, “Here’s the guy who directed Smart People… then 300: Rise of an Empire.” It feels like a shift. It feels like you must have had one hell of a pitch. Or did you have an action credential that audiences are not aware of?
Look, I’ve done a lot of very, very big commercials that really had quite a bit of technical expertise in them, but it’s like you asking me why did my wife choose me. I don’t know! [Laughs.] I’m glad she did!
It’s cool though! You were in talks for, or attached to, the last Die Hard movie.
Right.
And here’s the guy, and he did commercials too, but he did Smart People. And now he’s connected to two big action franchises and they’re throwing money at him! “Please, make our movie!”
Well I’m grateful and humbled by it, to be honest. This is my internal gratitude to Zack and Debbie [Snyder] and the studio for believing in it. Sure, we did a bunch of very thorough presentations to prove that the vision is there, but they believed in me and I am eternally grateful to them.
Was it hard to give up Die Hard?
Hmm…
You can’t really talk about it?
Was it hard to give up Die Hard… Look, when I was a teenager, Die Hard was the greatest thing. Bruce Willis, Die Hard 1. That was it!
It still is!
And still is. The movie, I think Die Hard at the time was still in flux in terms of development, and this came in and…
You couldn’t resist.
I couldn’t resist.
It feels like the end of this movie is leaving room for another 300.
I don’t know what, really, the plans are. If I did and told you they’d kill me, but I really don’t. But I think, if you ask me, is there room for another one? 100%. Right?
Yeah. Well, what’s coming up next for you, movie-wise?
There’s stuff. I can’t talk about it.
Well, what types of things are you looking for next? Possibly another action movie, or are you going to completely about-face and do a romantic comedy, or…?
I’m not going to do a romantic comedy. I can tell you that. It’s going to be action-drama. In that world.
What’s exciting you right now in the action genre? What movies are you looking at right now where you love what’s going on?
You know, it’s a loaded question because I don’t really know… What have I seen recently? What was it…?
Are you one of those filmmakers that doesn’t have time to watch movies anymore?
Oh, I watch movies all the time. All the time.
Good. What was the last movie you saw?
The last movie I saw was, I’d have to say, which I hadn’t seen but I missed it, was A Separation.
Oh, A Separaton is great, isn’t it? Oh my god. I got to interview Asghar Farhadi and it was one of my dream interviews.
He is un-fucking-believable. He’s unbelievable.
Have you seen The Past?
Oh, of course. Just literally, it’s unbelievable. Unbelievable. So I just picked up, that was the last thing I saw, last week. But I watch. I go. I go to the cinema, and I watch at home, I watch on my computer, but I certainly try not to watch on my iPhone. [Laughs.]
Good for you. That’s not the place for it.
That’s not the place for it. Imagine 300 on the iPhone.
What would be the point? It’s a spectacle. The whole point is to see it big.
It’s an event! It’s the immersive quality of it, is really missing when you watch it on the iPhone. It’s like you can go to the symphony or listen to somebody humming it.
William Bibbiani is the editor of CraveOnline’s Film Channel and co-host of The B-Movies Podcast. Follow him on Twitter at @WilliamBibbiani.
