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1.
FADE IN:
FLAME
Out of the blackness a flame flickers to life. Into this
warm light, pair of old and calloused hands bring a baby.
DILIOS (V.O.)
When the boy was born, like all
Spartans, he was inspected.
The newborn is roughly turned and handled like a piece of
fruit.
DILIOS (V.O.)
If he had been small or puny or
sickly or misshapen, he would have
been discarded.
From an unseen window a wind extinguishes the candle
plunging us into darkness.
DILIOS (V.O.)
From the time he could stand he was
baptized in the fire of combat.
A boy of three fights his father in mock battle with his
mother looking on. They duel with wooden swords, but this
is not a game. The boy's father knocks the sword out of the
boy's hand with force, then pushes him to the ground. The
boy grits his teeth, scrambles in the dusty ground for his
sword, then rises ready to fight, his eyes wide and
intense.
DILIOS (V.O.)
Taught never to retreat, never to
surrender ... Taught that death on
the battlefield in service to
Sparta was the greatest glory he
could achieve in his life.
The boy, now five, watches his father as he passes his hand
across a three-foot bronze shield. His fingers gently
tracing the dents and scars in the hammered metal.
DILIOS (V.O.)
At age 7, as is customary in
Sparta, the boy was taken from his
mother and plunged into a world of
violence.
2.
A woman cries, held by two other women. She weeps
uncontrollably as her son is led away. Her body heaving as
she watches him go.
2 EXT. SPARTANCOURTYARD - DAY 2
A Spartan boy of maybe eight is beaten by another boy of
the same age.
DILIOS (V.O.)
Manufactured by 300 years of
Spartan warrior society to create
the finest soldiers the world has
ever known, the Agoge, as it is
called, forces the boy to fight ...
Time slows: Blood sprays from his mouth as he is struck
again and again and again.
DILIOS (V.O.)
Starves them, forces them to steal
and if necessary, to kill.
The boy stands out of breath, his body gleaming with sweat.
Blood drips from his fists.
4 EXT. SPARTANCOURTYARD - DAY 4
A boy of eleven is tied at the wrists. His face pressed
against a column as a handful of muscular, grim-faced
soldiers watch. His back already bleeding as he is whipped
again. His face is stone, emotionless.
DILIOS (V.O.)
By rod and lash the boy was
punished, taught to show no pain,
taught to show no mercy.
6 EXT. PINDOS MOUNTAINS - DUSK 6
Blue light crouches on black rocks. Snow drifts, defying
gravity. A hand, blistered by the cold, clamors and climbs.
The hand belongs to the boy, now twelve.
DILIOS (V.O.)
Constantly tested, tossed into the
wild. Left to pit his wits and will
against nature's fury.
3.
Though starving and freezing, there is a nobility in the
boy's gaze. Though his body shakes, his homespun tunic no
match for the bitter cold, he is defiant.
DILIOS (V.O.)
He'd survived on roots, bugs and
rodents, and now he was freezing to
death. It was his initiation ...
his time in the wild ... for he
would return to his people a
Spartan, or not at all.
The boy stumbles into a clearing surrounded on three sides
by the stone faces of the canyon. He stands, peering into
the gathering din. He grips the spear, lightly moving it
back and forth from hand to hand. The spear is little more
than a child's toy, a sharpened stick. The boy's eyes
search the tree line, the darkness moves ... shadow gliding
on muscle and sinew.
DILIOS (V.O.)
He hears a low growl. The hair on
his arms stands up. Cold, hungry,
defenseless. He is prey.
It tracks the boy and he knows it.
DILIOS (V.O.)
The wolf begins to circle the boy.
Claws of black steel, fur as dark
as night, eyes glowing red ...
jewels from the pit of Hades
itself.
The WOLF breathes in misty clouds, the swirling snow
printed against its black fur.
GROWLING as it moves closer, circling, hunting.
WE SEE: The boy from between a narrow cut in the rock, just
large enough for him to squeeze through~ His eyes are calm.
His body has stopped shaking. He sees the crack in the
black stone, and turns slowly, almost casually, toward it.
DILIOS (V.O.)
The giant wolf ... sniffing ...
drooling ... savoring the scent of
the meal to come. Does the boy run?
Does he cower? Does he cry? No ...
not this boy. He is calm.
4.
The beast pauses, loading to spring. The boy leaps through
the cut in the rock. The WOLF pounces, HOWLING as it
charges!
Its jaws are inches from the boy's neck as he falls
backward through the wound in the rock. The beast's body is
stopped cold in the tight space. Thrashing, the wolf is
pinned by the unforgiving stone. The boy rises slowly.
DILIOS (V.O.)
It is not fear that grips him, only
a heightened sense of things.
The snow drifts around his feet.
TIME SLOWS.
The wolf's jaws GNASH! The boy exhales slowly.
DILIOS (V.O.)
The cold air in his lungs. The
leafless poplars moving against the
coming night.
His eyes look back toward the wolf, he nods his respect,
then raises his spear.
DILIOS (V.O.)
His hands are steady, his form
perfect.
The clouds part, and the just rising crescent moon, warm on
the horizon, casts a shadow of the angry wolf on the cold
rock. The boy sets himself, then strikes.
7 EXT. SPARTANCOURTYARD - DAY 7
A Spartan helmet lands heavily in the snow-covered
courtyard, followed by the thick-muscled frame of a
SPARTANGENERAL, who, after going to his knees, bows his
head to the snow. Standing before him is the boy, draped in
the freshly dressed pelt of a black wolf. As others enter
the courtyard, they too fall to their knees, SHOUTING!
Spears are raised.
CRIES of joy and reverence are heard as the boy raises his
chin.
DILIOS (V.O.)
So the boy, given up for dead,
returns to his people, to sacred
Sparta, a King ...
5.
9 EXT. THE CAMPFIRES OF WAR - NIGHT 9
Dozens of SPARTANHOPLITES sit and stand, transfixed by the
agitated pacing Spartan whose fist is raised in dramatic
punctuation. This is DILIOS (28), the storyteller. His
gift. His curse. To conjure from his memory, from his
imagining, that which men forgot, but need to remember.
DILIOS
... Our King! LEONIDAS!
The men visible in the firelight, and countless others in
the darkness beyond ...
POUND their shields in unison and cry as one.
SPARTANS
LEONIDAS! LEONIDAS! LEONIDAS!
A HUSH falls over the band of Spartan warriors, their faces
hard, bodies oiled for war. All listen as Dilios pauses.
His voice lowers.
DILIOS
It has been more than thirty years
since the wolf and the winter cold,
and now, as then, a beast
approaches, patient, and confident,
savoring the meal to come. But this
beast is made of men and horses,
swords and spears.
Dilion scans his audience. The light from the fire moves
across the capes of crimson and helmets of bronze. Dilion
is a grim orator. His scarred and ruddy face bears witness
to his own story.
DILIOS
It is an army of slaves, vast
beyond imagining, ready to devour
tiny Greece. Ready to snuff out the
world's one hope for reason and
justice.
There is brewing anger in the eyes of his listeners. Dilios
sets his gaze to the fire.
DILIOS
The beast approaches, and it was
King Leonidas himself who provoked
it.
6.
10 EXT. GREEK COUNTRYSIDE 10
Colorful Persian BANNERSSNAP! Pulling taut in the wind. *
The earth is overturned under the charge of the Company of
War horses. ARCHERS, SWORDSMEN and SHADOWED FORMS.
Riders all covered in thin patterned robes of gold and
blue, embroidered silks, braided belts with long-shouldered
capes flowing. Into the sunless dry scrub and wood where
the path curves dark and cool they ride on ... They ride
on!
11 EXT. SPARTA 11
No wall surrounds Sparta. The buildings have no flowered
columns, no carved arches, no fluted gables, no recorded
dates and wreathed tributes to the dead. No, this is
Sparta. This is the simple elegance of an unadorned
shelter.
WE SEE: The mounted Persian column appear in the stillness
of the morning. A massive black horse rears and drops its
frame, dust curling around its hooves. A PERSIAN MESSENGER
with scarred face and sharpened teeth of gold settles the
horses. His 20 men-at-arms fill in along his side.
MESSENGER
I bring word from the Great Xerxes,
Conqueror of all the world.
The Spartan SENTRIES approach, slowly. One steps forward
and sniffs the air, mocking the Persian force.
SENTRY/FL
Could we offer you a bath, Persian?
WE HEAR: Laughter from the other Spartans standing nearby.
SENTRYF/2
I am sure our women have a perfume
you'll find agreeable.
The Persian Messenger pulls at the leather reins of his
mount, sinking the bit into the horse's foaming mouth.
MESSENGER
Greek arrogance! It will be the
death of you all. If it were not
for diplomacy, I would rip the
breath from your lungs.
7.
He turns the horse in a tight circle and looks out at the
CITIZENS of Sparta who are milling about, Helot farmers,
masons, women and children watch as the Messenger glares
down at them.
MESSENGER
Show me your King.
SENTRY #1
Our King is a busy man.
The Persian Messenger reaches into a waxed canvas bag that
lays across the horse's neck.
WE SEE: The jeweled crowns of conquered nations. The
Messenger lifts at the rope running through the bone-white
eye sockets of a half-dozen human skulls.
MESSENGER
These Kings were busy men once.
The Messenger kicks at his horse, holding the skulls and
royal headdresses for all to see.
MESSENGER
Be afraid. Sparta will burn to the
ground. Only the word of King
Leonidas can save it.
12 EXT. SPARTAN GARDEN 12
WE HEAR: The FLUTTER of HUMMINGBIRDS against the pale stone
walls covered, thick and dark, with ivy and wild lilac.
KING LEONIDAS (40), strong and lean, a king, a warrior, a
father, rolls on the ground in simulated combat with his
six-year-old boy, PLEISTARCHOS.
LEONIDAS
Remember, my son. The more you
sweat here the less you will bleed
in battle.
The boy dives at his father, missing the King's legs.
LEONIDAS
Follow your instincts.
Leonidas smiles.
LEONIDAS
Act without hesitation.
8.
Again the boy tackles and they tumble over each other into
the soft grass.
LEONIDAS
Hesitation creates fear.
They wrestle on ... continuing one of the ancient rituals
of father and son.
LEONIDAS
Fear is always a constant. But
accepting it will make you
stronger.
Leonidas spins and grabs the boy's leg, pulling him to the
ground. Leonidas looks across the garden to see his wife,
QUEENGORGO(28), with her athletic frame, watching the two
of them.
LEONIDAS
In the end, a Spartan's true
strength is the warriors next to
him. Give respect and honor and it
will be returned to you.
Leonidas rolls the boy to his back.
LEONIDAS
First, you fight with your head.
WE SEE: A Spartan, Leonidas' CAPTAIN (45), broad-shouldered
and fiercely loyal, speaking to Gorgo near stone pillars of
the compound.
Pleistarchos arches, slips free and reverses to his
father's back.
GORGO
Then you fight with your heart.
Gorgo lifts Pleistarchos off of his father.
LEONIDAS
What is it?
GORGO
Your father has things to attend
to.
Leonidas rises to his feet.
LEONIDAS
(to Pleistarchos)
9.
Bring me my sword.
The boy nods and goes.
GORGO
A Persian messenger awaits you.
Pleistarchos returns with a simple short sword of iron, its
handle inlaid carnelian and amber. Leonidas arms himself
and leans down, kissing his son on the forehead.
LEONIDAS
Do not forgot today's lesson.
PLEISTARCHOS
Respect and honor.
13 EXT. MARKETPLACE 13
The Persians wait in the full heat of the sun, watched by
Spartan guards. Free women and children pass the narrow
streets, carrying electrum vases, all shapes and sizes of
glass and terra-cotta water vessels.
THERON, 36, a Spartan Councilman with noble features, a
body of lean muscles and piercing eyes, retired from the
battlefield for a life in politics, stands and speaks
freely with the Messenger from the East as Leonidas and
Gorgo approach.
GORGO
Councilman, you have found yourself
needed, for once.
Theron allows the comment to disappear into the sounds of
the market.
THERON
My King and Queen, I was just
entertaining your guests.
LEONIDAS
I am sure.
Leonidas stands before the Persian Messenger.
LEONIDAS
10.
Before you speak, Persian, know
that in Sparta everyone, even a
king's messenger, is held
accountable for the words of his
voice. Now, what message do you
bring?
The Messenger opens his great arms, palms to the azure sky.
MESSENGER
Earth and water!
Leonidas narrows his eyes.
LEONIDAS
You rode all the way from Persia
for earth and water?
The Persian holds to his message studying the King's face.
GORGO
Do not be coy or stupid, Persian.
You can afford neither in Sparta.
The Persian turns to Gorgo, never having been spoken to by
a woman in this tone.
MESSENGER
What makes this woman think she can
speak among men?
GORGO
Because only Spartan women give
birth to real men.
The Persian must swallow his pride along with the insult
before his men.
LEONIDAS
Let us walk to cool our tongues.
Leonidas turns away, leaving the rest to follow the King's
steps.
MESSENGER
If you value your lives over your
complete annihilation, listen
carefully, Leonidas. Xerxes
conquers and controls everything
that his eye rests upon.
The Messenger throws a look to Gorgo and continues.
11.
MESSENGER
He leads a force so massive it
shakes the earth with its march.
Its number so vast it drinks the
rivers dry.
The Spartan bodyguards watch the Persians carefully.
MESSENGER
All the God-King Xerxes requires is
this, a simple offering of earth
and water. A token of Sparta's
submission to the will of Xerxes.
Leonidas stops in his tracks ...
LEONIDAS
Submission ... ? That's a bit of a
problem. Rumor has it the Athenians
have already turned you down. And
if those philosophers and boy
lovers found that kind of nerve ...
Theron moves forward.
THERON
We must be diplomatic.
Leonidas raises his hand.
LEONIDAS
... And Spartans have their
reputation to consider.
MESSENGER
Choose your next words carefully,
Leonidas. They may be your last as
king.
Leonidas looks away from the Messenger's eyes and scans the
Persian bodyguards, assessing their strength.
TIME SLOWS for our King. He watches the freedoms of his
people.
WE HEAR: The sounds of CHILDREN'S LAUGHTER.
The simple pure life each have built for themselves. The
words "earth and water" form quietly on his lips. He looks
to his Queen, mother of his child.
TIME UNWRAPS
12.
As Leonidas stares at the Messenger.
In one motion the King draws his sword, bringing it to the
Persian's neck:
MESSENGER
Madman ... you're a madman!
The Spartan guards quickly follow their King and hold their
weapons to the Persian force before them.
LEONIDAS
Earth and water.
Leonidas begins to back the Persian messenger up towards a
deep open well.
LEONIDAS
You'll find plenty of both down
there.
MESSENGER
No man, Persian or Greek, no man
threatens a messenger.
LEONIDAS
You bring the crowns and heads of
conquered kings to my city steps.
You insult my Queen. You threaten
my people with slavery and death.
I've chosen my words carefully,
Persian. I hear your message
clearly. It is that of a war party!
Leonidas touches his sword onto the dark flesh of the
Messenger.
MESSENGER
This is blasphemy!
Theron raises his hands in a desperate attempt to stop
Leonidas.
THERON
This is madness.
Leonidas has the messenger's heels hanging above the void
of the well. The Persians eye the Spartans nervously.
13.
WE SEE: The sword lowering from the Persian's neck. Theron
relaxes, thinking reason has prevailed. A warm wind plays
against the King's robe. Leonidas looks at Gorgo, she nods,
knowing full well what that nod brings to her King and
Sparta. And with one great push against the Persian's chest
...
LEONIDAS
Madness? This is Sparta!
The Messenger's body falls away ... deep ... deep into the
circular chasm. Theron steps back as the Spartan men
unleash their savagery. Persian after Persian follows the
first, resting where even their faint cries for mercy
cannot be heard.
14 EXT. A ROCKYCLIFF ABOVE SPARTA - NIGHT 14
Lit by the almost full moon, Leonidas climbs hard, with
clenched teeth, the steep rock face inaccessible to most.
A foot slips. Rocks come loose. His grip tightens and he
climbs on, finally pulling himself and his sixty-pound
leather satchel onto a small ledge where a cloaked figure
stands.
The WIND pushes and pulls the torchlight this way and that.
This is an EPHOR, a priest of the old gods, deformed by
breeding. His face and body are covered with boils and
lesions. His eyes are bleached white under the hoods of
black.
DILIOS (V.O.)
The Ephors. Priests to the Old
Gods, inbred swine, more creature
than man. Creatures whom even a
king must bribe ... and bed.
EPHOR #1
Welcome, Leonidas. We have been
expecting you.
The FIRE ROARS in protest at the end of the torch. The
Ephor turns and begins to climb an impossible set of stairs
hewn out of the rock of the mountain. Leonidas shoulders
the satchel and starts after his ungracious host up the
stairs, which circle around a finger of rock toward a
simple stone temple that glows at the summit.
15 INT. EPHORS' TEMPLE - NIGHT 15
14.
Oil lanterns cast a warm light on EIGHT EPHORS, all as
decrepit as their brother, who stand around Leonidas as he
hastily lays out his plan. At the center of the temple is a
low stone box filled with fine sand used by the Ephors to
sketch down that which is fleeting to man and even more
fleeting to the Gods. Leonidas pulls a wooden block across
the sand to smooth its surface.
Then, with his finger, he begins to draw.
LEONIDAS
The Persians claim their forces
number in the millions. I hope, for
our sake, they exaggerate.
One of the Ephors interrupts the King, his arms crossed,
his blistered face stern.
EPHOR #2
You insult the Gods with your
arrogance, Leonidas. We are not a
council of men. We serve the Gods,
not the whim of a King. Before your
plan is heard, what do you offer?
Leonidas is mid-line, drawing his battle plan in the sand.
He looks up at the hooded figures. He lifts a finger slowly
from the sand. He ducks the leather strap of his satchel
and tosses it at the feet of the Ephors.
The gold spills out onto the stone floor.
Dipping his finger back into the sand, Leonidas sketches a
primitive map.
LEONIDAS
We will use our superior fighting
skills and the terrain of Greece
herself to destroy them. We will
march North to the coast. I will
...
EPHOR #1
It is August, Leonidas. The full
moon approaches.
EPHOR #2
The sacred and ancient festival.
Sparta wages no war at the time of
the Carneia.
Leonidas is desperate, almost angry. He searches the dead
eyes of the Ephors.
15.
LEONIDAS
Sparta will burn! Her men will die
at arms, and her women and children
will be slaves or worse. This is
not a campaign for land riches. It
is a fight for our very lives!
Leonidas plunges his finger back into the sand and draws a
line running perpendicular to his line representing the
coast.
LEONIDAS
We will block the Persian coastal
assault by replacing the great
stone wall, built by the Phocians
to protect Greece two hundred years
ago, and funnel them into the
mountain pass we call the Hot
Gates.
Leonidas holds his hands up in front of his face as if they
are the Hot Gates themselves.
LEONIDAS
In that narrow corridor their
numbers will count for nothing.
The King pounds his fist into his open hand.
LEONIDAS
Xerxes' losses will be so great,
his men so demoralized, he will
have no choice but to abandon his
campaign.
The Ephors move uneasily, looking back and forth between
each other. Leonidas is mystified by their silence.
EPHOR #1
We must consult the Oracle. Trust
the Gods, Leonidas.
LEONIDAS
I'd prefer you trust your reason.
The Ephor snaps back at Leonidas, pointing a misshapen
finger at the kneeling King.
EPHOR #1
Your blasphemies have cost us quite
enough already. Don't compound
them. We will consult the oracle.
16.
The Ephors turn away. Leonidas follows them. Carved into
the stone, under a domed ceiling, is an altar. It is a
stage fashioned to look like the hand of a God. In its
palm, a beautiful YOUNGGIRL moves hypnotically.
Around the altar the Ephors stoke small fires which burn
green with the smell of sulfur, careful not to breathe the
smoke themselves, they retreat to the shadows.
DILIOS (V.O.)
Diseased old mystics ... worthless
remnants of a time before Sparta's
ascent from darkness ... remnants
of a senseless tradition. Tradition
even Leonidas cannot defy, for he
must respect the word of the
Ephors. That is the law.
Leonidas watches as the vapors engulf the girl. She begins
to shake and convulse, her body thinly veiled by the
sheerest of fabric. The firelight behind her reveals the
beauty of her form and the tragedy of her plight.
DILIOS (V.O.)
... And no Spartan, subject or
citizen, man or woman, slave or
King, is above the law.
Then, through the darkness --
DRUMS! The girl's eyes roll back. Her body heaves and
writhes. She moans and drools, her hips thrusting, her
chest heaving. She
CRIES! Through her pleasure and pain. The beating of the
drums quicken, as does the violence of her rapture.
Her veil clings to her sweaty form until finally she CRIES
out!
DRUMS stop, and she collapses. After a moment, the Ephors
run in extinguishing the fires. One of the Ephors leans
close to the Oracle as another pulls a wooden block across
the sand, erasing the King's plan.
DILIOS (V.O.)
The Ephors choose only the most
beautiful Spartan girls to live
among them as Oracles. Their beauty
is their curse, for the old
wretches have the needs of men ...
and souls as black as hell.
17.
Her breathing is shallow. The old Ephor can't resist
letting his tongue lick across the Oracle's neck, tasting
her salty skin, before he turns his deformed ear to her
mouth, which whispers in trance. As he listens, he speaks
in an ancient language spoken only by Ephors. She speaks as
he translates.
EPHOR #1
Pray to the winds. Sparta will
fall. All Greece will fall. Trust
not in men. Honor the Gods. Honor
the Carneia.
Leonidas shows nothing. A WIND HOWLS through the columns of
the open temple. He looks into the faces of the Ephors,
then turns into the darkness and is gone.
DILIOS (V.O.)
The King's climb down is harder.
Pompous inbred swine ... worthless,
diseased, rotten ...
16 INT. THE EPHORS' TEMPLE - MOMENTS LATER 16
Gold falls in showers. Printed onto the coins is the
likeness of a Persian God or man.
DILIOS (V.O.)
... corrupt ...
The Ephors kneel, running their hands through the great
pile of gold. Standing in the firelight, is Theron. At his
side, a large PERSIAN, his body crisscrossed with chains
and giant locks of ancient iron, tosses a handful of gold
onto the pile.
Theron turns to the Persian.
THERON
Leonidas will not march. The word
of the Oracle is final.
PERSIAN
What of your Spartan Council? Could
they not vote to ignore these
mystics' words.
THERON
18.
The members of that Council are as
superstitious as they are old. Your
gold is well spent. When I am made
ruler or all Greece and Sparta is
its capital, her people and armies
will serve the God King well.
PERSIAN
You have only to remove the Spartan
Queen and its heir for your plan to
be complete.
THERON
You need not instruct me in the
course of my own treachery. This
plan was born long before Xerxes
turned his eye to Greece. It rose
from my hatred of Leonidas'
measured judgment ... It rose from
my envy of his skill in battle ...
It rose from my lust for the warmth
of his young bride. All the hate in
my soul will find itself manifested
on his house, and his victories,
his love, his freedom, his very
blood will lie in ruin at my feet.
Theron turns to the Ephors.
THERON
This is but a token. Great Xerxes
gives his thanks, oh wise and holy
men. You are truly in the God
King's favor now.
The Persian smiles, his face adorned with gold piercings,
his eyes pale blue.
PERSIAN
Yes, for when Sparta burns, you
will bathe in gold. Fresh oracles
will be delivered to you daily,
from every corner of the empire.
17 INT. LEONIDAS' BEDCHAMBER - NIGHT 17
The waxing gibbous moon shines onto the stone floor of the
King's bedroom.
It is a second-story room overlooking a small courtyard.
Beyond that, edged by moonlight, the roofs and houses of
sleeping Sparta.
19.
Leonidas leans of the frame of his balcony doorway, unable
to sleep.
After a moment he sighs and moves to his bed, where his
wife Gorgo sleeps soundly, the sheet down to her waist,
revealing her strong feminine back, which shines with the
warmth of August. Leonidas sits at the edge of the bed and
lightly traces his finger along the contours of her body.
She stirs, and now, sleepily, she stares up at him.
GORGO
Your lips can finish what your
fingers have started ... Or has the
Oracle robbed you of your desire as
well?
LEONIDAS
It would take more than words of a
drunken adolescent girl to rob me
of my desire for you.
Gorgo smiles. The curls of her black hair fall softly
across her neck and collarbone.
GORGO
Then why so distant?
LEONIDAS
Because it seems, though a slave
and captive of lecherous old men,
the Oracle's words could set fire
to all that I love.
She reaches up to him, laying her hand to the side of his
face.
GORGO
So that is why my King loses sleep
and is forced from the warmth of
his bed.
Gorgo furrows her brow in mock concern.
GORGO
There's only one woman's words that
should affect the mood of my
husband ... and those are mine.
He smiles, if only briefly. He is in pain and she can see
it.
LEONIDAS
20.
What must a King do to save his
world, when the very laws he has
sworn to protect, force him to do
nothing?
Gorgo sits up. She is tender, yet intense. She looks into
his eyes for a moment, then her expression softens.
GORGO
It is not a question of what a
Spartan citizen should do, nor a
husband, nor a King. Instead ask
yourself, my dearest love, what
should a free man do?
He looks at her. They are close. The moment stretches and
he smiles. They kiss and fall back onto the bed. This is
love between a Spartan King and his Queen. Their skin is
wet. Their mouths hunger. Their muscles flex. It is not
soft. It is passion personified. They love as they live.
19 EXT. SPARTAN BARRACKS 19
The sky is pale and clear to the east as 300 Spartans hold
rank in a field of golden wheat. Leonidas and his Captain
walk past the familiar face of Dilios, who nods to his
king.
LEONIDAS
Is this all of them?
CAPTAIN
As you ordered. 300 with born sons
to carry on their name.
A Spartan named STELIOS (28), lean and hard-bodied, speaks
up from the line of soldiers.
STELIOS
We are with you, sir, to the death.
The Captain turns and barks at Stelios.
CAPTAIN
Hold your tongue, boy? Or I'll take
you at your word.
Leonidas makes eye contact with Stelios, then points to a
young Spartan, with the soft face of a child near the rear
of the pack.
LEONIDAS
21.
He is your own and too young to
have felt a woman's warmth.
Leonidas stands before the baby-faced warrior.
CAPTAIN
I have others to replace him.
The Captain stands next to his King, and glances into the
eyes of his son, ASTINOS (18).
CAPTAIN
He is as brave and ready as any. No
younger than we were the first time
you stood next to me in battle.
LEONIDAS
You are a good friend, but a better
Captain, there is not.
Leonidas places his hand on the Captain's shoulder, as if
to mark his selfless act.
In the morning light, a group of COUNCILMEN are led forward
by Theron.
ELDER COUNCILMAN
My good King, the Oracle has
spoken.
The group stands before Leonidas, trying to gain his
attention.
COUNCILMAN
The Ephors have spoken. There must
be no march.
Leonidas continues to view his men with a disciplined eye.
THERON
The law, my Lord. The Spartan Army
must not go to War.
LEONIDAS
Nor shall it. You worry over
nothing.
Theron and the councilmen view the assembly of warriors.
LEONIDAS
I have issued no such orders. These
300 are my personal bodyguards. Our
army will stay in Sparta.
22.
Leonidas looks away from his 300, to his Queen and child
who have now joined the group.
LEONIDAS
We'll head North.
Gorgo pulls her son into her hip.
GORGO
The Hot Gates.
Leonidas looks at his family.
ELDER COUNCILMAN
What do we do?
THERON
What can we do?
LEONIDAS
You will listen to your queen in my
absence. The throne of Sparta rests
with her.
Leonidas lifts his shield and looks back at his 300 men.
The Captain nods that his men are ready. Leonidas calls
back to the Spartan Councilmen.
LEONIDAS
What can you do? Sparta will need
sons.
Leonidas moves toward his men, to begin their long march
North.
GORGO
Spartan!
Leonidas turns to his wife's voice.
LEONIDAS
Yes, my lady.
The Queen walks to him, lifting from her neck the simple
leather necklace, attached is a wolf fang. Her husband's
first boyhood enemy.
GORGO
Come back with your shield... or on
it.
Leonidas bows slightly, as she passes the necklace over his
head.
23.
LEONIDAS
Yes, my lady.
There are no tears from her eyes, nor trembling in his
voice.
DILIOS (V.O.)
Goodbye, my love. He doesn't say
it. There is no room for softness,
not in Sparta. No place for
weakness.
Leonidas and his 300 start to march from Sparta.
DILIOS (V.O.)
Only the hard and strong may call
themselves Spartans.
The King knows he will never see her again. He will never
see Sparta again.
They march on!
DILIOS (V.O.)
Only the hard. Only the strong.
20 EXT. MOUNTAINS NEAR SPARTA 20
On a distant blade of rock, a LONE FIGURE, hobbled and
bent, follows the Spartans as they move across the golden
fields.
21 EXT. MOUNTAIN FOOTHILLS 21
WE HEAR: the sound of twin FLUTES and goat hide sandals
against soil. In silence, they march over the sharp rocks
and earth, looming steadily, weaving a small shapeless mass
of men North.
DILIOS (V.O.)
We march. For our lands. For our
families. For our freedoms.
On the broken ridgeline more men appear, other pockets of
strong Hoplites from city-states that have heard the call
to war.
DILIOS (V.O.)
Noisy Arcadians greet us with noisy
complaints.
24.
Leonidas leads his men and greets the Arcadians.
LEONIDAS
Daxos, a pleasant surprise.
DAXOS, a tree trunk of a man, circular shield strapped his
back, leads the Arcadian force.
DAXOS
This morning's full of surprises,
Leonidas.
His men look at the small Spartan numbers and begin to
murmur among themselves.
ARCADIANS
We have been tricked ... There
can't be more than a few hundred of
them ... This is a surprise ...
DAXOS
Silence.
The men settle and listen... listen carefully to the words
that will come.
DAXOS
We were told Sparta was on the
warpath! We were eager to join
forces.
LEONIDAS
If it is blood you seek, you are
welcome to join us.
Daxos scans the Spartans, counting quickly the rows of men,
unmoving under the weight of their armor as if carved from
the mountain itself.
DAXOS
But you bring only this handful
against Xerxes? I see I was wrong
to expect Sparta's commitment to at
least match our own!
Leonidas sits atop a smooth, moss-covered stone.
LEONIDAS
Doesn't it?
Leonidas glances to the Arcadians.
LEONIDAS
25.
You there. What is your profession?
A small-framed ARCADIAN steps forward.
ARCADIAN #1
I am a potter, sir.
Leonidas points to another.
LEONIDAS
And you, Arcadian. What is your
profession?
Another Arcadian responds from group.
ARCADIAN #2
A sculptor, sir.
Leonidas points again to the crowd.
LEONIDAS
And you?
ARCADIAN #3
A blacksmith.
Again the King points.
LEONIDAS
You?
ARCADIAN114
A baker.
Leonidas stands, turning to his 300.
LEONIDAS
Spartans! What is your profession?
From the silent mass of Spartan muscle, 300 spears and
swords are raised to the sky, a collective battle cry exits
each, thunder and fire that spits forth from their bellies.
SPARTANS
Haaawooo!
The Spartan weapons lower and raise again and again each
time the men grow louder with their chant of war.
SPARTANS
Haaawooo!
26.
Leonidas nods softly at his men and turns to Daxos.
LEONIDAS
You see, old friend? I brought more
soldiers than you did.
22 INT. GORGO'S PRIVATE GARDEN - SPARTA - DUSK 22
On the ground, simple oil-fed cauldrons burn bright,
casting shadows that dance along the branches of olive
trees. Gorgo meets with a Spartan LOYALIST near the
garden's roughly chiseled steps.
LOYALIST
Is such secrecy needed?
GORGO
When is one to trust beyond the
walls of their own home? Even here,
Theron has eyes and ears that fuel
Sparta with doubt and fear.
LOYALIST
Don't worry. Leonidas and his men
are strong.
GORGO
It is not his strength that worries
me ... if Xerxes is not stopped ...
LOYALIST
He will be stopped.
GORGO
If Persians advance beyond the
narrows to the North, they will
leave no one to tell our story.
They will grind Spartan bones to
flour and serve them to their Army.
The Loyalist reflects on the Queen's words.
GORGO
I now bear the weight of the king's
responsibility. If Leonidas fights
for what he believes, so must I,
here in Sparta.
Gorgo stands beneath an arbor of lavender.
LOYALIST
27.
I can arrange for you to speak to
the Council. Many would vote to
commit all we have and follow
Leonidas, but you must show them
favor, explain why their King would
betray the law of his land.
GORGO
Laws created by men who have never
shown valor.
LOYALIST
Is it recklessness or valor?
Without reason the Council can
believe either.
Gorgo watches a Spartan guard on horseback ride out of the
city into the blackness of night.
GORGO
I will go to the Council, and if it
is reason they want, I will let
them know.
LOYALIST
Know what, my Queen?
GORGO
How precious this liberty we enjoy
is. Why freedom isn't free at all.
It comes with the highest of costs.
The cost of blood.
The Loyalist nods in agreement with his Queen.
LOYALIST
I'll bring together the city's
council, and its chamber will be
filled by your voice.
The Loyalist gathers himself and readies to leave.
GORGO
Why do you do this?
LOYALIST
Leonidas is my King, as well as
yours.
The Loyalist bows his head and goes without sound, leaving
the Queen to view the stars that spread across the obsidian
night.
28.
23 EXT. GREEK WAR CAMP - NIGHT 23
Most Spartans sleep, huddled near each other, laying over
their bronze shields like massive rag dolls of war.
The Captain moves across the campsite to Leonidas. They
watch the bursts of dying sparks jump out of the flames and
vanish.
CAPTAIN
No sleep tonight?
LEONIDAS
Not for the King.
Leonidas studies the fire.
CAPTAIN
Too restless ... eager as a youth
... eager as a beardless wet-nosed
cadet for battle.
Leonidas looks towards his men and then back to the
Captain. They share a moment and nod, a moment only shared
and understood by men who have given themselves fully to
one thing their whole lives. Leonidas' voice quiets.
LEONIDAS
All my forty years have been a
straight road to this one gleaming
moment in destiny. This one radiant
clash of shield and spear and sword
and bone and flesh and blood.
Leonidas returns to the fire, watching it dance. The King's
eyes close for a moment. Just a dream of sleep would be
enough.
24 EXT. PINDOS MOUNTAINS 24
The day has turned and grey mist rises in ghostly shapes
from the spine of the mountains. The band of brothers
descends through the merciless heat. Astinos points to the
ridgeline.
ASTINOS
We are being followed.
The silhouetted figure looms, watching the Spartans'
progress.
LEONIDAS
29.
It has followed us since Sparta.
CAPTAIN
A Persian scout?
The Spartans rest for a moment.
LEONIDAS
No. Its stride is more beast than
man.
Stelios points to thin columns of black smoke on the blue
horizon.
STELIOS
Look, my King.
25 EXT. GREEK VILLAGE 25
As the Spartans and Greeks enter. Buildings still smolder
and fall to ash. A complete wasteland, void of hope and
song, filled with smell of slaughtered livestock and the
dead.
STELIOS
What happened here? Where are the
people?
Leonidas scans the details of the destruction. Footprints
in the wet earth, hooves of strange beasts, torn bits of a
peasant's dress. Leonidas crouches, tracing with his finger
the claw-like footprints in the blood-soaked earth.
LEONIDAS
Persians.
The Captain kneels next to Leonidas after surveying the
scene.
CAPTAIN
I put their numbers at around
twenty.
LEONIDAS
A scouting party ... But these
footprints ... What could have ...
STELIOS
A child!
30.
The Spartans turn to see the naked form of a CHILD. A
phantom, her thin pale body, covered in dirt and dried
blood. The mass of Greek warriors part as she moves between
them and stands before Leonidas in silence.
LEONIDAS
Water.
CHILD
It's quiet now ... They ... they
came with beasts from the blackness
... monsters ... dark-skinned ...
cold eyes ... from my nightmares.
The Child is stoic in her telling of the tale.
CHILD
With their claws and fangs they
grabbed them ... everyone ...
everyone but me.
SPARTAN
I've found them.
A Spartan points to a massive wind-blown tree at the top of
a hill.
The Child collapses at the feet of the King. Leonidas
slowly lifts her into his arms.
He closes the eyes of the lifeless child and looks towards
the lone ancient tree. Where VILLAGERS, MAN, WOMAN,CHILD
have been strung out like Christmas ornaments, hundreds of
Persian arrows pierced through their limbs and bodies.
STELIOS
Have the gods no mercy!
DAXOS
We are doomed.
CAPTAIN
Quiet yourself.
The Spartans and free Greeks move slowly towards the
haunting tree. Leonidas stands without expression, holding
the dead child.
DAXOS
31.
The child speaks of the Persian
ghosts, knows from the ancient
times, bound by the myth and magic
of the night ... They are the
hunters of men's souls.
Some of the Greeks nervously look at each other.
DAXOS
They cannot be killed or defeated,
not this darkness, not these
immortals.
Leonidas lays the small child's frame at the base of the
tree.
LEONIDAS
Immortals? We will put their name
to the test.
26 EXT. HOT GATES - SUNSET 26
Leonidas pauses, watching the men stream down past him into
the narrow canyon called the Hot Gate. The WIND HOWLS
through the ancient cut in the mountains and the crimson
Spartan capes ...
... SNAP like flags.
DILIOS (V.O.)
We march ... from Lakonia ... from
sacred Sparta ... we march ... for
Honor's sake ... for Glory's sake
... we march ... Into hell's
mouth.we march.
Leonidas nods to a few passing brothers, dust swirls as the
Captain and his son pass. Leonidas and the Captain share a
moment which causes the Captain to slap a strong hand on
his son's back, smile at him, a father and son joined in
battle, and then turns back to Leonidas. The look of pride
still on his face.
The Captain makes his way through the current of soldiers
to stand next to his King, his friend.
As the troops thunder past, the two survey the landscape
for a moment, looking down through the Hot Gates to the
ocean. Dilios stops and points into the far distance.
DILIOS
Look! Persians!
32.
Countless Persian ships bob like toys on an angry sea,
pulling down distant sails in preparation for a coming
storm. Black bellies of clouds mix with the last light of
day.
DILIOS
Did you know the God King Xerxes
requires no less than 8,000 slaves
to move and assemble his personal
compound. That the zoo of animals
that accompany him consume over 100
tons of wheat, hay and meat a day.
That their Persian war brothel is
contained in over 80 tents and its
number of concubines, goats and war
boys outnumber us 3 to 1. And that
the column of carts that bear the
skins and barrels of fermented
barley and wine is over 15 miles
long.
CAPTAIN
Well, at least we'll die with the
stench of Persian whores on our
cocks and the taste of Persian wine
on our lips.
LEONIDAS
Die perhaps ... or live forever.
CAPTAIN
An optimist.
LEONIDAS
I can afford to be ... I've got you
on my side.
The Captain nods to his friend as the nearing soldiers
clamor by ...
CAPTAIN
You do indeed. The burden of
Kingship you bear alone, but our
friendship we bear together.
Dilios takes a few steps past Leonidas, following the men
who head down to the sea, then turns back to them.
DILIOS
Come, let's watch these motherless
dogs as they are embraced by the
loving arms of Greece herself.
33.
Leonidas takes a look at the sky and then back to the
Persian fleet.
LEONIDAS
True, it does look like rain.
27 EXT. SEA CLIFF 27
Lightning flashes across a violent sky, exploding the mast
of a Persian trireme. The vessel is tossed on giant SURF,
CRASHING it into the rocky coast.
DILIOS (V.O.)
Let the others scurry for cover. We
rush to bear witness. The Gods
play. Zeus stabs the sky with
thunderbolts. Boreas howls,
bullied... and batters the sea with
hurricane wind.
Daxos joins Leonidas and his men as they stand above the
sea on the cliff watching as one after another, the Persian
fleet is smashed in SLOWMOTION, to kindling. Below, another
bolt of lightning briefly illuminates faces of the
countless drowning slave oarsmen gasping for breath among
the splintered timbers of the Persian Armada.
DILIOS (V.O.)
Poseidon rises, rudely awakened,
furious, his surf clawing at the
stars.
The RAIN POUNDS against Leonidas' shield like war drums as
he drinks in the carnage below.
DILIOS (V.O.)
Glorious.
Behind Leonidas, his men laugh. Cries of jubilation are
heard. The men embrace and Daxos raises his fist in victory
as another massive Persian ship explodes onto the rocks and
again the surf surges made viscous by flesh and wood.
DILIOS (V.O.)
Laughter, song and praise for the
Gods that will continue to the next
day's dawn.
Then another flash of lightning as the men behind dance
with time suspended, in ecstasy of jubilation. Leonidas,
jaw set, face cold, stern and motionless, says nothing.
34.
DILIOS (V.O.)
Only one among us keeps his Spartan
reserve.
Leonidas slowly lowers his shield, allowing the rain to run
down his unmoving face.
DILIOS (V.O.)
Only he.
THUNDER mixed with laughter and the pounding sea. The
distant cries of a host of drowning Persians. Leonidas
lifts his chin in slow motion to the rain and closes his
eyes, breathes the salty air and turns back through his men
to the Spartan camp.
DILIOS (V.O.)
Only our King.
28 EXT. NEAR THE PERSIAN CAMP - DAWN 28
A handful of Spartans moves silently through the misty
forest at a pace impossibly fast for the lack of sound. No
helmets, no shields.
FLASHES of red and steel between the trunks of mountain
pines.
A Spartan points to the edge of a bluff just in front of
them, the forest silhouetted by the bright sky, telling
Daxos they have reached the overlook they had ventured into
the woods to find.
He crawls on his belly until he is next to the Spartans who
lie at the cliff's edge looking down on the Persian
encampment. Daxos' breath catches in his throat as terror
grips him staring down on the camp of his enemy.
WE SEE: the greatest gathering of men and animals the world
has ever seen, for the valley below him, which stretches
five miles across, bordered on one side by the sea and on
the other by the mountains, contains from edge to edge a
city of tents complete with roads that team with people and
carts and horse and creatures no Greek eye has seen before.
At the coast, countless thousands of ships are being
unloaded and tended to. Vast legions of men march this way
and that, the smoke from the tens of thousands of fires has
created a cloud of black that drifts and clings over the
nearby mountains.
DAXOS
35.
I saw those ships smashed on the
rocks. How can this be?
SPARTAN
We saw but a fraction of the
monster that is Xerxes' army.
The Spartan smiles, shaking his head at the sheer
spectacle.
DAXOS
We are doomed. There can be no
victory here. Why do you smile?
SPARTAN
Arcadian, I have fought countless
times ... Yet I have never met an
adversary who could offer me what
we Spartans call a Beautiful Death.
I can only hope with all the
world's warriors gathered against
us that there might be one down
there who's up to the task.
With that he slaps a hand on Daxos' back and laughs.
29 EXT. MOUNTAIN FOOTHILLS 29
WE SEE: a form, half-man/half-unknown, who has followed
Leonidas. Its hunched back, gruesome and abstract, face
rutted and worn like leather. EPHIALTES moves with a broken
gait, mouth shaped like a gunshot wound, eyes uneven, wild
with determination.
EPHIALTES
Honored father ... Smile down upon
me from your place of rest. This
day your son will prove himself.
Ephialtes' feet trample over the wild scrub and withered
flowers sheathed in dust.
EPHIALTES
I will show you that you were not
wrong to protect me. I will show
you that I am worthy.
Ephialtes stops at the edge of a high cliff, cupping his
misshapen hand towards his face, inhaling deeply, smelling,
questioning the air itself.
EPHIALTES
36.
Bastards.
WE HEAR: the sound of TROOPS marching in the distance.
A PERSIAN GENERAL carried atop a golden throne, surrounded
by BODYGUARDS. He whips his slaves and pushes them on.
EPHIALTES
Persian bastards! We'll kill all of
you.
Ephialtes grits his teeth and growls at the passing Persian
display.
EPHIALTES
We Spartans will destroy you.
30 EXT. HOT GATES - DAWN 30
Morning calisthenics. Leonidas leans on his spear,
watching. A summer WIND blows cool off the Aegean. Bodies
straight, teeth clenched at the zenith of a military push
up, they hold that pose.
On each of their backs stands another Spartan with shield,
helmet, spear and cape. Muscles shake and quiver under 200
pounds of men and armor.
Daxos rushes into the Spartan campsite. Leonidas turns from
his men who can be heard in the b.g.
Leonidas is calm, almost pleasant.
LEONIDAS
Daxos, you're up early for an
Arcadian.
Daxos is scared, he points in the direction of the sea.
DAXOS
A Persian General approaches. You
should come and speak to him. It is
our one chance for survival.
The King nods slowly at Daxos.
DAXOS
You are the King. Your men are ill-
prepared for the delicate matters
of state. I fear the welcome that
this ambassador will receive and
the message it sends to Xerxes.
37.
Leonidas smiles at Daxos.
LEONIDAS
No, on second thought, I am busy.
My boys will meet him at the wall
and I think you will find them
quite prepared to show him a proper
Spartan welcome.
31 EXT. SEASIDE ROAD 31
Persians advance up the primitive highway. The Persian
General's gold litter, carried by twelve slaves at a dead
run, suddenly slows as it approaches the Hot Gates. Fear
grips the dark-skinned slaves who carry the General.
More afraid of what they see than the General's whip.
DILIOS (V.O.)
Perhaps King Xerxes sent his
General to negotiate our surrender.
Or perhaps he wonders why he has
not heard from his scouts.
As they round the last bend, the Hot Gates still in the
distance, they are greeted by two dozen dead Persian
scouts. Each impaled by a spear so that it protrudes from
his mouth. The shafts of the spears inside their bodies
cause them to sit upright.
The dead scouts adorn the rocks and dirt mounds, a signpost
to the General that he is headed in the right direction.
His handful of bodyguards are frozen as they stare at the
gruesome display.
32 EXT. MOUNTAIN FOOTHILLS 32
Ephialtes watches the Persian General and his column of men
fade into the distance.
EPHIALTES
Destroy them, right up their camel-
callused backsides.
Ephialtes spins and thrusts the sky with his. spear in mock
battle.
EPHIALTES
Blessed Spartans! The boldest of
men. The finest warriors in all the
world!
38.
He turns and opens his stride across the sharp rocks.
EPHIALTES
They will accept me. They must
accept me. Father! Beloved Mother!
You will see that you were right to
protect me.
And now the creature runs.
The path is strange and solemn. Among the ferns and
mountain oaks, granite shelves, ragged escarpments of stone
and earth braced by the invisible hands of the Gods
themselves.
He runs to warn his Spartans.
33 EXT. WALL OF THE DEAD 33
Near the entrance to the Hot Gates. The Persian General
half-stands out of the ornate chair, borne on the shoulders
of bleeding slaves, to better see who among his enemies are
gathered at the wall which now acts as a barrier, funneling
would-be attackers into the Hot Gates.
A large group of Spartans work at putting the finishing
touches to the wall. Stelios puts a large rock in place at
the top of the wall and, already sweating hard, glances at
the approaching General who calls up to him.
GENERAL
You there! Who commands here?
Stelios stares down at him, then to the water below. He
takes a breath and leaps fifty feet to the sea. His form is
perfect. The General watches as he hits the water headfirst
with barely a splash.
The General looks at the men as they work on the wall. No
one has stopped. The General stands, frustrated, on the
platform supported by slaves, and calls again to the men
working on the wall.
GENERAL
I am the emissary of the Ruler of
all the World, the God of Gods, the
King of Kings and I demand by that
authority that you show me your
commander.
One or two of the Arcadians look over their shoulders at
the Persian General.
39.
GENERAL
Listen and learn, Spartans. I am
tired of your petulance.
Stelios climbs the cliff face up out of the salt water. He
leans against a boulder and begins sharpening his sword
with a found stone.
GENERAL
Do you think that the paltry dozen
you slew scares us or means
anything to us? They are nothing to
the great Xerxes. Why, these hills
swarm with our scouts. They watch
us even now. They move like
shadows.
The men still work, moving the rocks, handing them to one
another, ignoring the Persian General, who laughs a one-
breath laugh and looks to his nervous men. He then points
at the wall.
GENERAL
Do you think your pathetic wall
will do anything except fall like a
heap of dry leaves in the face of
...
His words catch in his throat as he sees that the wall
before them is built not just out of stone.
WE SEE: Jammed between the boulders and rocks are the
heads, limbs, and bodies of countless Persian scouts. Even
their horses have not been spared. Their faces in grim
crimson and black clotted blood against the gray of stones.
The General and his-horrified bodyguards scan the wall
which looms before them. A monument to death.
Stelios lowers his chin, glides his sharpening stone one
last time down the length of his BLADE which --
RINGS with sparks and the song of iron on stone. The
General struggles for something to say.
STELIOS
Our ancestors built this wall using
ancient stones from the bosom of
Greece herself and, with a little
Spartan help, you Persians supplied
the mortar.
GENERAL
You will pay for your barbarism.
40.
And with that, he loads his whip to strike. Stelios,
without hesitation, closes the distance to the General in a
heartbeat. Rising in a powerful leap, his freshly sharpened
sword FLASHES through the General's arm at the elbow.
The General's litter crashes to the ground. His slaves dive
for the protection of nearby rocks. Stelios stands over the
General as he grips his stump in pain, blood pumping
between his fingers. Each of his bodyguards frozen at spear
point by the now agitated Spartans.
GENERAL
My arm!
STELIOS
It's not yours anymore. Go now. Run
along and tell your Xerxes he faces
free men here. Not Slaves. Do it
quickly before we decide to make
this wall just a little bit bigger.
The General breathes a labored breath, swallows hard and
narrows his brow.
GENERAL
Not slaves, no. Your women will be
slaves, though. Your sons and
daughters, and elders will be
slaves. But not you. By noon this
day you will be dead men.
Stelios is unmoved by the General's speech.
GENERAL
One hundred nations of the Persian
Empire descend upon you.
The General is helped back to his golden perch and his
slaves shoulder his lighter weight. He turns one last time,
to the massive wall, to the men that built it, and the
butcher that took his arm.
GENERAL
Our arrows will blot out the sun.
Stelios never changes his expression. His eyes are as cold
as the bracing AEGEAN which CRASHES relentlessly on the
cliffs below.
STELIOS
Then we will fight in the shade.
41.
34 EXT. COASTAL HILLS 34
Leonidas and his Captain watch as the Persian Ambassador
retreats back to Xerxes and his legions.
CAPTAIN
The wall is solid. It will do the
job of channeling the Persians into
the Hot Gates, and the rest of our
defenses are nearly complete.
LEONIDAS
Captain, have the men found any
route through the hills to our
back?
CAPTAIN
None, sir.
Atop the brown stones and pale ground stands Ephialtes,
like a broken creature.
EPHIALTES
There is such a route, good King.
Ephialtes lowers his bronze shield to reveal his entire
body.
EPHIALTES
Just past that western ridge. It's
an old goat path. The Persians
could use it to outflank us.
The Captain steps forward and levels his spear at
Ephialtes' frame.
CAPTAIN
Not one step closer, Monster.
Ephialtes bows his head towards Leonidas.
EPHIALTES
Wise King, I humbly request an
audience.
The Captain stands firm.
CAPTAIN
I'll skewer you where you stand!
Leonidas lowers his spear in front of the Captain's chest,
stopping him from advancing towards Ephialtes.
42.
LEONIDAS
I gave no such order.
The Captain looks to his King away slowly, and backs
watching Ephialtes as he returns to his men who prepare for
the Persians.
LEONIDAS
Forgive the Captain. He is a good
soldier ... but a bit short on
manners.
Ephialtes squints and shortens his gaze to Leonidas.
EPHIALTES
There is nothing to forgive, brave
King. I know what I look like.
LEONIDAS
You wear the crimson of a Spartan.
Ephialtes steps closer to the King, lifting his head with
pride.
EPHIALTES
I am Ephialtes, born of Sparta. My
mother's love led my parents to
flee Sparta, lest I be discarded.
My father became a shepherd ... but
he taught me the warrior's way.
LEONIDAS
Your weapons and armor?
EPHIALTES
My father's, sir.
Silence lays between the King and the eager soul.
EPHIALTES
I beg you, bold King, to permit me
to redeem my father's name by
serving you ... in combat.
Leonidas leans onto a smooth, cool stone.
EPHIALTES
You will see ... Day and night my
father trained me.
Ephialtes opens his stance and twirls the shaft of his
spear, blurring the speed of its arc.
43.
EPHIALTES
To feel no fear ... to show no pain
... to make spear and shield and
sword as much a part of me as my
own beating heart.
Ephialtes jabs his spear towards Persian camps in the the
distance, breathing, growling at the imaginary men that
fall before him.
EPHIALTES
You see? My arms are strong and my
reach is long. I will earn my
father's armor, noble King ... and
reclaim my family's honor.
LEONIDAS
A fine thrust ...
EPHIALTES
I will kill many Persians!
Leonidas stands, shadow towering over the warped form of
Ephialtes.
LEONIDAS
Raise your shield!
Ephialtes stops his attack.
EPHIALTES
Sir?
LEONIDAS
Raise your shield as high as you
can.
Ephialtes lifts the shield. He is half hidden behind the
circle of hammered bronze.
LEONIDAS
Your father should have taught you
how our Phalanx works. We fight as
a single impenetrable unit. That is
the source of our strength.
Leonidas demonstrates the defensive stance.
LEONIDAS
Each Spartan protects the man to
his left from thigh to neck with
his shield. A single weak spot ...
and the phalanx shatters.
44.
Leonidas takes his hand to the top of Ephialtes' shield and
measures the height, a good two feet shy of the needed
mark.
LEONIDAS
From thigh to neck, Ephialtes.
The King shakes his head slowly as Ephialtes lowers his
shield.
LEONIDAS
I am sorry, my friend, not all of
us are made to be soldiers.
EPHIALTES
But I ...
Leonidas places his hand on the shoulder of Ephialtes.
LEONIDAS
If you want to help Sparta in its
victory, you can clear the
battlefield of the dead, tend the
wounded, bring them water, but as
for the fight itself, I cannot use
you.
The King turns quietly away and heads down the slope of
limestone towards his 300.
EPHIALTES
Mother, Father, you were wrong.
Ephialtes turns away, towards the cliff's edge.
EPHIALTES
You are wrong, Leonidas. You are
wrong!
But the King continues, growing smaller in the distance.
Ephialtes turns and leaps from the cliff, disappearing from
the high outcropping of rock, making not another sound.
The Captain watches as Leonidas crosses the folds of rock,
windblown brush, shade-dappled grass, fine as thread.
LEONIDAS
(to the Captain)
Dispatch the Phocians to the goat
path and pray to the Gods that
nobody tells the Persians about it.
45.
The Earth begins to shake and lift, rocks loosen and
cascade down the cliff face. The Spartans and the other
Greeks steady themselves.
The distant RUMBLING GROWS... STRONGER... LOUDER!
LEONIDAS
Battle formations!
Without hesitation the Spartan guard and others move
quickly, grabbing their weapons.
DILIOS (V.O.)
For a beast approaches ... savoring
the meal to come.
36 EXT. PERSIAN ENCAMPMENT 36
And from the very sea itself, the Persian tents and rally-
points empty and break ground. They charge upwards through
the valley. They come in hordes, forward, fast, over the
rocks and shallows, they race on.
DILIOS (V.O.)
A force of men so massive it shakes
the earth with its march.
Brown bearded forms, chest panels of crocodile cover ragged
men, smoothed leather head covers adorned with seashells
and human bones.
DILIOS (V.O.)
An Army so vast ... beyond
imagining.
The Persians flow upward, through the valley floor and
foothills of the mountains.
DILIOS (V.O.)
Poised to devour tiny Greece.
Like locusts the Persians swarm over the land, destroying
beneath their advance all that holds life. Nothing is
spared.
DILIOS (V.O.)
To snuff out the world's one hope
for reason and justice.
37 EXT. HOT GATES 37
46.
Armor is lifted. Leonidas runs forward, leading from the
front. The Captain and his 300 follow him down the broken
path.
CAPTAIN
Follow your King.
Stelios lets out a battle cry that ECHOES off the steep
rock faces on either side of him. Dilios and the Captain's
son join him as they drop down along the funnel of stone.
LEONIDAS
Earn your shields, boys.
They fork around obstacles, flow down en masse toward the
Hot Gates. Over rocks they leap. Today there is no need to
hunt ... the Spartan prey is before them ... one million of
them!
38 EXT. WALLOF THE DEAD 38
WE HEAR: The sounds of HOOVES and HORSES, like distant
thunder, GROWINGCLOSER! Blue-turbaned riders, atop sleek
Arabian horses, dozens break the low hills and funnel past
the wall of the dead. Now, hundreds of horses are in full
gallop over the high grass. Riders lean forward on their
mounts, eyes fierce, scanning for Greek blood.
39 EXT. HOT GATES 39
Leonidas settles himself as the rest of his men arrive.
They form quickly around their King, quieting their racing
hearts, and listen to his words over the Persian
juggernaut.
LEONIDAS
This is where we hold them!
The Spartans watch as the earth moves and undulates, heaves
forward, alive with forms dressed in loose silk and cloth.
They carry curved swords, ivory-handled daggers tucked into
belts of gold. Horsemen whip the infantry forward, while
others reach into wicker quivers that hold arrows from the
East.
LEONIDAS
This is where we fight!
47.
The Spartans lower their shields into a perfect phalanx, a
solid wall of bronze from one side of the Hot Gates to the
other. Each man protects the next, each with spear extended
towards the Persian wave.
LEONIDAS
This is where they die!
The Persian funnel off the Wall of the Dead up the last
steps of the Hot Gates.
LEONIDAS
Remember this day, men, for it will
be yours for all time.
A snow-white Arabian and RIDER slows ... the mass of
Xerxes' machine of war slows ... as the golden shields of
Leonidas and his Spartans are revealed.
PERSIAN HORSEMAN
Spartans!
The air is heavy with the smells of leather, iron and
sweat. Leonidas and his 300 do not move, only their breath
can be heard against each other's backs.
PERSIAN HORSEMAN
Lay down your weapons!
WE SEE: From the Wall of the Dead appears the slow arc of a
single javelin through the air. It settles quickly into the
chest of the Persian Horseman, toppling him from his mount,
dead before he touches Greek soil. Leonidas narrows his
eyes to his enemies.
LEONIDAS
Persians ... Come and get them!
And with the defiance of the Gods themselves, Leonidas
starts what many speak of but few have the heart for.
WAR BEGINS!
WE HEAR: First faint, then rising with the ranks, a low
RUMBLING. Strange HORNS and CALLS TO WAR lift from the
Persians, as if to warn of the Apocalypse that will follow.
CAPTAIN
Shoulder to shoulder.
The Spartan phalanx snaps to a perfect oak and bronze wall
of defense.
48.
Beneath the hammered bronze, eyes locked forward, towards
the howling enemy.
The front rows of the Phalanx lower their lances of cornel
wood and ash, eight feet from hand to razor-tipped end.
This stand of men appears unworldly, as if some breathing
metal beast that lays coiled, ready to attack.
The force of Persian RAIDERS drops down the last open space
and funnels straight to Leonidas and his men.
CAPTAIN
Hold.
The Spartans brace for battle.
LEONIDAS
Give them nothing.
Assyrians, Arabians, Bactrians, Cappadocians, Medes,
Karians, Babylonians, Armenians, and other Asiatic tribes,
a hundred nations thunder forward at the Spartan line.
LEONIDAS
But take from them, everything.
The Persians close within twenty yards of the forest of
Spartan arms.
CAPTAIN
Steady, boys.
CRASH! East meets West. Wicker meets bronze.
The Spartan line grits its teeth against the massive
Persian onslaught. Thousands of Persians push against the
wall of Spartan bronze. Sandals slide, plowing the earth as
Spartan feet are forced back.
A Persian blade draws the first Spartan blood, grazing
across the shoulder of a young Spartan. He cries out in
anger, breathing hate into the Spartan will.
Leonidas strains as he and his men finally slow the tide of
silk and wicker, steel and dark skin. They find a foothold
that stops their backwards movement, and all at once a
thousand Persian eyes grow large with fear as Leonidas
lowers his body, pushes forward, thrusting through Persians
two at a time.
49.
The Captain rolls over the enemy without pause. Piercing
through the silk leggings, puncturing their lungs with such
power that the air escapes the chest wounds in great
geysers.
CAPTAIN
Push on!!!
They push on, never breaking their impenetrable human wall.
DILIOS
Aaaahhhh!
Dilios' jabs land, cutting into Persian throats, the cries
of pain muffled as they fall under the trampling feet of
Spartan advance.
CAPTAIN
Push!!!!
They push on ...
The Spartans gather strength from Greece herself, the
invaders fall upon each other, one after the other.
WE HEAR: The CRIES of men, strange tongues from foreign
lands, GROANS and SCREAMS drift out and fall back to the
lifeless bodies from which they came.
LEONIDAS
Clear ... to the right.
Scared Persians, hearts pounding in hollow determination,
fall quick prey to the skill of the Spartans.
CAPTAIN
No prisoners!
SPARTANS
Haaawooo!!!
They step and thrust, killing all before them.
LEONIDAS
No mercy!
SPARTANS
Haaawooo!!!!
A deafening advance, the Spartans repel the Persian
discharge with ease, forcing the incalculable numbers
backwards.
50.
CAPTAIN
They look thirsty.
LEONIDAS
Give them something to drink, boys.
CAPTAIN
To the cliffs!
The Spartan phalanx jolts too. Electrified, they push their
burnished defense, relentless, driving over Persian bodies,
grinding towards the coastal cliffs.
Leonidas lurches, skewering another. The rear columns of
attacking Persians begin to fold and fall away, over the
high cliff's edge and into the sea below.
WE HEAR: Gasps of men without earth beneath them, falling
forms. High-pitched wails and caterwauls bleed forth and
crumple back onto the force as they are pushed over the
rocky line.
By the hundreds they fall, embroidered tunics and mail
jackets tumble, continuous and measured screams sing out as
the Persians distort and separate into the churning salty
grave.
LEONIDAS
Hold.
With the King's voice, the Spartans stop and watch the last
Persian sail over the cliff face and disappear without a
sound.
CAPTAIN
Hell of a good start.
SPARTANS
Haawooo!
WE HEAR: Distant Arabian HORNS sound off. As a thousand
HARPIES SCREECH and arrows cut loose.
CAPTAIN
Tuck tail!
The Spartans drop to a knee and cover their bodies with the
bronze shelter from the incoming storm.
The first wave of bronze heads sink into the ground around
Leonidas and his men. Shaft after shaft rains into the
Spartan shields, momentarily obscuring the sun with their
volume.
51.
LEONIDAS
Persian cowards.
Bowmen reach into their quivers and send more missiles by
the thousands, an attack of size and strength never seen by
Leonidas and his men.
Astinos crouches, laughing beneath his makeshift bronze
roof.
STELIOS
What in the hell are you laughing
at?
ASTINOS
You had to say it.
Arrows pound off their shields, deflect, SHAFTS SNAP, they
fall in a deluge, pinning Astinos' robe to the ground.
STELIOS
What?
ASTINOS
Fight in the shade.
They both begin to laugh and now the others join in. As the
last shrieking volley is cut loose ... All is silent, save
the Spartans laughter on the battlefield.
CAPTAIN
Settle down.
Leonidas looks to his Captain.
LEONIDAS
Let them laugh. It scares the fight
out of our enemy.
The Captain nods.
CAPTAIN
Recover.
A cry erupts from the back of the Spartan formation. In the
front position, Leonidas sees the mass of beast and men
they now offer. His eyes widen to the sheer force and he
sets his body for the impact.
LEONIDAS
No heroes ... Today no Spartan
dies!
52.
Astinos looks to his Father. The Captain nods softly, a
simple gesture of recognition that comforts his son before
Hell arrives.
Nostrils flare as the giant sand-colored beasts thunder
down upon the Spartan line.
The Captain locks his shield into his body. Stelios fights
back fear, his breath quickening in time with the advancing
mounts.
An explosion of pure violence.
Persians are thrown from their strange mounts, bodies
trampled; sweat and blood runs freely. Terror carved and
molded to each Persian face.
DILIOS (V.O.)
We do what we were trained to do!
The Spartans advance with tremendous velocity, half-naked
forms, red ribbons, brilliant bronze armor rushing forward
without pause.
DILIOS (V.O.)
What we were bred to do!
The Persians fight with curved swords, small war axes and
hammers engraved with lions' heads.
DILIOS (V.O.)
What we were born to do!
It is as abstract as it is brutal. Persian men, torn limbs,
unclothed bodies, crushed and bloody, wounded figures,
empty hand-tooled saddles, beheaded camels, faceless masses
clutching to breath and pulse, one by one falling again and
again to Spartan endurance.
DILIOS (V.O.)
No prisoners! No mercy! A good
start.
41 EXT. SPARTAN MARKETPLACE - DAY 41
WE SEE: Gorgo and her son moving through the crowded
marketplace. Pleistarchos playfully darts between stone
columns and pools of bright sunlight.
The two move in a loose pair past dark chambers, where
BLACKSMITHS--
53.
-- POUND bronze and iron into blade and bowl. Potters shape
red clay in vessels and plate. Gorgo stops at the mouth of
an alley and calls to her son, who has disappeared behind a
gaggle of HOUSEMAIDS, who bicker and gossip.
GORGO
I am not chasing after you.
The Queen waits a moment and sighs.
GORGO
That's it, I'm leaving. Do you hear
me?
Gorgo turns down the alley shaking her head. She passes the
red homespun fabric, freshly dyed, they hang drying in the
midday sun. The shadows of the hanger bars flash across her
face as she moves between the blood-red fabric walls into a
small courtyard. Carved out of stone is a simple bearded
face and out of the stone mouth, water flows, falling into
a small pool.
The Loyalist sits, ringing a rag out in the clear water and
places it on his neck.
LOYALIST
I was afraid you might not come.
He stands to his feet as Gorgo approaches.
GORGO
I'm sorry, my son ... is ...
She turns back towards the alley.
LOYALIST
Doing what children do best. Please
don't apologize.
Gorgo relaxes a bit, made comfortable by the Loyalist's
manner.
LOYALIST
He starts the Agoge next year. That
is always a hard time for Spartan
mothers.
GORGO
Yes ... it will be hard, but also
necessary.
The Loyalist ponders with a smile, remembering his time
enduring the Spartan crucible.
54.
LOYALIST
In two days you will speak to the
council.
Gorgo answers quickly.
GORGO
My husband does not have two days.
LOYALIST
Leonidas has chosen his battles and
so must you. These two days are a
gift.
The Queen nods.
LOYALIST
It's no secret that Theron wants
what you control. It is his voice
you must silence. Make an ally of
him and you will have your victory.
The moment hangs between them both.
GORGO
My son will be looking for me.
Thank you ... You are as wise as
you are kind.
The Loyalist bows and moves off down a passageway. Gorgo
turns to the fountain and splashes water on her face,
relief from August heat. She pauses, letting the water pour
over her hands, staring into the stone eyes of the
fountain. From behind her, a voice.
THERON
There's your mother.
Gorgo turns to find Theron and Pleistarchos. Her son's eyes
are nervous as Theron grips his shoulders from behind.
Gorgo moves towards them both; Theron lets her son go and
he runs to her side.
THERON
You should keep a better eye on him
if he is to be King one day.
Gorgo pulls her son into her. Theron studies the faces of
both Queen and son.
THERON
55.
It would be unfortunate if anything
were to happen to him or his
beautiful mother.
Gorgo narrows her gaze at Theron.
42 EXT. HOT GATES - AFTERNOON 42
It is a vision of Hell on Earth. Thousands of Persian dead
lay in heaps. The ground turned to mud by the countless
gallons of blood. The Spartans work gathering weapons from
the fallen and putting the few Persians whose injuries have
not killed them, out of their misery.
Leonidas and the Captain pull off their helmets. As they
do, the Captain sees a Persian crawling among the nearby
dead. He moves casually over to him.
The Captain looks back toward Leonidas, tossing the King an
apple. As Leonidas bites into it, the Captain puts a heavy
foot on the Persian to steady him, then plunges a spear
through his back. The Persian cries out, then dies.
The Captain pulls his spear free and moves to the King.
CAPTAIN
The Arcadians are itching for
battle, sire. They're begging for a
crack at the Persians.
LEONIDAS
Good! I've got something I think
they can handle. Tell Daxos I want
them eager, sober, and ready for
the next charge.
Stelios runs the last few yards right up to Leonidas and
the Captain.
STELIOS
(breathing hard)
King Leonidas.
LEONIDAS
Stelios, catch your breath, boy.
Stelios puts his hands on his thighs and drops his head for
a moment.
STELIOS
Yes, My Lord.
56.
He breathes deeply, then swallows.
STELIOS
Persians approach, My Lord. A small
contingent. Too small for an
attack.
Leonidas looks in the direction of Stelios' spear which he
uses as a pointer.
LEONIDAS
Captain, you are in charge.
CAPTAIN
But, Sire ...
Leonidas smiles at the Captain.
LEONIDAS
Relax, old friend. If they
assassinate me, all of Sparta goes
to war.
Leonidas becomes more serious, his voice lowers.
LEONIDAS
Pray they're that stupid ... pray
we're that lucky.
Leonidas begins to move across the landscape of the dead as
the Captain sighs, then sees another breathing Persian and
raises his spear.
LEONIDAS
Besides, there's no reason we can't
be civil, is there?
The Captain buries his spear with crisp precision and the
life groans from one of the nameless horde of his enemy.
CAPTAIN
None, sire.
43 EXT. COASTAL PLAIN 43
A clearing between the Hot Gates and the Persian camps.
Leonidas slows to a stop. His expression a subtle smile. A
mix of amusement and disbelief at the display before him.
For, wedged between the sea and the jagged rock face of the
mountains, is a sight as impressive as it is absurd.
57.
100 men bear on their backs a giant golden throne beset
with sculpted lions. Ancient script as old as time itself
is carved upon the platform. It rises 20 feet above the
shoulders of the bent slaves who carry it. At its summit,
surrounded by golden gazelles and backed by a black sun,
stands XERXES. Nearly 7 feet tall. Body of lean sinew,
hairless, androgynous, and draped in adornments of gold.
LEONIDAS
Let me guess. You are Xerxes.
Xerxes moves down the richly carpeted stairs of his throne
platform to the waiting Leonidas. Xerxes steps down, using
the back of a kneeling slave as the final step.
DILIOS (V.O.)
A voice as smooth as warm oil on
well-worn leather and as deep as
rolling thunder.
XERXES
Come, Leonidas. Let us reason
together.
Xerxes glides on powerful legs as Leonidas stands next to
him.
XERXES
It would be a regrettable waste ...
it would be nothing short of
madness were you, brave king, and
your valiant troops to perish all
because of a simple
misunderstanding.
LEONIDAS
Don't lose sleep worrying over us.
We're having the time of our lives.
Xerxes stops and turns to the Spartan King.
XERXES
Brave words. Spartan words. I
admire you. The strength and honor
of your soldiers, their fierce
devotion. There is much our
cultures could share.
LEONIDAS
Haven't you noticed we have been
sharing our culture with you all
morning?
58.
Xerxes smiles.
XERXES
Yours is a fascinating tribe. Even
now you are defiant, in the face of
annihilation and the presence of a
god.
Leonidas looks up at Xerxes.
LEONIDAS
There is a fundamental difference
between us. You would kill any of
your men to win and I would die for
any of mine.
As Leonidas and Xerxes stand together, silent archers pull
bows taut, keeping an eye on the Spartan King.
XERXES
You Greeks take pride in your
logic. I suggest you employ it.
Consider the beautiful land you so
vigorously defend. Picture it
reduced to ash at my whim!
Leonidas is unmoved.
XERXES
Consider the fate of your women.
LEONIDAS
Clearly you don't know our women. I
might as well have marched them up
here judging by what I've seen. You
have many slaves, Xerxes, but few
warriors. It won't be long before
they fear my spears more than your
whips.
Leonidas turns away from Xerxes and scans the hillside.
Rocks fall in a cascade from a nearby cut in the cliff.
Xerxes gently puts his hands on Leonidas' shoulder.
XERXES
It is not the lash they fear, it is
my divine power. I am a generous
God. I can make you rich beyond all
measure.
Xerxes leans closer to Leonidas, his voice goes to a hush.
XERXES
59.
I will make you warlord of all
Greece. You will carry my battle
standard into the heart of Europa.
Your Athenian rivals will kneel at
your feet, if you will but kneel at
mine.
Leonidas exhales deeply, then steps out from under the God
King's hand and looks at his feet.
LEONIDAS
You are generous as you are divine,
oh King of Kings. Such an offer
only a madman would refuse.
The Spartan King then takes a few slow steps away from the
towering Xerxes.
LEONIDAS
But the idea of kneeling, it's ...
you see slaughtering all those men
of yours has put a nasty cramp in
my leg. So kneeling will be hard
for me.
XERXES
You sadden me, Leonidas. For as I
am reasonable, so am I vicious, and
as I am generous, so am I wrathful.
Xerxes' body tenses under the weight of diplomatic words.
XERXES
There will be no glory in your
sacrifice. I will erase the memory
of Sparta from the histories. Every
piece of Greek parchment shall be
burned. Every Greek historian and
every scribe shall have their eyes
put out and their tongues cut from
their mouths.
Xerxes is afire, voice raised in contempt for the Spartan
King.
XERXES
Why, uttering the very name of
Sparta or Leonidas will be
punishable by death. The world will
never know you existed at all.
Leonidas turns to Xerxes, eyes as cold as ice.
60.
LEONIDAS
The world will know free men stood
against a tyrant. That few stood
against many, and before this
battle was over, that even a God
King can bleed.
44 EXT. HOT GATES - SUNSET 44
On the flat steps, before the Hot Gates. Stelios and
Astinos work piling Persian corpses into a great mound at
the Wall of the Dead. Muscles strain under the lifeless
bodies. The sun has just passed below the mountains, and
promise of the night's cold is first spoken by the breeze
which rises off the sea.
STELIOS
You fought well today, for a woman.
Stelios tosses the body he's carrying onto the pile.
ASTINOS
As did you. Maybe if I am injured
you will be able to keep up with
me.
Astinos grunts as he heaves a cool body onto another, as
Stelios drags a body by the ankles.
STELIOS
Maybe I was so far ahead you did
not see me.
The Captain behind them lifts two bodies over his shoulders
and begins to move towards the youths.
ASTINOS
More likely offering your backside
to the Thespians.
STELIOS
Jealously does not become you,
friend.
Stelios throws another on the heaping head. The two smile
at each other.
The Captain climbs onto the bodies of his enemies, one
Persian over each shoulder, heaving them at Stelios' feet.
Leonidas calls up to them, out of breath, from the foot of
the pile.
61.
LEONIDAS
Move it, men! Pile those Persians
high.
Leonidas glances back towards the Persian camp, as a wind
of dusk tosses crimson behind him.
LEONIDAS
We're in for one wild night!
CAPTAIN
Yes, sir.
45 EXT. COASTAL PLAIN - NIGHT 45
The worn road to the Hot Gates. Quiet grips the black
cliffs. The sea laps onto ageless rock. A light breeze
whispers in the trees and then out of the darkness ...
WE HEAR: DRUMS
DILIOS (V.O.)
They have served the dark will of
Persian Kings for 500 years.
Clouds roll against the quarter moon. Black banners * cover
the sky.
DILIOS (V.O.)
Eyes as dark as night. Teeth filed
to fangs ... soulless.
The war DRUMS POUND like the heartbeat of a Titan. A river
of black bronze surges toward the Hot Gates.
DILIOS (V.O.)
Wordless, their form. Faultless,
moving in such perfect unison. Each
collective step strikes the earth
like a blow from the Fire God's
Hammer. They march!
Feet pound the earth. Barely the feet of men, toenail-like
claws.
WE RISE SLOWLY ALONG the form of black armored skin.
Muscular arms protrude from ornate plates inlaid with gold.
Maybe ancient writing or design. Only dead men have seen
close enough to know.
DILIOS (V. 0.)
62.
The personal guard to King Xerxes
himself. The Persian warrior elite.
The deadliest fighting force in all
Asia.
One of the thousands turns TO us, scanning the hillside as
his demon brothers pass behind him. A hiss of breath, he
bares his saw-blade teeth. His black eyes, shark-like,
searching for Spartan blood.
DILIOS (V. 0. )
The Immortals.
A nameless Immortal at the front of the column holds up his
fist and, as one, they stop.
WE HEAR: The DRUMSFLOURISH, then GO SILENT.
The Immortal lowers his fist slowly, takes a few tentative
steps out of formation and scans the obstacle in his way. A
wall of stone and fresh Persian dead, 20 feet high, that
runs from cliff wall down to the sea. He stares up at the
grotesque sight of his comrades.
Something new rises from his belly, freezing his joints,
making his breath catch in his throat. Something he has not
felt in countless forays on the battlefield -- FEAR!
DILIOS (V. 0.)
Now, while we are fresh and at our
full strength. Before wounds and
weariness have taken their toll.
The Immortal at the front reaches with shaking hands to the
two sabers slung at his back. Stepping slowly away from the
wall, he frees the two long arcing blades and nervously
watches the wall for movement.
DILIOS (V.O.)
The mad King throws the best he has
at us. Xerxes has taken the bait.
WE MOVEACROSS the faces of the dead at the top of the wall,
until we COMETO REST ON the dull gold of a Spartan helmet,
the unblinking eyes of Leonidas is hidden among the dead.
LEONIDAS
Spartans, push!!!
From behind the wall, a hoard of crimson and bronze presses
as one against the wall of corpses, which tumbles onto the
horrified immortals, breaking like waves onto the first six
rows of the Persian elite.
63.
WE SEE: Pouring over the mound of dead comes a new swell of
Spartan shields and spears, surging down on the stunned
Immortals.
Leonidas plunges his spear, reaching three deep into the
ranks of his enemies. He instantly lands a strong foot into
the chest of the skewered man, pushing him with a single
powerful stroke of his spear and turns to the next.
DILIOS (V.O.)
Immortals. Well ... As our King
said, we put their name to the
test.
With his shield, Stelios blocks a blade strike meant for
the Captain who flashes young Stelios a look before ramming
his own spear through the attacker's eye socket.
This is the hardest fighting they have faced. War cries
howl from the Immortals as they battle the Spartans.
TIME SLOWS:
WE SEE: Astinos as he catches· an attacking Immortal with
his spear, in a single move, draws his sword to dispatch
another surging at his side. The blood of his enemies
sprays across Leonidas' face as the Spartans push forward
into the columns of confused Immortals.
IMMORTALCOMMANDER
Stand your ground!
The COMMANDER is bumped by a retreating soldier. He grabs
the fleeing soldier and pushes him back toward the
fighting. He yells, spitting his rage.
IMMORTALCOMMANDER
I said stand your ground!!!
Leonidas parries a blow and then drives his spear into
another Immortal.
One of the Immortals leaps onto the shield of a Spartan
attacker. His toes grabbing the bottom of the shield like
an ape's hands, pulling the swords at his back free and
slicing across the neck of a Spartan soldier, killing him.
The Spartans begin to lose ground to the recovering
Immortals. They claw as they rally, their fangs tearing
into Spartan flesh.
64.
Leonidas fights two at a time, grimacing through clenched
teeth. He falls back as the Immortals take their toll on
the now withering Spartans, locked in a hand-to-hand
struggle with one of the demons. The Immortal's gnashing
teeth are just inches from Leonidas' face. Leonidas is
barely able to draw his sword, plunging it into the
Immortal's throat.
Now from the heart of the Immortal horde, the largest and
fiercest of the Immortals rushes forward, a full seven feet
tall at the shoulder, veins in his neck bulging like
serpents as he roars, collapsing a Spartan shield with a
kick while in the same moment decapitating another Spartan
not quick enough to retreat behind his shield.
The giant Immortal focuses his milky eyes on Leonidas, who
fights and dispatches two of the dark horde.
Leonidas locks eyes with the giant, who recognizes the
Spartan king and charges toward him. Leonidas quickly
recovers a spear and thrusts it at the charging monster,
who rises into the air on a thundering stride, cutting
clean in two the spear shaft of the king. He lands with his
full 370 pounds of crushing muscle on the shield of
Leonidas, throwing him back onto the mutilated bodies of
the day-old fallen.
Leonidas, lying on his back, recovers his wits just long
enough to have his sword kicked from his hand. The giant
roars again, pulling Leonidas' helmet off, which spins to
rest on the blood-soaked earth. The Immortal pulls his
blade down toward the exposed head of the king, who raises
his arm, catching the raw metal blade with a roof block on
his bronze-covered forearm.
Then Leonidas summons from deep within his warrior soul a
crushing right to the jaw of the demon, who spits blood as
he roars in defiance. The thing tosses his sword down as he
moves right into Leonidas' face, roaring as he opens his
mouth. A mix of blood and saliva pours in rivulets between
the sharpened teeth of the giant while his eyes fix on
Leonidas' neck. The king's muscles strain beneath the mass
of the Persian Immortal.
In desperation, Leonidas calls ...
LEONIDAS
Arcadians ... NOW!!!
65.
The giant Immortal is inches from Leonidas' neck when he
hears the battle cry of the Arcadians. The monster is
momentarily distracted, allowing Leonidas to strain the
last remaining inches to reach his sword. He lifts the
giant off him on two powerful legs and in the same motion
passes his sword between the giant's head and shoulders.
The monster's head lands next to the king as his body
tumbles to one side.
WE SEE: From the small thicket of trees at the center of
the Immortals, the earth begins to move. The trees fall,
revealing a box canyon filled now with charging Arcadians.
Daxos leads his men as they cut into the Immortals.
Daxos comes right at the Immortal Commander, who is raising
his saber, ready to cut down his own men.
IMMORTALCOMMANDER
Fight or die where you stand!
The eyes of the soldier the Commander threatens go wide, as
he sees past his master to the ambushing Greeks descending
upon them. The Commander sees his fear and turns just in
time for Daxos to plunge his spear through the Commander's
neck.
DAXOS
Go! Show the Spartans what we can
do.
Daxos pulls the spear free and turns quickly, throwing his
spear into an Immortal's chest.
Daxos draws his sword, fighting on. Thrusting, jabbing;
missing a parry, his arm is cut. In exchange, he plunges
his sword into one of the dark horde.
DAXOS
Call us amateurs, will they?
TIME SLOWS.
DILIOS (V.O.)
They shout and curse, stabbing
wildly, more brawlers than
warriors.
WE SEE: Farmer and potter, blacksmith and merchant.
66.
Free Greeks all, teeth clenched in a battle rage, thrusting
spears and swords through the frightened throngs of their
enemies. Pushing, legs driving shields against piceous
bronze. Forcing dozens of heavily-weighted Immortals off
the cliffs and into the sea.
DILIOS (V.O.)
They make a wondrous mess of
things. Brave amateurs, they do
their part.
STILL UNDER THE DRUMS.
WE SEE: Leonidas pushing forward, muscles flexing, made
hungry by the wide-eyed terror of the Immortals. They fall
over each other to flee the attacking Spartan King.
As the slaughter continues below, from the cliff
overlooking the battlefield, silhouetted by the crescent
moon, a dark figure adorned in gold watches as his
invincible Immortals fall like wheat under the sickle of
the Spartan phalanx.
DILIOS (V.O.)
... And a man who fancies himself a
God ...
Xerxes' lips tighten; he breathes deeply through flaring
nostrils, as below him even the war drums are silenced.
DILIOS (V.O.)
... feels a very human chill crawl
up his spine.
45A EXT. SPARTAN ENCAMPMENT - NIGHT 45A
Dozens of Spartan campfires reach into a nigrescent sky.
They burn bright, fueled with a kindling of broken Persian
arrow shafts by the thousands.
Around the fires, warriors mend their wounds with linens
and oils of root and herb. They drink of red wine and
recount with pride the heroics of the battlefield.
CAPTAIN
Our King!
WE HEAR a ROAR so primitive it shakes the ground and ECHOES
OFF the far canyon walls as the other Spartans sound off.
SPARTANS
67.
Haaaawoooo!
CAPTAIN
Our honored dead!
SPARTANS
Haaawooo!
Leonidas says nothing, just stares quietly towards the
heavens along the far edge of the fire circle and beyond.
DILIOS
Triumph.
STELIOS
Yes, the day is ours.
ASTINOS
And the night too.
DILIOS
True, for now they fear the night
as well.
Dilios moves with the shadowed light, in front of his
brothers.
DILIOS
Now, as we rest, the Immortals
crawling back to their master
whipped dogs.
The Captain nods slowly and wipes the now cold blood from
his hands with a captured turban.
ASTINOS
Every Persian sees it.
STELIOS
Whom will Xerxes dare to send next?
CAPTAIN
They will never measure as fine as
this.
The Captain lifts a red-hot iron rod from the fire's mouth
and puts it against a young Spartan's side, burning,
smoldering the skin, cauterizing the gaping hole without a
sound or expression to fill the night air.
CAPTAIN
Who among his legions will dare to
face us?!
68.
The Captain throws the rod back to the fire and again a
cheer from the Greek warriors rings into the night.
SPARTANS
Haaawoooo!
Leonidas turns and moves through their war party.
LEONIDAS
Children ... children!
Their King's voice quiets their folly.
CAPTAIN
The Medes and Scythians are in open
revolt! Xerxes is slaughtering his
own troops.
ASTINOS
There is nothing that can stop now!
Leonidas raises his hand, holding some invisible force that
quiets the men.
LEONIDAS
Dare we hope ... Dare we hope for
more than a glorious death?
Leonidas lowers his hand and gazes over each of the men's
faces, half-filled with firelight.
LEONIDAS
Such mad hope... but there it is.
Leonidas points out into the darkness of the battlefield.
LEONIDAS
Against Asia's endless hordes.
Against all odds.
The Spartan King returns his eyes to his warriors.
LEONIDAS
We can do it! We can hold the Hot
Gates! We can win!
The Spartans erupt into a chorus of voice.
SPARTANS
Haawwooo!
69.
50 EXT. MOUNTAIN FOOTHILLS 50
On the shelf of a near cliff ... staring down from the
blackness and glow of the moon ... Ephialtes tears at the
red cape that has hidden his deformed soul.
EPHIALTES
Gods ... I still breathe. I still
live. Gods, you are cruel.
He rips the cape, it settles near his feet.
EPHIALTES
Damn you.
His crude shape leans over, looking down towards the
Spartan campfires, down towards the distant warriors.
EPHIALTES
Damn you. Damn you, Gods! Damn you,
Father ... Damn you, Mother ...
Damn you all to Hell!
Ephialtes lifts his father's bronze helmet toward the
faultless sky, inspecting the color, its worn strength.
EPHIALTES
Spartans ... Spartans!
He throws his helmet to the ground.
EPHIALTES
The boldest of men! The finest
warriors in all the world.
Ephialtes grunts in disgust to himself.
EPHIALTES
Damn you ...
He turns his broken form and begins into the night, none
but himself hearing his voice.
EPHIALTES
Damn you all!
51 EXT. COASTAL PLAIN 51
The second day begins as the first. With full light at
their backs, barriers of man and beast pound the earth,
into the slaughter they race. Silhouetted forms, WHIPS
CRACK!
70.
Across the backs of a fresh rotation, flooding upwards,
across the slain and haunted bodies. The men pull from
their guts a low growling HOWL!
DILIOS (V.O.)
One hundred nations descend upon
us. The Armies of all Asia.
Funneled into this narrow corridor,
their numbers count for nothing.
They claw and dig into the muddy ground, barreling towards
the Hot Gates and the awaiting Spartan line.
CAPTAIN
Back to hell with you.
Blood and terror pounding at the temples of the oncoming
pack of Xerxes' front men.
DILIOS (V.O.)
The raiding party arrives,
unfortunate for being the first to
meet the Spartan Nation.
LEONIDAS
Attack, now!
They collide with such force into the bronze shields,
shudder cycling through SNAPPING! Fresh bones.
Others push from behind, but nothing is gained as Leonidas
plows his pike through the chest of one and moves quickly
at silencing another.
Armless PERSIAN GIANTS run with wicker baskets .on their
backs. Within the baskets, MIDGET ARCHERS cut loose a
volley a projectiles.
DILIOS (V.O.)
At our wall of bronze and crimson,
there is no retreat, there is no
surrender. Only honor ... duty ...
glory ... combat ... victory. They
fall by the hundreds ... We send
the severed bodies and fragile
hearts back to Xerxes' feet.
Stelios rams against the hordes, cutting through thin
tissue and capillaries, lashing out, moving in pace with
his brothers on the steep slope.
Tribesmen, tattoos covering their bodies, sling broken
shards of glass and porcupine quills into the fight.
71.
Astinos drops his lance into a Persian thigh and strokes
upwards, through the groin and out the chest cavity.
DILIOS (V.O.)
When muscle failed they turned to
their magic. But we were relentless
... unstoppable ... We were free
men ... We are Spartans.
PERSIAN WIZARDS, draped in black velvet robes, throw clay
pots mixed of sulfur, bat dung and ash. Its noxious smoke
rising, obscuring the fight.
Dilios nails two charging infantrymen with the tip of his
spear. Robbing them of any glory, any hope of tomorrow.
52 EXT. PERSIAN ENCAMPMENTS 52
In front of Xerxes' myriad tents, a long line of his
Generals wait.
TIME SLOWS:
DILIOS (V.O.)
King Xerxes is displeased with his
generals.
Xerxes' eyes blaze. Veins bulge in his forehead and neck;
he grits his teeth. His rage spitting from his mouth, he
commands the executioner, whose form is grotesquely
muscled. Where his forearms should be, his flesh and hands
have been removed. His very bones sharpened into twin
executioner's axes.
WE SEE: His arms fall!
DILIOS (V.O.)
He disciplines them.
And with time still suspended, one of his many
disappointing Generals is parted from his head.
53 EXT. HOT GATES 53
WE HEAR: The TRUMPETING of not brass horn but angry and
wild BEASTS.
DILIOS (V.O.)
Xerxes dispatches his monsters from
half the world away.
72.
WE SEE: Around the bend. A cavalry of elephants mass.
Elephants adorned with spikes and cleated stomp through
their own men. Their trunks fitted hammers and bladed
sickles. They swing, clearing to the Spartans.
THUNDERING!
Up the constricted path, on the gray massive backs, Xerxes'
men, 10 deep, archers, javelin throwers, young boys
throwing stones down into the battle.
DILIOS (V.O.)
They are clumsy beasts and the
piled Persian dead are slippery.
The elephants lose footing, some topple, others shift in
fear. A Persian meets his fate, skewered through a charging
tusk. Others are tossed like a desultory of tribesman, off
the beast and disappear under the charge of nations.
CAPTAIN
Break ... Now!
And with the coming magnitude of Persians, the Spartans
open the phalanx and swallow the enemy whole.
Leonidas is in perfect form, cutting the enemy down, each
stroke and parry, a grace for others to emulate.
His shield takes a crushing blow from a Persian battleaxe.
He counters and yaws forward, surrendering his spear tip
into the face of a Persian Commander, snapping it clean, he
draws his sword.
LEONIDAS
Watch them!
In front, Stelios and Astinos break free, filled by youth.
They cleave their swords into an open space of Persian
dead. Stelios buries his blade, the Persian falling at his
feet.
ASTINOS
Are you still here?
Stelios pulls at his steel, stuck in the corpse he just
felled.
STELIOS
If only you fought as much as you
ran your mouth.
73.
Astinos laughs and swings through a string of Persians that
streams toward Stelios, still trying to free his blade.
ASTINOS
Not now, I am a little busy.
Astinos is dynamic, effortless, and brave as he takes three
Persian guardsmen. He cuts and pulls at them, dropping the
first.
Stelios frees his sword, tearing it loose and reenters the
fight. Astinos drops the second and turns to Stelios.
They continue on, all of the Spartans, beating back among
the promontory of the dead.
LEONIDAS
Regroup!
The Spartans pull into one another, gathering force,
streaming into the Persians like a wall of intimidation.
Astinos rages on, killing the dark figures without pause.
CAPTAIN
Astinos.
Astinos looks to his father across the salient, the Captain
locks eyes with his son.
CAPTAIN
On center.
They share a moment of praise among this tenebrous day.
From the middle of the fray a PERSIAN HORSEMAN, clothed in
inked leather and iron mail, gallops through the melee. He
raises his sword and with one arc.
TIME SLOWS:
For all who see it, the combat stands still. It is no more
brutal than the rest, only that it's one of their own, a
Spartan. The Captain watches as Astinos is beheaded only a
few yards away.
CAPTAIN
Noooo!
Astinos' head falls to the muck and mire, another Persian
lifts the severed gift in his hands and tosses it up to the
confident horseman. He holds the head above his and howls.
A prize offering for Xerxes, he rides back towards the sea,
never offering fight for a father's pain.
74.
CAPTAIN
They all die!
The Persians retreat back, with their treasure, a young
Spartan face. The Captain's rage rises; he runs after the
force hacking into the backs of fleeing men.
DILIOS (V.O.)
The day wears on ... We lose few,
but each felled is a friend ... or
dearest blood, and upon seeing the
headless body of his own young son
the Captain breaks rank. He goes
wild ... blood-drunk.
Dilios and Stelios follow him, allowing his frenzy to run
its course until all the enemy life has been snuffed out.
Finally a group of Spartans drag the Captain from the
field, his face twisted with grief, his tears etching lines
in the mix of blood and dirt on his face.
DILIOS (V.O.)
The Captain's cries of pain at the
loss of his son are more
frightening to the enemy than the
deepest battle drums. It takes
three men to restrain him and bring
him back to our own. The day is
ours. No songs are sung. The
Persian camp goes deathly quiet.
54 INT. SPARTAN HOUSE 54
A wood fire burns in the corner, illuminating the simple
mason and beam ceilings. Theron and Gorgo stand in
conversation.
GORGO
I am not here for small talk,
Theron.
THERON
I am sure of that. You have never
spared words with me.
Theron walks to a rimmed table, tanned cougar hide covering
its base.
THERON
A drink?
75.
Gorgo studies his face and with a laugh.
GORGO
Is it poison?
He lifts a high pitcher, inlaid of silver palmette rising
from acanthus leaves.
THERON
I am sorry to disappoint you, my
Queen. It's just water.
He pours the water into two shallow bronze bowls, hammered
with the images of a seated fox and hen. He hands the water
to Gorgo.
THERON
I am told you are going before the
Council.
GORGO
I am not seeking your advice, just
your help in winning votes to send
our Army north to their King.
Theron turns to face Gorgo in the half-lit room.
THERON
Perhaps I could help. The two of us
standing together, the politician,
the warrior, our voices as one, but
what does your willingness prove?
Gorgo takes a sip from the bowl and sets it on the near
table.
GORGO
It proves that I care for a King
who at this very moment fights for
the water we drink.
Theron nods in agreement.
THERON
True. But this is politics, not
war.
He sets his water down and looks at the Queen.
THERON
Leonidas is an idealist.
The Queen paces across the near window.
76.
GORGO
I know your kind too well. You send
men to slaughter for your own gain.
THERON
Your husband, our King, has broken
the laws. He has left without the
council's blessings ... I am simply
a realist.
GORGO
You are an opportunist. And a bad
one at that.
Theron closes the distance to the Queen.
THERON
You're as foolish as Leonidas if
you believe that men don't have a
price in this world. All men are
not created equal. The Spartan code
reinforces this maxim, you silly
little girl.
Without hesitation, Gorgo slaps Theron clean across his
face. He is unmoved by the blow.
THERON
I admire your passion. But don't
think that you, a woman, even a
Queen, can walk into a council
chambers and sway the minds of men.
Regardless of what your king says,
you have no power there. I own
those chambers, as if they were
built by these hands.
He grabs Gorgo by the throat, she struggles for a moment
under his power.
THERON
I could crush the life from you
right now!
Gorgo searching the room, nothing, to aid her plight.
THERON
77.
You will speak to the council and
your words will fall on deaf ears.
You will receive NOTHING without
me. Leonidas will have NO
reinforcements and if by the Gods'
grace returns, he will be jailed or
worse.
Gorgo looks at Theron in disbelief.
THERON
Do you love your Sparta?
Gorgo's eyes lock with Theron as she GASPS for air.
GORGO
Yes.
His grip tightens around her neck.
THERON
And your King?
GORGO
I do.
Theron smiles again as he watches Gorgo squirm under his
powerful grasp.
THERON
Your husband fights for his for his
land, for his love.
Theron releases his grip on the Queen's neck.
THERON
What do you have to offer Sparta?
GORGO
What does a realist want with his
Queen.
THERON
I think you know.
Gorgo trembles, knowing that this sacrifice is the one
Theron truly wants. She lifts her hand and pulls at the
soft lace that holds the dress at her neck.
THERON
This will not be over quickly. You
will not enjoy this. I am not your
KING!
78.
There are no tears. Gorgo stands naked before Theron, as he
begins to ravage her, she makes not a sound, not a move.
She gives him anything and everything, but not her heart in
the faint firelight of the room.
56 EXT. PERSIAN ENCAMPMENTS 56
A perimeter of tribes surround the sanctuary of their God,
Xerxes. Foot soldiers sharpen their weapons near a stable
of warhorses. Castaways and penniless slaves roam the night
for their masters, a makeshift world of chaos at the edge
of the sea.
CUT TO:
57 INT. XERXES' TENTS 57
WE HEAR: The FAINT CRIES, erotic WAILS, with the DRUMMING.
A goat-headed minstrel plays the sitar. Others smoke from
pipes of octopus skin and listen reed instruments of the
East.
This is a different world. A world of fine silk walls, rugs
from the Orient, soft pillows, towers of honeycombed
candles. Incense burns and hangs in tooled copper baskets.
A procession of slave girls, all near naked, sheer gauze
and jeweled bodies, dance for Xerxes in the faint light.
XERXES
Your Gods were cruel to shape you
so, friend Ephialtes.
Under a canopy of soft light, Ephialtes moves from the
shadows.
XERXES
But I am kind.
Xerxes on a marble pedestal, adorned in rare diamonds and
emeralds from lands far from where he now stands.
XERXES
Everything you could ever desire.
Concubines of all shapes, colors and nations are brought
forth for Ephialtes.
XERXES
Every happiness you can imagine.
Ephialtes squints his one blue eye at the spectacle.
79.
XERXES
Every pleasure your fellow Greeks
and your false Gods have denied
you.
The dancers writhe against Ephialtes' frame.
XERXES
I will grant you ... for I am kind.
Ephialtes wipes the drool, the sheer temptation from his
lips and speaks.
EPHIALTES
Yes.
XERXES
Embrace me as your King and as your
God.
EPHIALTES
Yes.
XERXES
Lead my soldiers to the hidden path
that empties behind the cursed
Spartans.
EPHIALTES
Yes.
The dancers reach deeper into the heights of their tortured
bodies.
XERXES
Your joys will be endless.
EPHIALTES
Yes.
Xerxes opens his impressive arms, extending his jeweled
hands to his Greek guest.
XERXES
You will create your destiny.
The dancers have now thinned into the b.g. The MUSIC
softens and DRIFTS AWAY. Now there is only the God King and
the Quasimodo named Ephialtes.
EPHIALTES
I want it all ... Land ... Wealth
.. Women... and one more thing.
80.
Ephialtes shuffles closer and opens his eyes wide for erxes
to view.
EPHIALTES
I want a uniform.
Xerxes folds his arms over one another and simply nods.
XERXES
Done.
Ephialtes takes a deep breath, as if to breathe in his
newfound wealth and treasures.
XERXES
You will find ... I am kind ...
Unlike the cruel Leonidas who
demanded that you stand. I require
only that you kneel.
And with those words, Ephialtes lowers his warped body,
head following his hands, crumpling his weight down to both
knees and bows before Xerxes without more celebration or
thought.
58 EXT. SPARTANEN CAMPMENT 58
The air rings as blacksmiths hammer blades, shields and
spear tips for the next morning's contention.
Leonidas pulls at his tattered cape, wanders the different
campfires, watching his men's faces as they recover from
the day.
LEONIDAS
Dilios, I trust that scratch hasn't
made you useless?
Dilios crouches near the firelight, binding a crude bandage
across his face and head.
DILIOS
Hardly, My Lord. It's just an eye.
The Gods saw fit to grace me with a
spare.
LEONIDAS
My Captain?
Dilios rises and points to a sole campfire raging atop the
ridgeline.
81.
DILIOS
He curses the Gods and mourns
alone.
Leonidas nods quietly.
Daxos rides into the Spartan encampment.
DAXOS
Leonidas, we are undone!
Daxos dismounts, dropping the leather reins and without
haste, covers the ground to Leonidas.
DAXOS
Undone I tell you!
Daxos' eyes dart around the blackness beyond the firelight
searching nervously the high cliff face and then returns to
the King.
DAXOS
Destroyed.
Leonidas has heard enough and barks out.
LEONIDAS
Calm yourself.
Daxos breathes deep and returns to his frightened rant.
DAXOS
A hunchback traitor has led Xerxes'
Immortals to the hidden goat path
behind us!
The Spartan warriors straighten to this news as if ice has
been run through their veins.
DAXOS
The Phocians you posted there were
scattered without a fight. This
battle is over, Leonidas.
The Spartan King turns his back to the Arcadian.
LEONIDAS
This battle is over when I say it
is over, Daxos.
Daxos continues to plead his case.
82.
DAX.OS
By morning, the Immortals will
surround us. The Hot Gates will
fall.
LEONIDAS
Spartans! Prepare for Glory!
His Warriors have already begun preparing their weapons,
armor and bodies for their shared fate.
DAXOS
Glory? Have you gone mad? There is
no glory to be had now. Only
retreat or surrender or ... death!
Leonidas turns now to face the man who breeds doubt into
the minds and hearts of his tribe. He glares into the eyes
of Daxos.
LEONIDAS
That's an easy choice for us,
Arcadian.
The King snaps his response with a steel of character even
his enemies admire.
LEONIDAS
Spartans never retreat! Spartans
never surrender! Go spread the
word! Let every Greek assembled
know the bald truth! Let each among
them search his own soul! And while
you're at it ... search your own.
Stelios holds out the reins for Daxos' horse.
DAX.OS
My men will leave with me.
Daxos takes the loose reins in his hands.
DAX.OS
Godspeed, Leonidas.
The King is unmoved, and watches Daxos leap to the bare
back of the pearl mare.
Daxos heels the horse's side and disappears. Leonidas
wastes not a moment and turns to his men.
LEONIDAS
Children, gather around.
83.
Stelios, Dilios, and Spartan warriors close in around their
King.
LEONIDAS
The Gods favor us.
The Spartans roar out.
SPARTANS
Haaawooo!
LEONIDAS
Tomorrow, we light a fire that will
burn in the hearts of all free men
for all the centuries yet to be.
The Spartans stomp the dry earth in unison, like a
thundering pulse that runs through them all.
LEONIDAS
No retreat ... No surrender! This
is Spartan law!
SPARTANS
Haaawooo!
Leonidas moves in front of his men, reaching into their
will and stirring their souls.
LEONIDAS
And by Spartan law we will stand
and fight and die!
The warriors erupt, POUNDING their shields and raising
their weapons towards the star-filled blanket above.
LEONIDAS
The law. We do not sacrifice the
rule of law to the will and whim of
men. That is the old way. The old,
sad, stupid way. The way of Xerxes
and every creature like him.
Leonidas stands clearly in front of his brave men. His red
cape lifts and floats with his every impassioned gesture.
LEONIDAS
A new age has begun. An age of
great deeds. An age of reason. An
age of justice. An age of freedom.
And all will know that three
hundred Spartans gave their last
breath to defend it!
84.
SPARTANS
Haaawoo!
From the blackest corner of the Spartan encampment ... WE
SEE: Leonidas' Captain appear, like a specter of death, his
face and body smeared and covered, a mixture of ash, soot,
and his son's blood.
LEONIDAS
My friend.
Leonidas reaches out to his Captain.
CAPTAIN
I have lived my entire life without
regret until now ... It is not that
my child gave his life for his
country.
The Captain shakes his head slowly from side to side.
CAPTAIN
Only that I did not tell him that I
loved him the most, that he stood
by me in honor ... that he was what
is best in me.
Leonidas embraces his friend for a moment.
LEONIDAS
My heart is broken for your loss.
The Captain nods softly.
CAPTAIN
Heart? I have filled my heart with
hate.
The Captain looks into the flickering flames and back to
his King.
LEONIDAS
Good.
The Captain's eyes search deep into the valley, to the
Persian camp below.
LEONIDAS
Dilios, let's take a walk.
Dilios nods his bandaged head.
DILIOS
85.
Yes, My Lord.
60 EXT. HOT GATES - NIGHT 60
Dilios and Leonidas stand on a rocky patch of land away
from the rest. Dilios is confused, his face pleading with
his King.
DILIOS
But ... but ... sire ... I am fit.
I am ready for combat.
LEONIDAS
That you are, one of the finest.
But you have another talent unlike
any other Spartan. You will deliver
my final orders to the council with
force and verve. Tell them our
story of honor, duty, glory, and
freedom. Make every Greek know what
happened here, you will have a
grand tale to tell.
Dilios feels the weight of responsibility. His King's eyes
are bright and clear.
LEONIDAS
A tale of victory.
DILIOS
Victory?
Dilios shakes his head slightly. Leonidas lets the moment
stretch, then smiles at him. He squeezes his shoulder and,
nodding, lets him go.
DILIOS
Yes, My Lord.
Dilios begins to turn and then slows.
DILIOS
Sire, any message ... ?
LEONIDAS
For the Queen?
Leonidas is gone. Transported by thought, across time, set
free from the bonds of politics and responsibility. For a
fleeting moment he is just a man, separated by circumstance
from his reason for living, His Love. His Queen.
86.
Leonidas takes hold of the wolf tooth, pulls the worn
leather necklace over his tired head and hands it to Dilios
without a word.
LEONIDAS
No ... none that need be spoken.
The storyteller turns, then leaves his King alone.
61 EXT. HOT GATES - DAWN 61
A false dawn comes slowly, faint blue rising along
coastline.
Dilios has gathered his shield and helmet, cape and sword.
He begins to walk back through the Hot Gates and away. He
is surrounded by Arcadians, Thespians, Phocians, Free
Greeks all. They mutter as they go.
DILIOS (V.O.)
A handful stay.
From a small rise, red capes and bronze shields watch as
the Greeks abandon the Hot Gates.
DILIOS (V.O.)
Thousands leave.
Dilios can feel the eyes of his fellow Spartans and chances
a took over his shoulder at his Spartan brothers,
silhouetted against the morning sky.
DILIOS (V.O.)
Only one looks back.
The retreating Greeks continue.
DILIOS (V.O.)
Only I.
WE SEE: Dilios turn, within the river of men leaving the
Hot Gates. He is near the end of the columns which wind
away through the canyon.
Leonidas steps slowly through his men. All eyes on their
Greek comrades disappearing into the pass. The Spartan King
turns back to his men, they stand in silence.
300 SPARTANS.
The morning sun just breaking in the East making them
backlit. Capes glowing like hot coals.
87.
LEONIDAS
Spartans!
WE HEAR: The collective battle cry.
SPARTANS
Haaawooo!
Angry, deep and full of reverence for their King.
LEONIDAS
Ready your breakfast and eat hearty
...
Leonidas raises his spear and bares his teeth.
LEONIDAS
For tonight we dine in Hell!!!!
300 spears are thrust towards Heaven, helped up by a cry of
defiance.
62 INT. SPARTAN COUNCIL CHAMBERS 62
WE HEAR: The chatter and conversation of the assembled.
OLD SPARTANWARRIORS, turned from using war to using words.
A transition few are good at, but all carry its burden and
responsibility.
WE SEE: Gorgo entering from the carved penetralia. She
walks alone into the acriform, chin lifted, hair braided,
head high before the Spartan lawmakers.
The ADVOCATES,STATESMEN, and PARTISANS settle into
primitive seats that coil around the stone floors,
thrusting forth a stage for the Queen to offer her words.
LOYALIST
May I give the floor now, to the
wife of Leonidas and Queen of
Sparta.
The Loyalist bows slightly as Gorgo walks towards him. She
nods and the Loyalist returns to his seat.
Gorgo stands, radiating not only her beauty but sheer
internal strength. She scans the faces, appraising the
crowd. She knows them all, her eyes even cross Theron.
Gorgo shows not a trace of emotion as she clears her throat
and begins.
88.
GORGO
Councilmen, I stand before you not
only as your Queen.
She shifts into the amber light that now floods through the
windows.
GORGO
I come to you as a mother.
The chambers quiet to her voice.
GORGO
I come to you as a wife.
Gorgo moves slowly on the stage.
GORGO
I come to you as a Spartan woman.
She looks to Theron, locking eyes with him until he pulls
his contact away.
GORGO
I come to you with great humility.
Theron leans forward, listening carefully.
GORGO
I am not alone in this room.
Gorgo looks again to Theron, she points, just past him to a
STATESMAN in the seats to her left. Theron relaxes.
GORGO
You, your son fights at his King's
side.
The Statesman nods to his Queen. As she turns quickly to
another.
GORGO
Have you forgotten your fine boy?
A PARTISAN shakes his head softly, thinking of his young.
PARTISAN
No.
Gorgo turns again, using all caution with her words.
GORGO
89.
I am not here to represent
Leonidas. His actions speak louder
than my words ever could ... I am
here to speak for all the voices
that cannot be heard. Mothers,
daughters, sons, fathers.
Gorgo takes a breath, centering her thoughts.
GORGO
300 families that bleed for our
rights and for the principles this
very room was built upon.
The Queen looks to the members of the council.
GORGO
You must not forget from where you
came. All in this chamber once
carried arms, to defend Sparta. You
are men that now balance peace and
war. That balance has been
challenged. We are free only
because of some fight to ensure it.
Gorgo walks slowly, building her strength.
GORGO
We are at War, Gentlemen ... We
must send the entire Spartan Army
to aid our King in the preservation
of not just ourselves, but our
children.
The Queen delivers with all her conviction and passion.
GORGO
Send the Army for the preservation
of liberty ... Send it for justice
... Send it for law and order ...
Send it for reason ... But most
importantly send our Army hope.
Hope that a King and his men have
not been wasted to the pages of
history. That their courage bonds
us together. That we are stronger
by their actions and that your
choices today will reflect their
bravery.
WE SEE: Men lean together, some whisper into each other's
ears, confidences are passed freely among them.
90.
Theron watches as Gorgo has quickly made work of his room.
He claps, slowly rising to his feet.
THERON
Moving, eloquent, passionate.
Theron rests his hands and scans the faces in the chamber
in silence.
THERON
Why do you waste the time of these
important men?
Gorgo turns to the arrogant voice.
GORGO
Do we waste your time? Each man in
this room is no more important than
the next.
THERON
You insult the council, my Queen?
GORGO
That is not my intention.
THERON
What is your intention?
Gorgo speaks to the seated audience with clear words.
GORGO
Only to remind us, that each day we
determine our course.
THERON
Course?
GORGO
Yes. These days are men's true
riches. And they're being fought
for at this very moment as we
choose words.
A STATESMAN rises and calls out.
STATESMAN
Your husband has brought war upon
us!
Gorgo shakes her head.
GORGO
91.
You are wrong. Xerxes brought it
forth, and before that, his father
Darius at Marathon. The Persians
will not stop until the only
shelter you will find is rubble and
chaos.
Theron begins to walk down to the stage floor.
THERON
This chamber does not need a
history lesson.
Gorgo watches carefully as he descends the stairs.
GORGO
Then what is the lesson like to
leave?
Theron presses on.
GORGO
Shall we begin to enumerate all of
them? Honor. Duty. Glory.
Theron takes the stage from the Spartan Queen.
THERON
You speak of honor, duty and glory.
What of Adultery?
His voice BOOMS out into the chambers and a hush is leveled
onto the listeners. Gorgo's eyes wide, stunned by his
treachery.
LOYALIST
How dare you speak out in such a
manner.
THERON
How dare I?
Gorgo studies the room, quickly searching out friend or
foe.
THERON
Watch her carefully, she is a
trickster in true form.
He narrows his attack.
THERON
92.
Do not play with the members of
this sacred room, my Queen. Just
hours ago you lay with me.
The chambers go wild at his telling.
THERON
I have your scent on me still.
LOYALIST
This is an outrage!
Two armed Spartan warriors now appear from a depression of
the antechamber and flank Gorgo's left and right sides.
THERON
You look shocked. A bribe of flesh
I was given while her husband
promotes anarchy and war.
GORGO
I ... you ...
THERON
Words escape even the cleverest
tongue, my little whore Queen.
Gorgo's eyes burn with fire fed from the pit of her
stomach.
GORGO
You ... bastard.
The Spartan guard grabs her just as she swings at Theron.
Missing him, she spits in his direction.
THERON
What Queen-like behavior.
They hold her back, as she pulls at their arms, struggling
to free herself. The room watches, frozen by the spectacle
before them.
GORGO
You will soon feel nothing!
THERON
Remove her from the chamber before
she infects her son with her
inglorious and shabby self.
93.
Gorgo throws one of the guardsmen off her, spinning behind
the other she draws his short blade, kicking him clear and
with one quick step buries the blade deep into Theron's
midsection.
GORGO
I am a Spartan Queen, need I remind
you.
Theron buckles, his weight brought forward onto Gorgo's
bloody hands, still holding the blade. She cuts across his
waistline and from beneath his elaborate frock ...
WE SEE: Persian gold pieces fall and dance onto the floor,
Xerxes' face forged clearly upon them for all to see.
GORGO
It seems every man does have his
price!
Gorgo leans down and whispers softly into Theron's ear.
GORGO
When your bones are dust, my son
will be King.
She twists the short blade deeper into Theron.
TIME SLOWS:
Their eyes lock.
GORGO
This will not be over quickly. You
will not enjoy it.
She remembers his cruelty.
GORGO
I am not your Queen.
With those words she twists the blade out. Theron falls
into a pile of his own blood and entrails.
The Council members stand around her, some sift through the
Persian gold, nodding at the traitor's death. But most
stand in awe and admire their Queen.
63 EXT. HOT GATES 63
Persian archers climb down the steep cliff faces and settle
their bodies in perfect positions to attack.
94.
WE SEE: The Spartan Phalanx solidify. Leonidas' eyes
searching, he listens for the coming Persian force and
suddenly they appear. Led by Immortals. Hundreds of them
surround what is left of Sparta's finest.
PERSIAN GENERAL
My compliments and congratulations.
You have surely turned calamity
into victory.
The PERSIAN GENERAL steps forward.
PERSIAN GENERAL
Despite your insufferable
arrogance, the God King has come to
admire Spartan valor and fighting
skill.
The Persian columns build behind each other.
PERSIAN GENERAL
You will make a mighty ally.
Leonidas says nothing as Ephialtes pushes his way through
the Immortals and faces his once King.
EPHIALTES
Yield, Leonidas. Use your reason.
Think of your men.
Silence, save the heartbeat of the Spartans to his back.
EPHIALTES
I beg you.
Now carried on the back of Persian slaves, Xerxes and his
throne are brought forth for the Spartan line to see.
PERSIAN GENERAL
Listen to your fellow Greek. He can
attest to the divine one's
generosity. Despite your several
insults. Despite your horrid
blasphemies. The Lord of Hosts is
prepared to forgive all ... and
more, to reward your service.
Xerxes' throne rests completely and the Persian Lord sits
knowing after days that he has the upper hand.
PERSIAN GENERAL
You fight for your lands ... ? Keep
them.
95.
The Persian force continues to build on the horizon. Now
thousands are displayed and rest at Xerxes' command.
PERSIAN GENERAL
You fight for Sparta ... ? She will
be wealthier and more powerful than
ever before!
Leonidas and his men are still, a solid wall of ragged
warriors.
PERSIAN GENERAL
You fight for your kingship? You
will be proclaimed warlord of all
Greece. Answerable only to the one
true master of the world.
Xerxes waits the Spartan reply, both leaders defiant ·in
their posture.
PERSIAN GENERAL
Leonidas, your victory will be
complete. If you but lay down your
arms and kneel to Holy Xerxes!
The Spartan Phalanx is unmoving. Weapons tuned towards the
Persians' divisions. They wait, their racing hearts,
listening for Leonidas, his words, the fuel to their will.
64 FLASHBACK - EXT. PINDOS MOUNTAINS - NIGHT 64
Snow falls suspended by stretching time. The black paws of
the wolf move slowly through the light snow. The young
Leonidas, fearless, raises his sharpened stick into a
fighting stance. The wolf narrows its red eyes, saliva
running across its fangs.
DILIOS (V.O.)
It has been more than forty years
since the wolf and the winter cold.
66 EXT. HOT GATES - DAY - PRESENT 66
Seagulls hover on ocean breeze. Delicate feathers ripple
with the wind.
DILIOS (V.O.)
And now as then, it is not fear
that grips him, only a
restlessness. A heightened sense of
things.
96.
The pitted and dented surface of the King's helmet. A bead
of sweat rolls down Leonidas' neck. The hem of his tattered
crimson cape pushed lightly by the wind, brushing a pattern
into the sand at his feet.
DILIOS (V. 0.)
The sea-borne breeze coolly kissing
the sweat at his chest and neck.
Gulls cawing, complaining even as
they feast on the thousands of
floating dead.
10,000 arrows shiver under the tension of drawn bows. The
razor teeth and black eyes of the Immortals fight and
jostle to lower spears and draw sabers, barely able to
contain their bloodlust.
DILIOS (V.O.)
The steady breathing of the 300
boys at his back ... ready to die
for him without a moment's pause.
Every one of them ...
WE MOVE ACROSS the battered shields of the 300. Clear eyes
peer from bronze helmets.
DILIOS (V. 0.)
... ready to die.
Finally Leonidas exhales deeply and slowly reaches for his
helmet. The Persian General watching, under growing
tension. Xerxes rising from his throne to better see his
enemy's surrender.
DILIOS (V. 0.)
His helmet is stifling ...
Leonidas' helmet strikes the ground bluntly.
DILIOS (V.O.)
... his shield is heavy.
Leonidas shrugs off his SHIELD and it RATTLES to his feet.
PERSIAN GENERAL
Your spear.
Leonidas lets his gaze run along the length· of his spear
past its ragged tip, past even the Persian General to the
hunched figure crouching among the legs and shields of the
Immortals.
LEONIDAS
97.
You there, Ephialtes.
The misshapen eye darts to avoid the King's gaze, then
chances a look to Leonidas. The two hold each other's stare
for a moment.
LEONIDAS
May you live forever.
The moment is broken.
PERSIAN GENERAL
Your spear, Leonidas.
The Spartan King looks back down to his hand, clenched
around the weapon. He slowly opens his hand and looks back
at the Persian General, letting the SPEAR fall, landing
with a dusty CLANK!
He looks one last time to Xerxes standing atop his golden
litter. Behind 10 rows of his bloodthirsty Immortals.
Noting the wind as it dances with the black banners at the
back of Xerxes' throne.
WE SEE bronze strike the earth as Leonidas falls to his
knees. His hands go to the rocky soil just in front of him.
His head slowly bowing, his eyes close.
67 FLASHBACK - EXT. SPARTAN COURTYARD 67
Leonidas and his son compare the size of their hands.
The King's rough palm is barely covered by the entire soft
hand of his son. The boy laughs. His eyes smiling.
Soft light moves through leaves, laughing with the boy as
he marvels at his father's hands.
69 EXT. SPARTAN FIELD 69
Gorgo sleeps in waist-high golden hay. Leonidas with the
stem of yellowed grass lays next to her. He traces the
contour of her cheek, she slowly swats at it. He continues
down her neck, his eyes lost in her form.
The nape of her neck, her collarbone, her black hair curly
against the golden stalks of hay. Tickled, she opens her
groggy eyes and seeing her husband, softly smiles.
98.
70 EXT. HOT GATES - DAY - PRESENT 70
Leonidas, eyes closed, lets the faintest of smiles fade,
then with head still down, calls ...
LEONIDAS
STELIOS!!
From behind the kneeling King, shields part and in two
crushing strides, young Stelios leaps, spear in hand, from
the cover of his Spartan brothers.
Planting a foot on his King's back, he flies at the Persian
General and, still in the air, he thrusts. Ribs part and
sever. The exiting blood sprays into the eyes of nearby
Immortals as the General withers under the blow.
Leonidas snatches his own spear and, rising, loads for
mighty throw. Xerxes bares his teeth in anger at the
defiant King.
XERXES
Slaughter them!!!
The air goes thick with wood shafts, feathers and steel.
TIME SLOWS:
Leonidas does not see the black banners at the back of
Xerxes' throne fall with the lull in the wind. The only
sound is that of countless ARROWS POUNDING into BRONZE
SHIELDS, like hard rain on a metal roof. Through this
barrage, Leonidas gathers every ounce of his strength.
DILIOS (V.O.)
His helmet was stifling. It
narrowed his vision ...
WE SEE: The King's eyes. Calm, cold and focused on his
target.
DILIOS (V.O.)
... and he must see far.
The Spartan King's muscles pull the spear forward as around
him the Persian spindles cut his children down.
DILIOS (V.O.)
His shield was heavy. It threw off
his balance.
Leonidas lets his spear fly as one after another, arrows
settle into him.
99.
DILIOS (V.O.)
His target is far away.
The spear of Leonidas flies against the current of incoming
arrows as the King cries out!
LEONIDAS
XERXES... DIE!
Dozens of arrows strike Leonidas at once. His men fall
fighting. Leonidas draws his sword, struggling to free it
from its sheath as arrow after arrow punches through limb
and sinew.
DILIOS (V.O.)
The old ones say we Spartans are
descended from Hercules himself.
Leonidas falls back upon the body of another of his fallen
brothers. He then pushes himself back to his knees.
DILIOS (V.O.)
Bold Leonidas gives testament to
our bloodline. His roar is long and
loud.
As Leonidas cries out in his glory, his spear silently out,
away from the dying Spartans.
TIME SLOWS.
It soars in a straight line. Its shadow snaking up the
ornate carpet of Xerxes' throne.
The God King does not move. He can only watch, wide-eyed as
the spear of Leonidas, thrown as his fin.al act, grazes his
cheek. A small spray of blood flies from Xerxes' face as
the spear sticks into the back of the golden throne.
The assembled host of Persian generals gasps in awe at the
sight of the God King's spilled blood, divine no more.
The unquenchable bloodlust of the Immortals rises to a
fevered pitch as they bring to bear their entire arsenal of
spears, arrows, swords and lances against the Spartans who
fight on as they die.
The Captain charges forward out of ranks. Dozens of arrows
finding their mark in his back and chest. Yet, he does not
fall.
100.
Leonidas watches helpless as one of the Immortals plunges a
spear into the Captain's chest. The Captain takes hold of
it, dropping shield and spear, pulling it into his own
body, moving close to the Immortal who wields it.
As life ebbs from him, he grips the Immortal's skull and
twists it, snapping the neck with an audible crunch. The
Immortal falls beneath him. The Captain rolls off, snapping
the arrows that protrude from his body.
CAPTAIN
Astinos ...
He exhales deeply and dies, his son's name still on his
lips.
Xerxes puts a hand to his bleeding face. Overcome, he
collapses to his throne.
Leonidas struggles to reach Stelios. The two fight on...
side by side with broken blades and useless shields,
hacking at the relentless Immortals.
WE HEAR: A black and gold turbaned herald ... TRUMPET!
Through a horn of human bone, signaling the Immortals to
fall back so as not to be cut down by their own archers.
Exhausted and mortally wounded, Stelios and the King crawl
back among the handful of still living Spartans.
Endless scores of fresh archers take up positions on
hillside and boulders, surrounding on all sides that which
remains of the Intrepid 300.
Stelios, through labored breath, his own blood-running into
his eyes, calls to his King. Just feet away.
STELIOS
My King.
Each breath pain rising from within him.
STELIOS
It's an honor to die at your side.
Leonidas rises looking down at Stelios.
LEONIDAS
It's an honor to have lived at
yours.
101.
Countless archers bend bows as if the very earth around the
dwindling Spartan ranks was not made of stone, scrub grass
and cliff, but of bent ash, cat gut, and hungry iron arrow
tips.
We are CLOSE TO Leonidas' lips, chapped and splattered with
dark blood.
A Persian Commander nods to the herald. He inhales deeply.
Leonidas is calm. His voice lowers.
LEONIDAS
My Queen ... my wife.
WE HEAR: The HORN. Nesting birds take flight. Leonidas'
lips move, a whisper of reverence.
LEONIDAS
My love ...
The arrows are released as one. The lethal dark cloud races
across the rugged and bloody battlefield. Stelios narrows
his eyes and with his last breath, stands next to his King.
The ARROWS STRIKE a single ...
DRUM STROKE.
BLACKNESS.
73 EXT. SPARTA HAYFIELD - DAY 73
At the edge of the city. Gorgo stands waist-deep in the
amber hay, it moves around her, pushed and slanted by a
late summer wind.
The sun is low in the West. Gorgo has come to this spot
many times. Her brown eyes scanning the low hills. A figure
appears at the edge of the field. The light coming over his
back as he moves toward her. His shadow loosely moves among
the hay before him. He walks.
WE SEE: Dilios, his battered form, a testament to his
valor. Shield rutted and the cut bronze has peeled back to
reveal oak. His helmet is dented and tarnished. The dried
blood on his makeshift eye patch.
He stands before his Queen alone. Her eyes a thousand
questions.
They share a silent moment of grief. She knows without word
the fate of her husband.
102.
He does not reach into pocket or pouch. He simply raises
his hand from his hip, turns his palm upward and opens it.
There resting in the cut and calloused hand of Dilios is
the wolf tooth necklace.
Gorgo holds out her hands. Eyes welling. Dilios lets it
fall then closes his hands around hers. He squeezes gently.
She looks down and away. Her face binding in grief. Dilios
watches her, feeling his own pain.
He moves on, leaving her framed by the waving grass. Her
body begins to shake. She drops to her knees. Her nose
runs, all her Spartan reserve lost.
WE SEE: A boy hurrying past Dilios without a look. The
King's son, Pleistarchos, runs, hay brushing at his knees
as he rushes to his mother's side.
Dilios turns watching from a distance. Pleistarchos reaches
her, they embrace. Gorgo's face red and wet with tears as
she looks at him, seeing her husband's eyes.
Her love.
She then takes the leather necktie and places it over her
son's head. He bows, letting it come to rest at his chest.
His small fingers touching it. Pleistarchos puts his hand
on his mother's face, gently wiping away her tears.
Dilios watches as the dark figures in the bright hay
embrace again. He nods silently to himself and turns.
74 INT. SPARTAN COUNCIL CHAMBER 74
Dilios still bloodied from battle, chin down, brow knitted.
Lives each moment again. His voice ECHOING from the stone
walls. Dilios stands at the center of the round room.
WE MOVE: WITH him, rotating slowly.
DILIOS
Remember us ... as simple an order
as a King can give. Remember why we
died.
The faces of the Spartan gallery are riveted. This is the
very reason why this room was built.
DILIOS
103.
For he did not wish tribute or
song, nor monuments, nor poems of
war and valor. His wish was simple.
Remember us ... He said to me ...
that it was his hope should any
free soul come across that place.
75 EXT. HOT GATES - DAY 75
WE MOVE: SLOWLYACROSS a still life of death. Spartan
brothers all lay beset with arrows too numerous to count.
And as we hear Dilios' voice, we are reminded it is his
voice which has lead us all along.
DILIOS (V.O.)
In all the countless centuries yet
to be ...
WE SEE: Spartan after Spartan, eyes locked in death stares,
laying atop one another.
Stelios. Dozens upon dozens of arrows pin him to the shield
he lays upon. One clear eye peers towards the sky. The
other put out by Persian spindle.
DILIOS (V.O.)
... may all our voices whisper to
you from the ageless stones.
At the center of this scene of heroic dead, arms
outstretched upon the blood-soaked ground in a Christ-like
pose, lays the Spartan King.
WE MOVE: SLOWLY UPWARD, LOOKING DOWN ON Leonidas, his body
riddled with arrows.
DILIOS (V.O.)
Go tell the Spartans, passerby ...
We CONTINUE TO RISE UNTIL ... WE SEE: All of the fallen
300.
DILIOS (V.O.)
... that here by Spartan law we
lie!
76 EXT. CAMPFIRES OF WAR - CLOSE ON DILIOS' FACE - DAWN 76
WE SEE: The wounds have heeled. He wears a leather eye
patch. Firelight and the blue ambience of dawn mix.
104.
DILIOS
And so my King died, and so my
brothers died, barely a year ago
...
All around the fire now stand, ready for war, capes the
color of blood, helmets and shields surround Dilios.
DILIOS
Long I pondered my King's cryptic
talk of victory. Time has proven
him wise.
Dilios begins to push through the Spartan warriors. They
follow him from the fire.
DILIOS
For from free Greek to free Greek
the word was spread that bold
Leonidas and his three hundred, so
far from home, laid down their
lives not just for Sparta ...
WE FOLLOW: Dilios as he continues, the sea of Spartans
making way for him as he moves slowly, taking time to clasp
shoulder with hand, meeting eyes with nods.
DILIOS
... but for all Greece and the
promise this country holds.
Shields are pulled aside and from a wall of fresh bronze,
with dawn breaking in fingers of golden light, Dilios steps
out in front of the Spartan line. He strides slowly with
confidence along the barrier of shields. A forest of spears
reach back into the distance, pointing skyward.
A young SQUIRE hands Dilios his shield and spear. Eyes burn
with battle lust as Dilios, never far from this tableau of
Spartan bronze, continues.
DILIOS
Now, here on this rugged patch of
Greece called Plataea, Xerxes'
hordes face obliteration!!!
WE HEAR: A collective cry answering Dilios.
SPARTANS
Haaawooo!
105.
A cry like rolling thunder spreading across the Spartan
ranks. LOWFLUTES begin to play a haunting melody, joined by
slow rhythmic DRUMMING of SPEAR on SHIELD.
Dilios spins, pointing with spear out across the barren
landscape that lay before him.
DILIOS
Just there ... the barbarians
huddle. Sheer terror gripping
tight. Their hearts with icy
fingers knowing full well what
merciless horror they suffered at
the spears and swords of 300 ...
Dilios turns back to the line of men. It disappears into
the distance on both sides of him.
DILIOS
... yet they stare now across the
plain at 10,000 Spartans commanding
30,000 free Greeks.
Again he is answered with a thunderclap.
WE RISE: UP FROM Dilios to reveal a sea of men stretching
out over the rolling hills. Thousands upon thousands of
Spartan shields blaze with the rising sun.
DILIOS
The enemy outnumber us a paltry
three to one. Good odds for any
Greek.
Dilios nods into his helmet. He takes hold of his spear and
shield, melting back into the phalanx.
DILIOS
This day we rescue a world from
mysticism and tyranny. We usher in
a future brighter than anything we
can imagine!!
Dilios lowers his chin, gripping tightly the leather on his
shield and as one in rhythm with the flutes, the spears of
the Spartan war machine drop into position.
DILIOS
Give thanks, men, to Leonidas and
the brave 300.
His eyes narrow, his teeth clench. Muscle and will become
one.
106.
DILIOS
To Victory!!!
WE SEE: The Spartan wall of death coming in full run.
Crimson CAPES SNAPPING behind them, the GROUNDSHAKING.
Feet pound and churn the earth to dust and as it thunders
TOWARD us, a razor-sharp spear tip just PASSES us, we
TRAVEL DOWN its length TO the Hoplites' eyes, full of hate,
glinting inside bronze, and then a shield FILLS OUR VIEW.
FADE TO BLACK.
THE END