GERARD BUTLER BATTLES PERSIANS IN 300

Gerard Butler’s beard took on a life of it’s own in 300, but his costume was barely there.

Gerard Butler had the supreme challenge of buffing up to become King Leonidas in 300 but growing his bushy beard for the film took on a life of its own.

Butler says that director Zack Snyder had to control the beard so it didn’t become a lethal weapon itself.

“I don’t actually grow facial hair very quickly yet I often have it on. I’m not a guy who likes to shave so I often have a bit of scruff. But this was scruff gone wild. And I grew it, it was thick but we also added on more. We really played with that Zack and I; OK how far can we push this. At one point I had a beard down to here. We were like, ‘wow it’s awesome but no it’s too much!’ The whole film would’ve been about the beard. It would’ve been 300 and a beard. And then a lot of time we spent keeping it under control because it would easily during fight scenes suddenly be out there, up there. It was a dangerous weapon.”

Another challenge for Butler and company was walking through the corridors past the crew wearing the Spartan costume which was essentially a pair of skimpy Speedos and a cape.

“So you’re walking passed the chippies and the sparks and the carpenters and everybody and they’re just like at their lunch break and you feel like a Chippendale in daytime walking through just a big warehouse. It took a little bit of getting used to but as is always the case your uniform, your outfit, your costume ends up making you the man. By the start because I’d been wearing it for quite a while you need it to feel like that, especially when you know you’ve earned it. You finally you have that body and you have that strength mentally and physically. You put that on and you put on that helmet and then it’s like, ‘you’re a lion.’”

Butler is well on his way to becoming the next action hero. He is currently in talks to remake 1981’s Escape From New York with his own interpretation of Kurt Russell’s Snake Plissken.