Frank Millers 300: Becoming Spartan’s
The entire core cast plunged into research on Spartan history and culture to intellectually prepare for their roles. But Snyder wanted them also to look believable and to mesh together as the kind of fighting machine the Spartan guard represents. To physically prepare them for the rigors of the demanding fight sequences, Snyder enlisted the expertise of two people with whom he had trained over the years: Mark Twight, a former world record-holding professional mountain climber, to train the actors and stuntmen in physical fitness conditioning; and veteran stunt coordinator Damon Caro, to prepare them for the fight sequences.
With a background training special operations military personnel, cage fighters, firemen, paramedics, and mountain climbers, Twight's approach included a strict dietary plan combined with a punishing regimen of physical activity. „It's the equivalent of a sprint--it's short duration, super high intensity with a nutritional program to support that effort,“ outlines Twight.
For eight weeks prior to the start of production, Twight challenged the men to go beyond their normal limits. To support fight preparation the training emphasized athleticism by combining compound movements, lifting, and throwing. Primitive tools – medicine balls, Kettlebells, rings – were used instead of machines. Each session was competitive, with a penalty-reward system tied to performance and results posted daily for all to see. „By sharing hardship together over a period of time, with team interplay where they compete against each other, they come out as a fighting force that is believable on the screen. It changes the way they move and how they behave as a unit,“ Twight offers.
Some of the men needed to lose weight, and some needed to put weight on, so everyone was put on a specific diet. Fassbender was one of the lucky ones. „I was lucky enough not to have to knuckle down to the cottage cheese and grape diet,“ he says, „in that it was in the interests of my character that I added a few pounds.“
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