George Clooney has earned the pleasure of gracing his audiences with his intense performances in some of the best big-screen projects of all time. Yet, out of all the genres his career has spanned across, proper “historical epic action drama” was never one where his presence was seen. And a major reason behind this was none other than Zack Snyder.
As it turns out, Gates of Fire would have been the renowned ER alum’s first-ever proper historical action drama, which had the potential of not only setting the box office ablaze but even eclipsing the fan-favorite Gladiator. However, because of Michael Mann and Snyder, fans’ dream of seeing Clooney in the epic historical film never came to be.
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Zack Snyder Indirectly Derailed George Clooney’s Gates of Fire
Following the exceptional success of the historical fiction novel Gates of Fire in 1998, George Clooney‘s production company Maysville Pictures pulled the trigger and gained the rights to the story for a potential adaptation.
Then, filmmaker Michael Mann was brought on board to direct a screenplay by screenwriter David Self. However, before the movie could even jump into production, the director pulled back and left, citing “creative differences” as the reason why.
But, what was worse, was the fact that finding someone else to replace Mann was more than just a difficult task because not everyone was as enthusiastic about the source material as was the director who left.
Furthermore, by that time, the industry was observing a critical decline in the audience’s craze for historical epics. Then came Zack Snyder into the picture with his 2006 historical action, 300.
Since 300 and Gates of Fire‘s storylines coincided greatly with identical premises as they both talked about the Battle of Thermopylae. Because of this, it would have been harder for the latter to properly distinguish itself in the eyes of the audiences, thus, raising its chances of failure.
Thus, due to all of these reasons and the production company’s fears, George Clooney’s epic historical masterpiece, which could have pretty easily eclipsed even Gladiator in setting the box offices ablaze, was scrapped and never looked back at.
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Everything You Need To Know About Gates of Fire
As mentioned before, Gates of Fire was being adapted from an original historical fiction novel of the same name from 1998, by Steven Pressfield. It encircled around the Battle of Thermopylae where the Persians ended up gaining a decisive victory following the death of the Spartan military leader, Leonidas I.
What distinguished this fictional storyline from every other historical fiction was the fact that this story was shared in a flashback style from the perspective of an old version of the Greek warrior Xeones, who was a ‘free’ non-citizen who fought for the Spartan Army, to a younger generation audience.
If anything, Gates of Fire had the complete potential of becoming one of the most legendary historical war films of all time. Had the movie not rotten in the production hell stage, George Clooney’s remarkable act as Leonidas I in the epic historical movie could have undoubtedly surpassed even the exceptional performance that Gladiator gave.
