With the oddball casting of mostly unknowns, and the less than exciting hire of Noam Murro to direct, 300: Battle of Artemisia gives the impression of a film that is being slapped together out of spit and bailing wire. Back in February we learned that Jamie Blackley, who most couldn't pick out of a police line-up, was brought on for one of the co-leading roles, opposite Sullivan Stapleton(Animal Kingdom) and Eva Green. Now an update from HeyUGuys says Blackley has been dropped from the cast for unspecified reasons.
The site says that Warner Brothers passed on Blackley in favor of their "original choice for the role", but they don't elaborate on who that might be. He was set to play Calisto, a 16 year old warrior so inspired by his father's heroism that he grows to become the leader of his own band of soldiers. Rodrigo Santoro is the only one confirmed to return from Zack Snyder's hit 2007 film, reprising his role as the Persian warlord, Xerxes. Gerard Butler and Lena Headey may be back, but nothing is confirmed at this stage.
We'll probably hear something soon on Blackley's replacement. 300: Battle of Artemisia, or whatever it'll be titled, is expected to be released on August 2nd 2013.
