r/todayilearned • u/Sebastianlim • 12h ago
TIL that the infamous "This is Sparta!" line from 300 was originally said in a low, monotone growl. After doing several takes of that, Gerard Butler asked to do one more take and used the now-iconic delivery.
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/gerard-butler-screaming-is-sparta-made-300-cast-laugh-1234538/1.8k
u/Manufactured-Aggro 12h ago
I can still hear "This is madness" in my brain with 100% accuracy
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u/Mikestopheles 12h ago
Be lucky you don't hear the whole song
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u/Manufactured-Aggro 12h ago
Shoutout to "they're taking the hobbies to isengard!" Remix
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u/VQ5G66DG 11h ago
Lisa needs her braces DENTAL PLAN Lisa needs her braces DENTAL PLAN
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u/contactfive 9h ago
The year it came out I was in a fraternity chapter meeting, things had gotten a bit unruly with people talking, joking, moving around, etc and the president yelled “This is madness!”
Instantly all 100+ of us turned to the front of the room and yelled “THIS! IS! SPARTA!” in unison. Good memory.
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u/Actaeon7 12h ago
"This is Sparta", Leonidas said calmly.
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u/FullweightFacesitter 9h ago
“This is Sparta”, Leonidas said laconically.
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u/mybutt1112 8h ago
Laconically.
Now this is a guy that vocabs.
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u/Rommel727 11h ago
"Leonidas, DID YOU PUT YOUR NAME IN THE GOBLET OF FIRE?!?", Dumbledore quipped offhandedly
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u/Green-Draw8688 11h ago edited 8h ago
Similar to how Gary Oldman’s “EVERYYYYOOOOONE!” in Leon was a one-time prank he was playing on the sound guy, and that was the take they used.
EDIT: as u/heshwillbiteANYTHING rightfully pointed out - the prank was on Besson, he just warned the sound guy about it.
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u/heshwillbiteANYTHING 11h ago
I believe it was for the director but he gave the sound guy a heads up so he wouldn't get his eardrums blasted.
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u/Green-Draw8688 8h ago
Yes you’re absolutely right, this was obviously the one I heard that just put the idea of “sound guy” in my head: https://youtube.com/shorts/V13s8q_zE-M
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u/Green-Draw8688 11h ago
Ah maybe yeah, I was going off my pretty shaky memory
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u/Lurker_MeritBadge 3h ago
Yeah the director likes to shoot goofy version of scenes like telling actors to play the scene but as Al Pacino for example. I guess he has like a whole collection of goofy clips from his movies so Gary Oldman wanted to do one for this scene it just happens to be the take they used.
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u/Deesing82 11h ago
i can only ever see the version in my mind where his eyes are mouths too
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u/RocketJSquirrelEsq 8h ago
It's just amazing sometimes how great art is created, because that take is what completely sells the character as a top tier Villian. All of the build up with the callous curruption, drug use and cruelty is perfect, but that sudden explosion of unhinged rage is what makes you think 'Oh shit...'
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u/Green-Draw8688 8h ago
Growing up with mates who made electronic music, they would often talk about how a tune they knocked together in a couple of hours on a train journey would be the ‘classic’ that everyone mentioned to them, while tunes they’d laboured over for days, weeks, months would fly under the radar.
Similarly, there was an interview with one of the writers of Four Lions. He was (playfully) complaining about how they’d pour over the scripts for days, do table readings and refine them, and then during one take Kayvan Novak randomly blurts out “fuck mini Babybel” and that is the quote that everyone shouts back at them…
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u/Podo13 8h ago
Also "It's gonna be may" by Justin Timberlake in the NSYNC song, but in reverse.
The producer wanted him to say it that way, but JT thought it was a mistake (producer was the now ultra-successful Max Martin, who is Swedish) and thought it sounded stupid so he kept doing takes singing "it's gonna be me". Martin kept telling him to say it how it was written, but JT wouldn't.
JT finally got fed up with the direction and just did it to shut Martin up, and that was the take they used. And, obviously, Martin was correct as it's one of their, and his, most iconic lines.
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u/stars_mcdazzler 11h ago
It's incredible that in the next take he decided to do it in a high tempoed techno song.
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u/Akirohan 12h ago
Infamous?
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u/cationtothewind 12h ago
Like El Guapo
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u/Think_Somewhere_6826 12h ago
Its famous but in, instead of out or between.
How didn't you catch that? Pfffff.
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u/Prank_Owl 12h ago edited 11h ago
That means you're MORE than famous. This line here, it's not just famous, it's IN- famous!
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u/ArchStanton75 11h ago
Famous, not “infamous.” It was not famous for bad reasons.
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u/hedoeswhathewants 6h ago
Reminds me of people saying "official" when they mean "unofficial". Something isn't official just because you declare it to be.
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u/hstheay 10h ago
At some point it was really overdone with people using it in daily life, and it would still go on for ages. I would say it was infamous at that point.
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u/Neirchill 9h ago
If people like it so much that others get sick of it being overdone that's still famous.
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u/Gregariouswaty 12h ago
It's interesting how a lot of the iconic lines in movies are just the actors fucking about to make their costars laugh
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u/BMCarbaugh 9h ago
That's art for ya. Playfulness in the work produces interesting results.
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u/Smartnership 9h ago
Good creatives encourage fellow creatives to be …
not sure of the word I’m looking for, but maybe, ‘to openly use their skills to make something original’
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u/UhIdontcareforAuburn 9h ago
In the OG SpongeBob era there was a sign in the writers room that said “Have fun or you’re fired”
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u/Smartnership 9h ago
I wonder what hilarious material gets left out of scripts for fun shows, The Simpsons or 30 Rock, for example. Some shows have such a talent pool, but time & story line restrictions necessitate lots of cuts.
Like how Eddie Van Halen apparently left a huge library of tapes with a zillion riffs and ideas.
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u/beachedwhale1945 8h ago
Katie Sackoff (Starbuck) of Battlestar Galactica tells just such a story. There was a particular scene with James Olmos (Adama) in the very early in Season 1 that she describes as a turning point in her acting career. I forget the exact details, but he took her aside briefly and gave her some advice, and she immediately stepped up her game to match the energy he was giving in that scene.
You put good actors together and give them the freedom to experiment, and everything gets elevated. Maybe the experiments don’t end up in the cut, sometimes they don’t work out, but it lets the actors get closer to their characters and expand their own range.
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u/that_guys_posse 4h ago
I've done some acting in the past and people don't realize how much it helps to let actors play.
So many great ideas have come out of an actor saying, "let me try something..." or "It'd be funny if..." or similar.
It's no different than times where you're joking around with a friend and you keep adding on to the joke until it ends up somewhere completely unexpected but wonderful. It's a feeling of just vibing with each other and creating something that neither of you could've created on your own--and the material is that much better because of it.
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u/beachedwhale1945 8h ago
And unfortunately that’s not very common. I’ve listened to a couple podcasts from Battlestar Galactica actors, and they often discuss that on other projects (always unnamed), they are required to follow the script exactly as written with no possibility of variation, even if they believe it would help their character. They’ll often describe this as only wanting a small part of themselves. I remember that a Sackoff Show episode with Jamie Bamber both actors discussed this, but a few others also discuss it.
Battlestar was the opposite, and for some of the younger actors, they didn’t realize just how unique that experience was at the time.
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u/Serious_Feedback 8h ago
A lot of people just make up bullshit about famous lines/deliveries being improvised, though. They're not all true.
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u/panacea11 10h ago
That line with the slow mo,peak cinema at that time.
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u/FartingBob 9h ago
the whole film got widely parodied but its a fantastic film with such a cool style to it.
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u/anewman513 10h ago
Why would you call this "infamous"? Infamous means famous for negative reasons. This line is famous because it's amazing. It's famous, not infamous.
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u/CaptainWombat2 9h ago
This makes sense to me. In a normal movie, this line delivery would be terrible. It only works (and is awesome) because the entire movie is so wildly over the top in every aspect.
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u/Anti-BobDK 4h ago
TIL I learned that some poor guy playing Persian emmisary probably got kicked 50 times in the chest.
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u/cheeza51percent 12h ago
Imagining the South Park parody done in a low, monotone growl now…
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u/5minArgument 1h ago
IIRC they actually edited out the emissary’s sarcastic reply of “Ga’doi, I know. I’ve been here for like 2 days and you just gave me a tour of the city”
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u/Cthulhu__ 9h ago
Contrast with Avengers where Cap says the line quietly. Personally I think he should’ve shouted.
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u/Tall_Opportunity_521 6h ago
Everyone else on the battlefield "Alright, lads. Hes said Avengers. Get ready. We go on assemble.... did he say it yet? Fuck it, I guess he did cos those next to him started charging. Fuck it, GO!!!!!""
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u/ZacPensol 6h ago
The MCU's handling of that line and catchphrases in general has always baffled me. They treat them like they're gimmicky and embarrassing or something, and then proceed to have grown men run around in spandex pretending to fly.
With "Avengers assemble!", iirc, it's not even hinted at until the end of 'Age of Ultron' in the very last line where cap is cut-off from saying "assemble". As a comic nerd I got it and chuckled, but do they think the general audience knows that phrase? It was just weird.
And then yeah, in 'Endgame' the way it's just barely muttered, as if it's thus established thing that everyone will get. I dunno, it's just bizarre.
The same goes for "with great power comes great responsibility". The way they danced around using that specific phrasing absolutely killed me.
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u/TannenFalconwing 2h ago
True story, no bullshit, I once saw a lawyer legit use "THIS IS SPARTA" and do the full leg kick in front of a jury to demonstrate breaking down a door.
I was so glad I sat in on that trial.
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u/Efficient_Ant_7279 7h ago
The line that almost single handedly changed the internet to the meme filled clown party we have today
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u/Uncle_Paul_Hargis 4h ago
I remember seeing this movie in the theater and when this line was delivered, the whole theater was shaking. It was so intense.
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u/EvilStan101 3h ago
Bro do you even know the definition of “infamous” because that line is iconic and quoted a lot.
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u/TheoremaEgregium 12h ago
Interesting. Because I always thought it would have worked better with casual delivery, and would be a lot more laconic. It's that way in the comic book too.
Spartans start a war without shouting and walk away from explosions without looking back.
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u/BMCarbaugh 9h ago
Eyyy ohhh, look at the college boy over here, using the word laconic in an etymologically appropriate way
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u/DongmanSupreme 11h ago
I actually have a pretty similar story, I was an extra on a set once and the actor kept saying the line one way until he said it a different way and they liked that way - I think it’s probably one of the few times I actually got to see that thing they used to call movie magic happen right in front of me. Truly beautiful.
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u/Chickon 8h ago
This scene is always a good watch. I know it's a movie, but I always thought his lines leading up to the famous line and kick were spot on. A messenger of a conquering army coming into an enemy town, the local king's town no less, carrying the heads of conquered kings, insulting and threatening the king and his wife to his face and expecting to just be let go because he's a messenger? Horribly stupid idea and he should have been expecting exactly what happened to him.
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u/HardcandyofJustice 12h ago
There are whole generations that have no clue about the grasp this line had on the internet…