10 Movie Takes Actors DIDN'T Expect To Be Used
9. "This. Is. Sparta!" - 300
One-liners don't get much more iconic than King Leonidas' (Gerard Butler) WWE-worthy utterance of "This. Is. Sparta!" in Zack Snyder's 300, moments before Leonidas kicks a messenger down a well.
In a 2019 interview with GQ, Butler revealed that the shouty take was a last-minute, off-the-cuff thing.
After shooting many takes of the scene, most of them performed in a "low, monotone growl," Butler decided to swing for the fences with a totally over-the-top, full-throated take.
This left Butler's co-stars laughing, and when he asked Snyder whether the take was "too much," he responded, "Yeah, but it was awesome!"
Butler evidently wasn't taking the take terribly seriously, and the response from both the other cast members and Snyder himself surely left him assuming it wouldn't actually be used. But alas, it was, and a statuesque movie moment was born.
Needless to say had Butler's more stoic line readings been used, the moment would've likely come and gone without much fanfare.