Lake Man

Just because he recently launched a friendly assault on TV it don’t mean Sullivan Stapleton is done with film.

S2 is going to star in The Lake for writer-producer Luc Besson.

The project is an action thriller about a group of SEALs trying to solve a long-forgotten mystery while uncovering a huge treasure hidden in a lake in war-torn Serbia.

Photo: HollywoodReporter.com.

Agent Blindspot

Jaimie Alexander and that nice-looking Aussie Sullivan Stapleton (pictured here) are getting ready for American-TV stardom.

The Thor: The Dark World star and the 300: Rise of an Empire stud are set to play off each other on Blindspot, this new, Greg Berlanti-produced show that NBC hopes will go for...fall (?).

The pilot will delve into what happens after a beautiful woman is found in the middle of Times Square with no memory of who she is or what the extensive tattoos on her body mean.

Stapleton – most recently of Cinemax’s Strike Back – will portray the FBI agent who is put on her case (’cause she has his named inked on his back...).

Photo: IMDb.com.

The Artemisia of War

Sullivan Stapleton is no Gerard Butler (not that there’s anything wrong with that). And the camera loves Eva Green.

Those are the important lessons I learned watching – not in unnecessary 3-D – the prequel-sequel to Zack Snyder’s 300, 300: Rise of an Empire.

The movie’s yet another visual treat. Oh-so-stylized and beyond-packed with phenomenal pecs and abs too unreal to believe, and too sexy not to look at (to the detriment of anything in the way of like, y’ know, actually following the story, which unfolds before, during, and after the events of the first film).

We see that before Spartan King Leonidas (Butler) and his men held their own at Thermopylae, Xerxes (a returning Rodrigo Santoro), the God-King of Persia was the chump son of King Darius, killed in battle by the Athenian archon Themistocles (the strapping Stapleton, from Cinemax’s Strike Back). Xerxes was remade by Artemisia (a ferocious Green) into the imposing figure we met previously as a means for her to get her revenge against the Greeks, who did unspeakable things to her as a child, and to avenge her king, of course (’cause Darius favored her over Xerxes).

We see Artemisia take to the Aegean Sea to bring her wrath to Greece, which stands splintered, much to the chagrin of Themistocles, a uniter who seeks Leonidas’ help in defeating their common enemy. Too bad he is disdainfully told, by Queen Gorgo of Sparta (Lena Headey, from HBO’s Game of Thrones), that Leonidas is fine going at it alone…and that Athenians should tend to their house on their own.

Big mistake, as we found out in 300.

And we see what ensued for Themistocles and his men: epic naval engagements that, sure, give the ones on land from the first film a run for their money but become repetitious after a while.

300: Rise of an Empire probably will be another hit, and it will be so because of its enticing production values, none better or more non-CGI-real than Green, much to the woe, I am sure, of Stapleton. She is the movie. She commands it as if it were her own armada, and it is at its indisputably best when she is on screen (sorry, S2 – you know I like ya), all raven-haired and smokey-eyed in her murderous and sultry McQueen-esque leather-and-gold ensembles.

She puts the art in Artemisia’s situation, which in turn puts the good in the movie. So check it out for all of its obviousness, but enjoy for Green, OKRRR.

My Rating **1/2

Photo: Warner Bros.

Riding a Wave of Cinematic Crime

I told you you would be seeing the name Sullivan Stapleton pop up more and more in the lead-up to the release of next spring’s 300: Rise of an Empire.

The star of Cinemax’s Strike Back is attached to star – again, evidently – in Kill Me Three Times, a long-gestating crime thriller revolving around a murder and some good old-fashioned blackmail in an Australian surfing town.

W.E.’s Abbie Cornish and Simon Pegg are also being courted for parts in the project.

Photo: IGN.com.

The Persians Are Coming

Back in 2006, director Zack Snyder scored a huge hit with 300, making a big star outta Gerard Butler in the process.

Next spring, 300: Rise of an Empire will take a stab at the same kind of glory.

The sorta prequel, sorta sequel is set before, during, and after the events of the first film.

Brazilian stud Rodrigo Santoro will be back as Xerxes, the Persian king who marches his empire south toward Athens, teaming up along the way with Eva Green’s Artemisia, who promises to attack the Greeks with her entire navy.

Defending Athens will be Themistocles, played by Sullivan Stapleton (pictured here) from Cinemax’s Strike Back. The famed archon and general will be instrumental in defeating Xerxes, as well as an ally to the also-returning Queen Gorgo of Sparta (Lena Headey).

Enough history lesson – check out the trailer, yo.

Photo: ItsKindaCool.com.

He...Is...Themistocles

And we have us a new Greek warrior.

While Joel Edgerton had been rumored to be in the running to play Themistocles, the famed archon and general who led the Greeks to victory against invading Persians in 480 BCE, in the 300 follow-up, Battle for Artemisia, the role has gone to Sullivan Stapleton.

I know what some of you are thinking: Who?

Well, if you’ve been watching Cinemax’s Strike Back then you know who this guy is (and, really, you should’ve – it’s some intense, good stuff).

Eva Green will co-star alongside Stapleton, as the all-important Artemisia.

Photo: HeraldSun.com.au.