Sneak Preview of 300
In the summer of 2006, hype was already building around the pending spring release of the film version of 300, based on Frank Miller’s graphic novel of the same name. Director Zack Snyder was on hand with Miller and actors Gerard Butler and David Wenham to promote the film with an exclusive trailer, followed by a Q&A with the audience. By the time I arrived, seats in the cavernous Hall H were all but filled. But, as luck would have it, I knew one of the film’s producers who was in attendance, so I was able to claim a seat upfront in the VIP section.
The presentation was rather exciting. But the highlight of the event, for me, was when the aforementioned producer turned to me afterward and said, “Next year, we’ll be doing something like this for Shannara.” See, at the time, his company was looking to co-finance my screenplay adaptation of Terry Brooks’s Shannara with Warner Bros. A few months later, that particular deal fell through. But the very idea was enough to give me goose bumps of anticipation. A Shannara movie has been something I’ve been dreaming about for more than twenty years, and to think that it was that close to becoming a reality made me all tingly inside. When the event this producer alluded to actually takes place, I’ll have a new #1 moment at the top of this list. Until then, the mere suggestion is enough to land here at #4.
Oh, and 300 turned out to be a pretty kick-ass movie in its own right, didn’t it?