Noam Murro, best known for the critically acclaimed dramedy Smart People, has been hired by Warner Bros. to direct 300: Battle of Artemisia, the film formerly known as Xerxes and a spin-off of 300. Murro will shoot a screenplay co-written by Zack Snyder, who directed the original film, and is based on an in-progress graphic novel by Frank Miller.

The original 300 film was a hugely successful adaptation of Miller's graphic novel about the Battle of Thermopylae. The forthcoming sequel, Xerxes, was recently previewed in the first issue of Dark Horse Presents and focuses on the relentless Persian "god-king" of the original story. According to The Hollywood Reporter's Heat Vision blog, Xerxes, which will be called 300: Battle of Artemisia when it comes to cinemas, follows the character as he searches for "godhood" in a battle with an Athenian called Themistocles.


Snyder co-wrote the screenplay with his 300 collaborator Kurt Johnstad, and Battle of Artemisia is meant to be in the same style as the original film. There is no word on a release date for Miller's graphic novel.

[Via Heat Vision]