LEATHER UNDIES:the things he'll do for a SPARTAN role

[KiwiCoromandel]

IT WAS the clothing - or lack of it - that concerned David Wenham on his latest Hollywood movie.

Having agreed to play a Spartan warrior in the historical epic 300, which centres on a fierce battle with the Persians in 480BC, he was surprised to read the graphic novel that is the source of the movie.

"I opened it up and my first appearance was in the nude," the star of SeaChange, Moulin Rouge and the Lord of the Rings movies said in Sydney yesterday. "And all my subsequent appearances in the book were only wearing a leather jock strap ..."

"Then it was a matter of going to my agent's office here and, borrowing a phrase, saying 'please explain?' "

The director of 300, Zack Snyder, had to reassure Wenham by phone that "you will be wearing your leather underpants but you'll also be training for two months before you start shooting so you won't have a problem."

Making the movie - ancient history as violent videogame - involved three spray tans a week and a strict diet.

"We ate very little, in fact," Wenham said. "Our breakfast would be a bowl of ricotta cheese. We'd have snacks of five almonds. Grapes sometimes."

Shot in a Montreal studio with ancient landscapes created digitally, 300 has become a surprise hit in the US, taking more than $US160 million in 17 days. It opens in Australia next week.

Wenham has little time for anyone who suggests that the movie contains the odd historical inaccuracy.

"We're certainly not making a documentary here," he said. "It's based on a comic book ..."

"I know there weren't rhinoceroses in 480BC and I know there weren't elephants involved in the battle and I know that the immortals didn't have funny silver masks on their face and use bizarre bombs ..."

"Anybody who thinks that it's a serious attempt at telling history I think needs their head read. It's purely entertainment. It's a popcorn film."

Next up for Wenham is reuniting with director Baz Luhrmann for another epic, Australia, alongside Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman.

"I play a character who manages a very large cattle station ... probably the size of Belgium," Wenham said.

No leather thong required this time around then?

"I had a costume fitting the other day and that didn't come my way - but you never know. Baz is willing to try a lot of things," he says.

source:AP

image:Ben Rushton:FEAR of NUDITY.....a relaxed DAVID WENHAM in Sydney yesterday talking about his starring role in the US film about Spartan warriors, 300. The film opens in Australia next week.