Gerard Butler, a Scottish actor, and producer, talked about his breakthrough performance as Leonidas in Zack Snyder’s 2007 film 300.

In his brief interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Butler recalls meeting director Zack for the first time and their bonding process before to the start of shooting.

"It was ruining my body": Gerard Butler's Spartan Workout for Zack Snyder's '300' Involved 6 Hours of Training Each Day for King Leonidas Role

Butler made the interesting revelation that he damaged his body by spending six hours a day in training in order to develop into his character.

Gerard Butler in Zack Snyder's 300

Gerard Butler in Zack Snyder’s 300

The 1998 Frank Miller and Lynn Varley comic book series of the same name inspired the American epic historical action movie.

King Leonidas, who commanded 300 Spartans into battle against the Persian God-King Xerxes, served as the center of the story. The audience and critics both responded positively to the film’s premiere with the movie’s debut ranking as the 24th-biggest in box office history at the time.

Gerard Butler describes his fitness routine for his movie 300

Talking with The Hollywood Reporter, Gerard Butler recalled working out six hours a day – two hours of CrossFit-style training, two hours of bodybuilding, and two hours on fight choreography.

He said, “That was the best shape I have ever been in in my life, In some ways I was ruining my body, but I was looking amazing doing it.” 

Gerard Butler in 300
Gerard Butler in 300

The fact that he is earning a fortune for the work may make it simple for others to assume that he shouldn’t be complaining, but for most people, it would be impossible to combine working out for six hours a day with choreographing fights. His hard work at the end of the day, got paid off since the movie became a massive hit and gave Butler’s career a huge jolt.

Gerard Butler talks about working with director Zack Snyder


Gerard Butler in a still from 300: Rise Of An Empire
Gerard Butler in a still from 300: Rise Of An Empire

While chatting with the media, Butler also went on to discuss what it was like to work with the mastermind behind the American historian film. He said, “I came in like a force of nature, but I was met with an equal force of nature, and the two of us came together like a whirlwind.”

Butler also described how Snyder and he bonded from the day they meet for the first time for coffee. The to-be Spartan warrior demonstrated in the cafe what he thought should be the ultimate “Spartan walk” and Snyder started jumping, screaming “That’s awesome”.