Hollywood star to run as torchbearer in Sparta for 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games

Scottish actor Gerard Butler will be in Sparta on March 14 to run as a torchbearer for the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games, a local mayor said Thursday.

Speaking to state-run broadcaster ERT, Petros Doukas said the actor will also be in the city in June to attend the celebrations for the 2,500 years of the Battle of Thermopylae.

Butler famously played the Greek warrior king Leonidas of the 5th century BC city-state of Sparta in the Hollywood epic "300."

The movie is based on the 1998 comic series of the same name by Frank Miller and Lynn Varley, that presents a fictionalized retelling of the Battle of Thermopylae.

Guests will also include the film's Italian producer Gianni Nunnari.