The Spirit--Christmas Day 2009

[rocklobster]

This movie looks pretty neat. It's based on a little-known comic book created by the legendary Will Eisner. Is anyone going to see it. BTW, Click here for info on the source material.

[Warrior 4 Jesus]

It looks nothing like the original comic but I love the noir styling of the movie trailer.

[Raiden no Kishi]

It looks interesting, and I like the art style, so I'll see it eventually.

.rai//

[Roy Mustang]

It looks nothing like the original comic

Since Frank Miller is the writer and director the film, it wanted to give it a timeless feel" with an alternate past with modern technologies.

I do feel that Frank Miller style here works, it makes you think of a Sin City 2 in a way.

Plus, a good number of Eisner covers for The Spirit used a mix of color and black-and-white, and the shadowing and texturing that combine for noir effect.

Which is something that Frank Miller did well with Sin City.

I just hope that the fans will like that The Octopus doesn't wear a mask, like he did in the comic strip and comics.


[font="Book Antiqua"][color="Red"]Col. Roy Mustang[/color][/font]

[Warrior 4 Jesus]

What I mean is it looks a lot more action-orientated than the comic.
I've got to say I enjoy the Noir styling more than Eisner's original drawings (can't stand his style).

[Roy Mustang]

Exclusive: Miller On Spirit, Sin 2

Exclusive: Miller On Spirit, Sin 2

Down these mean streets a man must come, and that man is Frank Miller, who took it upon himself to write and direct The Spirit, the upcoming film adaptation of Will Eisner's most famous comic book creation.

The story follows Denny Colt (Gabriel Macht), a murdered rookie cop who returns from the dead as the Spirit, a seemingly immortal masked hero on a mission to protect his beloved Manhattan-like Central City and to understand the hows and whys of his impossible existence. Along the way, he encounters a super-psychotic super-villain, the Octopus (Samuel L. Jackson), and a bevy of beautiful babes, among them Sand Saref (Eva Mendes), Ellen Dolan (Sarah Paulson), Silken Floss (Scarlett Johansson), Plaster of Paris (Paz Vega) and Lorelei Rox (Jaime King).

SCI FI Wire spoke to Miller by telephone on Dec. 13. Following are edited excerpts from that exclusive interview. The Spirit opens on Christmas Day.

Everyone's talking about the visuals of your film, but how about the screenplay? How hard or easy was it to take the comic-book saga and adapt it into a script?

Miller: It was very difficult, actually. At first, I approached Will Eisner like he was Raymond Chandler, and I then realized that he was O. Henry. He wrote very short stories, and it was a matter of adapting my favorite of his short stories and then expanding on them. My favorite of his short stories was a two-parter he did [on] Sand Saref, and I based the entire move on that. Then I extended it outward to involve his villain, the Octopus, and wonderful characters like Silken Floss and the new characters that I'd created, like Morgenstern [Stana Katic]. And, of course, Commissioner Dolan [Dan Lauria] had to be all through it.

This story continues below the video window.



Speaking of Eisner, is it true that you initially turned down the offer to direct the film and that you then, after a few minutes, agreed to do so because you simply didn't want anyone else to touch it?

Miller: That's exactly true. It took place within three minutes.

Why were you so reluctant initially and what made you so quick to change your mind?

Miller: Will Eisner was my mentor, and The Spirit was so awesome a property that I at first thought I was not worthy to do it. And then I couldn't think of anybody else who was, so I decided that I was the right man for the job.

Some of the imagery is of a different era, very '20s, '30s and '40s, and much of what we see, things like cell phones and high-tech guns, is very modern. How did you choose what would be retro and what would be contemporary?

Miller: Well, what I wanted to maintain mostly was the dignity and the gentlemanly quality of the Spirit himself. I wanted to recapture some of the glory of manlihood that I feel the world has lost. I wanted to bring it back through the Spirit. Meanwhile, I wanted to keep everything looking as good as possible. So, as a cartoonist, I've learned to structure stories around things I like to draw. And in the case of The Spirit, I wanted New York to be captured in all its glory from the '20s through the current era. That meant sewer grates from the '20s and cars from the '50s and cell phones from the present.

You directed The Spirit by yourself, but are reportedly going to re-team with Robert Rodriguez for Sin City 2. What's the latest update on that?

Miller: The script is ready. Robert and I are now working on how to actually make it happen. There's many, many a slip between conception and production.

And the story is still based on "A Dame to Kill For"?

Miller: The story is based on "A Dame to Kill For." And it features several other, new stories that I have created for it. --Ian Spelling

[font="Book Antiqua"]
[color="Red"]Col. Roy Mustang[/color][/font]

[Roy Mustang]

A lump of coal for this Christmas 'Spirit'

[quote="ICv2"]Lonsgate’]

[font="Arial Narrow"][color="Red"]Col. Roy Mustang[/color][/font]

[That Dude]

I like the visual stylings of it but I honestly haven't seen anything that Frank Miller has done that I didn't hate.

[ShiroiHikari]

I'm going to see this tomorrow with a couple of friends. Should be interesting.

[Solid Ronin]

I like the visual stylings of it but I honestly haven't seen anything that Frank Miller has done that I didn't hate.

You hate Batman: Year One?

Robot communist.


Its sad to see it didn't do well, I've heard mixed thing about it. I'll go see it maybe this weekend.

[Tommy]

I like the visual stylings of it but I honestly haven't seen anything that Frank Miller has done that I didn't hate.

THIS IS BLASPHEMY.
THIS IS MADNESS.

[ShiroiHikari]

Well, I saw it tonight and I kinda liked it. Definitely wasn't the best movie I've ever seen but it was fun. Sam Jackson looked like he was having a blast.

[Nate]

Well, I saw it tonight

You did? But wait, rocklobster said in the title it doesn't come out until December 25 of this year, 2009.

ANNETTE ARE YOU SOME KIND OF TIME TRAVELER?

[Tommy]

And yet another monumental comment from Nate.
I shall add that to the holy list.

[Etoh*the*Greato]

Saw it. Loved it. Don't think a lot of other people will. It's one of those movies that's kind of hard to get unless you're deeply enmeshed in geekstuffs.

[Stephen]

And yet another monumental comment from Nate.
I shall add that to the holy list.

From the book of Steve, chapter 19 and verse 25.

"Thou shalt not pick on Nate, unless you desire a terrible beating with a sack of doorknobs"


Careful Tom.

[ShiroiHikari]

So has anybody else here actually seen this movie yet?

[Tommy]

So today I did indeed see this film and I did indeed enjoy it.

The visuals were really cool and the action sequences were really comicbookish. The last fighting scene wasn't as epic as one would have wished for, but overall I enjoyed that movie immensely.

The acting could have been better, but it was still good.

[spoiler] This isn't really a spoiler but for giggles I felt like pointing out my primary reasons for enjoying said film was probably the 6000+ sexual innuendos that made me lawl everywhere, but I shall refrain from sharing them here for reasons of pure obviousness.[/spoiler]

From the book of Steve, chapter 19 and verse 25.

"Thou shalt not pick on Nate, unless you desire a terrible beating with a sack of doorknobs"


Careful Tom.

I was being extremely serious.

[ADXC]

[ilikegir33]

Liked the film-noir style of the film, and I enjoyed the humor, even though it was at times politically incorrect.

[Mr. SmartyPants]

Off topic point: People tend to associate film noir with the gritty "blues jazz" detective-type movie. Not the case. Basically, all of those are Noir, but not all Noir is like that.

To me, The Spirit fell under the feel of "stereotypical noir". They did it quite well, albeit in a purposefully over-the-top way. I didn't expect The Spirit to be as funny as it was. The fact that the movie just felt to be "fun" caused me to judge it very leniently. To put it short, it was a very bad movie that I really liked. XD

[Monkey J. Luffy]

I personally think the eggs ruined the movie for me. Not that they were a bad idea. They were just executed poorly. Besides that MSP summed it up quite well.

[Kurama]

I actually wanted to see it. i got one comic that I had found at a yard sale half a year ago. So when i saw the trailer, I fangirled. xD Never got to see it. I'm the kind of person that likes the movies no one else does. it sucks.... But I really want to see it still.