The threads of THE SPIRIT (Mania.com)

Image by Strandell via Flickr

By Rob M. Worley
December 19, 2008

When we left the cast and crew of 'The Spirit' yesterday , actor Dan Lauria (who plays commissioner Dolan in the film) expressed his enthusiasm for the wardrobe he had in director Frank Miller's modern noir vision of Will Eisner's comic.

"I loved the costume you picked out for me. Right out of Bart MacLane's closet," Lauria said, referring to the actor who appeared in over a hundred classic movies including 'The Maltese Falcon'.

Of course the most important costume to get right were the threads Gabriel Macht wore as The Spirit.

"I worked hard on Gabe’s costume because at first it looked really foolish, until we spruced you up with the black outfit and everything," Miller told reporters but credits costume designer Michael Dennison for bringing the leading man's look to fruition.

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The Modern Noir of THE SPIRIT (Mania.com)

By Rob M. Worley
December 18, 2008

When 'The Spirit' arrives in theaters on December 25^th, moviegoers will be invited into a world that comics-auteur turned filmmaker Frank Miller calls "modern noir." It's a Chandleresque place the evokes Hollywood's tough guys of old, but still holds the modern conveniences of the present day.

This is the cinematic realization of Will Eisner's Central City.

"I’m pretty much an encyclopedia of film noir," Miller told reporters at a recent press gathering for the film.

Actor Dan Lauria, who plays Commissioner Dolan in the film, is also a student of the genre and made it his mission to test Millers' acumen.

"I’m a thief. I mean, whenever I do anything I rob from an old actor that nobody remembers," Lauria admitted. "So, I told Frank the last play I did I was doing Richard Conte. Nobody knew who he was. So he said, 'Who are you doing in this movie?' And I said, 'Ah, you wouldn’t know him' and he said, 'No, try me out.' and I says 'Bart MacLane'.

"He listed every Bart MacLane movie. I couldn’t do one bit without him telling me what movie I’d stolen from."

"Frank actually told me you were doing Dane Clark," Gabriel Macht, who plays Denny Colt, a.k.a. The Spirt, chimes in. However, the leading man agrees that the modern noir vibe helped shape his performance.

"I think tone is really important and I think this film is a great blend of what Eisner and Frank was able to create," said Macht. "There is a bit of the Raymond Chandler gumshoe detective. I think if you are not honest in your approach to the material it could get slapsticky and it could get schticky. We didn’t go there. I think, what’s up there on the screen, what we were able to get is a little bit more extreme in the sense that it’s a comic book movie."

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TV Stars * TV Producers * Movie Stars * Movie Directors, Producers, documentary Filmmakers and Screenwriters * Politicians and Political Writers * Stand-Up Comedians * Health Experts * Magazine Editors * Radio Stars * Bloggers, Podcasters and Web Producers * Novelists * Musicians and Music Journalists * Sexuality Experts * Culture and Society Experts * Food Experts * Biographers, Historians and A.J. Jacobs * Athletes and Sports Experts * Photographers * Journalists * Crime Experts * CEOs and Business Experts * Comic Book Creators * Cartoonists * Will Eisner Co-Workers, Friends and Experts

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Behind the scenes of 'The Spirit' (Comics2Film)

By Leslie Morgan
Comics2Film.com
November 19, 2007

When Comics2Film editor Rob Worley told me I was getting spend the day on set of Frank Miller's new film 'The Spirit' based on the comics by Will Eisner I was pretty excited, so much so that I leapt to my feet, banged my knee and cried out with a mixture of joy and pain. I had never been on a big budget movie set before and I couldn't be more ecstatic to have my "first time" be on a Frank Miller set.

We arrived in Albuquerque, New Mexico on Tuesday afternoon. 'The Spirit' was shooting less than 3 miles away from the airport and on brand spanking new state of the art sound stages, Albuquerque Studios. 'The Spirit' is the first film to be shot in the new studio and has taken over stages seven and eight.

Upon arriving at the studio we were asked to check in with the Production Coordinator. On our way we were greeted by warm smiles and waves.

As I signed away my first born child to get my on set pass who comes up behind me than none other than Dan Lauria, best known as Kevin Arnold's father in the television show The Wonder Years. Lauria was in to shoot his scenes as Commissioner Dolan and was asking around for a script as we made our way out of the offices and back into the hallway.

The adage of sit around and wait is often used while in production and it hold true for members of the press who go to set visits. Our next destination was delayed, an interview with Producer Deborah Del Prete on the set.

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