This site expands on Bob Andelman's biography, "Will Eisner: A Spirited Life" (M Press/Dark Horse), with new interviews and updates on related projects that bring greater depth and color to the portrayal of the legendary comic book/graphic novel artist and writer.
Frank Miller's noir craftsmanship inspired actresses Scarlett Johansson and Eva Mendes to embrace the femme-fatale flourishes of his newest film
Bob Thompson
National Post
December 22, 2008
The renowned graphic novelist Frank Miller knows how to write about anxiety, but he might have trouble dealing with his own as the opening of The Spirit approaches.
The Spirit is Miller's much anticipated live-action film version of the classic 1940s Will Eisner newspaper strip and subsequent comic book series. Opening on Christmas Day, the movie arrives with an important question: Can Miller --on his first solo directorial effort -- translate the stylish 1940s noir images onto the big screen?
There's a good chance he can. For one thing, Miller appreciates The Spirit's creative origins. He was an Eisner friend and associate, and admits that he based some of his more popular graphic novels on Eisner's tones and textures. Miller also codirected and co-wrote the digital Sin City film with Robert Rodriguez and penned the popular graphic novels Sin City and 300 (the movie became a worldwide hit). And Miller also famously made over Batman as the brooding Dark Knight in comics that inspired Christopher Nolan's hit movies Batman Begins and The Dark Knight.
An early incarnation of the Spirit’s sidekick has been the center of controversy for many years. Here’s a look at the past issue the character faced.
Whether you agree with Frank Miller’s interpretation of the character, see eye to eye with the film’s similarity to his Sin City’s, or believe he butchered Eisner’s masterpiece, The Spirit has dealt with serious issues. The Spirit is considered to be one of the first comics with serious adult tones, creating a road for mainstream comics.
In the series’ living city, its inhabitants were always occupied with things. Whether they were criminals wanting to thieve, or female fatales in New York- style tenants, the people always had drama to deal with. According to Eisner, it “gave [him] an adult audience.” He managed to fill the pages with dramatic stories that were crime-noir dramas that had adventure, love stories, mystery and sometimes horror, and of course its noted humor.
One of the comedic elements that Eisner tried to inhibit was through The Spirit’s sidekick. Ebony White, an African-American citizen growing up in the harsh city, would constantly aid the masked hero. Not necessarily a sidekick like Robin or Bucky who would help the hero fight, but more of an Alfred/Jarvis assistant who would help in tough situations and drive him around in a taxi.
Bob Thompson: Scarlett Johansson and company get The Spirit (National Post)
By Bob Thompson, National Post
If you can't wait to catch The Spirit, you are not alone. For those who might not know, The Spirit is the Frank Miller live-action film version of the classic 1940s Will Eisner newspaper strip and subsequent comic book series.
Opening on Dec. 25, the movie arrives with lots of anticipation and a question; as in can Miller translate the 1940s noir images onto the big screen? At least Miller gets The Spirit. He was an Eisner friend. And his resume suits the challenge. Plus his intention to shoot the movie in the fancy Sin City CGI style made sense to just about everybody.
Eva Mendes captures 'Spirit' of film genre (NJ.com)
by Lisa Rose
The Star-Ledger
Thursday December 18, 2008,
Glamorous, enigmatic and cutthroat in a literal way, the women in films and graphic novels from Frank Miller tend to be a bit more, er, proactive than typical comic genre female characters.
"The Spirit," opening Christmas Day, features Eva Mendes as a jewel thief/ace swimmer named Sand Saref. She co-stars with Scarlett Johansson as murderous scientist Silken Floss and Paz Vega as knife-wielding belly dancer Plaster of Paris.
Based on a 1940 comic by Will Eisner, the picture is the sole directorial debut from Miller who co-directed his graphic novel adaptation of "Sin City" with Robert Rodriguez. The writer's swords-and sandals epic "300" has also been made into a hit film.
The title character (Gabriel Macht) is a masked misfit for whom death is a curable condition. He battles a fashionable nemesis called the Octopus (Samuel L. Jackson).
On paper, Sand Saref could seem a type, a woman fixated with diamonds. Mendes says, however, that the character's neurotic need for shiny things is more than simple materialism.
This is the Cuban-American star's second appearance in a comic book adaptation, following her performance in "Ghost Rider" as a journalist in love with the engine-revving hero (Nicolas Cage). At 34, she has a list of credits that ranges from early roles in music videos to big parts in comedies -- "Hitch" -- and dramas -- "We Own the Night."
LIONSGATEEva Mendes in "The Spirit," opening Christmas Day.
We sat down for a chat with Mendes -- looking fab in a strapless dress -- during a "Spirit" press day at a New York hotel last weekend.
Q: Frank Miller is such an interesting visual stylist, how would you describe his technique working with the cast, helping you work on the characters?
A: He was very specific. Sometimes, when he was trying to communicate something to me about a scene, he would draw it out for me. In two seconds, he'd draw me as Sand Saref. I was like, "Can you sign that for me?"
FAST CHAT Frank Miller talks about 'The Spirit' (Newsday)
Frank Miller in London, image by juliet_a via Flickr
Frank Lovece Dec. 21, 2008
One of the few comics creators who has become his own brand, writer-artist Frank Miller first made his mark with a gritty, film-noir take on Marvel Comics' "Daredevil." He went on to pop-culture stardom with DC Comics' " The Dark Knight Returns," a 1986 miniseries envisioning a bitter, reactionary Batman a few decades from now, fighting against a corrupt world as seen through Miller's Ayn Rand-devotee eyes. His vision helped inspire the similarly dark Batman movies, and the less successful "Daredevil" film (2003).
Miller went on to such creator-owned comics as "Sin City" and "300," from independent publisher Dark Horse. Each became the basis of a popular movie, with director Robert Rodriguez granting Miller co-director credit for his help on "Frank Miller's Sin City" (2005).
Now flying solo, Miller, 51, has adapted " The Spirit," Will Eisner's legendary 1940-52 comics series that appeared as seven-page stories in Sunday newspapers. (The movie opens Thursday.) Its tales of an average-Joe-masked crime-fighter in a rumpled suit, encountering both Everyman criminals and exotic international thieves, became famous for both their humanistic fables and Eisner's pioneering techniques. Miller recently spoke at the Waldorf- Astoria with frequent contributor Frank Lovece.
For those poor, deprived souls who don't know his work, what makes Will Eisner so important to comics?
Well, it's like asking what Thomas Edison did for the lightbulb. Eisner was one of the people who created [the medium of] comic books. He was one of the first people who ever took comics out of the four-panel strip and showed the possibilities of the full page. And so he was one of the founding fathers. It's like asking what Thomas Jefferson had to do with the Constitution.
Tobias Schwarz/ReutersScarlett Johansson, left, and Eva Mendes, will star in Frank Miller's the Spirit.
If you can't wait to catch The Spirit. You are not alone. For those who might not know, The Spirit is the Frank Miller live-action film version of the classic 1940s Will Eisner newspaper strip and subsequent comic book series.
Opening on Dec. 25, the movie arrives with lots of anticipation and a question; as in can Miller translate the 1940s noir images onto the big screen? At least Miller gets The Spirit. He was an Eisner friend. And his resume suits the challenge. Plus his intention to shoot the movie in the fancy Sin City CGI style made sense to just about everybody.
I've been monitoring the reviews of Frank Miller's The Spirit movie -- which, thankfully, the marketing people stopped calling "Will Eisner's The Spirit" -- and there isn't much good to be found. Rather than posting separately for each bad review, I'm providing links to many of them below.
But almost everyone else uniformly gave the film raspberries. At least Miller can look forward to being a star at this year's Razzies. And you have to wonder if the owners of the rights to Buck Rogers aren't having second thoughts about letting Miller get his mitts on their property...
USA Today, Claudia Pulg "The Spirit is uneven, but its campy adventure provides some amusing, escapist fun."
Kansas City Star, Jason Heck "'The Spirit' is terrific entertainment. It’s a better and a more complete film than “Sin City” or “300.” Having a comic book genius create a comic book movie is a very, very good idea indeed."
Chicago Tribune, Web Behrens "Produced and directed by guys who grew up with a deep appreciation for Eisner, the film remains largely faithful to the quirky, well, spirit of the 60-plus-year-old creation."
Houston Chronicle, Rick Bentley "The bold visual strokes comic artist Frank Miller used to create Sin City revealed he was the only director who could do justice to the film version of Will Eisner’s ground-breaking comic series The Spirit.
"Eisner redefined comics in the 1940s and early ’50s with his creation of a print version of the film noir style. His stories were gritty. He used humor like a hidden weapon, exposed only when he needed to make a point.
"Miller has shown the same in-your-face skill in the creation of his comics and films. The result of Miller’s vision of Eisner with The Spirit is a visual explosion ignited by at times campy acting and melodrama so thick it will hurt your teeth."
Time Magazine, Richard Corliss "The joke — the prank — is on all of us. Whether you're a deep-dish Eisnerphile or an ordinary Christmas moviegoer looking for some action-adventure in a mall full of Oscar contenders, you will be obliged to proclaim this Spirit a calamitous botch. Miller has misread the original, turning dark drama into strained comedy. Of course, artists have the liberty to make fun of any source material, however hallowed; but Miller lacks the simple competence to make the movie move. The facility he has on the page doesn't translate to the screen."
Los Angeles Times, Sam Adams "'The Spirit' might bear the name of Will Eisner, on whose 1940s comics it is loosely based, but it bears as much resemblance to Eisner's inventive, lighthearted creation as "The Dark Knight" does to its candy-colored '60s television predecessor."
New York Daily News, Elizabeth Weitzman "'The Spirit' one of 'the worst movies of the year'"
Star-Ledger, Stephen Whitty "Miller has as uncertain a hand on his actors as he does on the tone."
The Oregonian, Mike Russell "'The Spirit' is a loony, embarrassing mess that takes the late Will Eisner's classic comics creation and beats it senseless with a giant toilet bowl (literally, at one point)."
Roger Ebert.com, Roger Ebert "'The Spirit' is mannered to the point of madness. There is not a trace of human emotion in it. To call the characters cardboard is to insult a useful packing material. The movie is all style -- style without substance, style whirling in a senseless void. The film's hero is an ex-cop reincarnated as an immortal enforcer; for all the personality he exhibits, we would welcome Elmer Fudd."
E! Online, Alex Markerson "The Spirit is as thin as the newsprint from which it springs."
Denton Record-Chronicle, Bob Allen "Miller makes his turgid tale devoid of color, with blood just as gray and bland as everything else in the film except for the Spirit’s tie and Scarlett Johansson’s lips."
Arizona Republic, Bill Goodykoontz "Although the acting in Sin City was campy and the story over-the-top, it worked in the context of the film. Too often The Spirit is just not very good."
The Plain Dealer, Julie E. Washington "'The Spirit' is bizarre -- and not in a good way."
St. Petersburg Times, Steve Persall "The Spirit could be retitled The Light Knight, since Frank Miller's movie is the antithesis of everything that made The Dark Knight the quintessential comic book movie."
San Francisco Chronicle, Peter Hartlaub "Miller's distinction as one of the all-time best comic book writers is strong enough to withstand his role in making one of the worst comic book movies ever."
Boston Herald, Stephen Schaefer "...nothing meshes, much less enthralls..."
Newsday, Frank Lovece "Will Eisner's "The Spirit" was the "Citizen Kane" of comics, pushing the limits of the medium and expanding its visual vocabulary. Appearing in a Sunday-paper comic-book supplement from 1940 to 1952, it starred an average-Joe masked crime-fighter in a rumpled suit - a vulnerable but insouciant Everyman in humanist fables.
"Little of that makes it on-screen in this adaptation by writer-artist turned filmmaker Frank Miller. The auteur of comics "Sin City," "300" and " Batman: The Dark Knight Returns," Miller retained only Eisner's film noir surface, jettisoning characterization, soul and anything remotely human."
Vancouver Sun, Katherine Monk "The Spirit is an ambitious mess with no life"
Toronto Star, Jason Anderson "At which exact point The Spirit hits rock bottom is a matter of debate. Maybe it's when we first see our eponymous hero scampering across rooftops in a fashion less appropriate to a movie superhero than to a cast member of Guys and Dolls.
"Or maybe it comes during the first fight sequence, when he's clobbered over the head with a bathroom fixture by a supervillain who then howls, "C'mon, toilets are always funny!" He is not correct"
"Unfortunately, Miller's first solo effort is a cinematic non-starter, with a cluttered story, paper-thin characters who seem to speak in self-mocking clichés, a bland hero, a hysterical villain and a surfeit of pouting vamps. Miller's visual technique, which was astonishing in Sin City, now feels familiar - and with a more careful PG-13 rating in the U.S., the film feels like a paler imitation of its predecessor."
"If you're expecting the dark, wicked humor and dazzlingly gruesome violence of Sin City, you'll be sorely disappointed."
New York Press, Simon Abrams "Miller is more than eager to argue for the legitimacy of comics’ pulpy roots. But he’s not doing it in the right way." Vue Weekly, Josef Braun "There are flourishes of visual expressionism, but all the eye candy, from the misty skies of fluttering snow to Eva Mendes’ immaculate ass, begins to wear as the story proves itself bereft of feeling. The characters are stereotypes. Their stories get very boring."
Now Toronto, Norman Wilner "Spiritless: Frank Miller doesn’t have the slightest clue how to put a movie together"
Examiner.com, Matthew Razak "I don't believe I have ever walked out of a theater more torn about a movie than when leaving the theater after seeing The Spirit. My movie critic selves were in complete and total conflict with each other. The camp loving, B-grade movie addict in me was saying, "You wait and see, ten years from now this is going to be one of those crazy cult classics." The professional critic in me was shouting over that about how the film is a jarring mish-mash of comic book camp, pulp fiction writing and themes that are far too dark for either. I was seriously just plain confused."
For every movie that makes it to the screen, there are a thousand projects that fall to the wayside. Later this month, "The Spirit," finally, hits theaters after plenty of failed attempts. Steven Paul Leiva was a key figure in one of those failed attempts and in this guest essay for Hero Complex he talks about the film that could have been. This photo below shows Leiva, Brad Bird and the late Will Eisner at the comics icon's White Plains, N.Y., home in 1981.
Frank Miller’s film version of Will Eisner’s innovative 1940s comic book, “The Spirit” opens on Christmas Day. It will be stylistic and hyper-visual, a hoped-for perfect melding of film and “sequential art,” a term coined by Eisner. What it will not be, however, is revolutionary. Comic book movies are now the meat and potatoes -- not to mention several side vegetables -- of Hollywood. And even its green screen, scene-simulation style is just part of a Miller continuum that started with “Sin City.”
But if the world had turned a little differently, if fate had been a little kinder, a “Spirit” feature film would have debuted in the 1980s that would not only have been revolutionary but -- those of us involved in it were convinced -- a huge hit, possibly the first $100 million-grossing animated feature. And the futures of such filmmakers as Brad Bird, Gary Kurtz, John Musker and John Lasseter might have taken alternative paths.
In 1980, I was a freelance publicist specializing in animators I admired. My clients included Chuck Jones, Bill Melendez and Richard Williams. However, I was not particularly happy with the state of animation itself. Previously I had been executive secretary of the animation society ASIFA-Hollywood and an animation programmer for the Los Angeles International Film Exposition (FILMEX), and so had been exposed to a lot of great, classic American animation and exciting foreign animation. I had become frustrated that animation in Hollywood had fallen into the doldrums of sub-standard Disney, awful Saturday morning TV cartoons, and too-cute-to-stomach exploitations of brightly colored bears and other sugarcoated creatures. And I had become tired of anthropomorphic animals as the dominant fauna of American animation. Not that there was anything intrinsically wrong with them, it’s just that I was a Homo sapiens chauvinist and felt that American animation as an art form would never mature (as Japanese and European animation had) until it learned to tell human stories directly, and not through the filter of talking animals.
NEW YORK -- The people behind The Spirit think moviegoers deserve something new and different on Christmas Day.
So what are they serving up as an antidote to the turkey and the tinsel?
Would you believe a dead man walking?
Hollywood's latest excavation from the comic-book archives resurrects a groundbreaking 1940 yarn about a murdered cop (Gabriel Macht) who is mysteriously reborn as a masked crime-fighter called The Spirit, only to meet a new nemesis in the form of a giggling psychopath known as the Octopus (Samuel L. Jackson).
The film is a labour of love for contemporary graphic-novel icon Frank Miller, creator of Sin City, 300 and The Dark Knight Returns. Miller, 51, wasn't even alive when The Spirit made his first appearance 68 years ago, but he sees this new movie as an act of homage to the story's legendary creator Will Eisner, a comic-book pioneer.
SciFi put up an interesting interview today with Frank Miller, discussing The Spirit and Sin City 2. But here’s what stuck out for me:
“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.”
Now, I’m not quite sure how I feel about this. Frank Miller does have a reputation for making himself — we’ll say “larger than life” — when it comes to his already considerable skills as a comic book creator. (A debate might be whether his previous works, like The Dark Knight Returns, Daredevil, and Sin City balance against more recent works like All-Star Batman and Robin and The Dark Knight Strikes Again.) But part of me wonders: does this sort of comment belittle Eisner? Is this Miller acting presumptuous, taking the crown of comics’ master craftsman?
Of all the Christmas Day movies this year, I'm more than a little interested in "The Spirit," the latest from comic-book-artist-turned-filmmaker Frank Miller. Once again, we'll see those digitized backgrounds and weird mixes of color and black-and-white, as in "Sin City" and "300," Miller's collaborations with Robert Rodriguez.
Mostly, though, I want to see what they do with one of my favorite comic heroes.
I discovered "The Spirit" late, in the 1970s, when a lot of the old strips were finally being reprinted for a new generation of fans. That's when a lot of us first discovered Will Eisner.
Who's Eisner? A cartoonist's cartoonist who never quite reached A-list popularity but was always known to the cognoscenti. Jack Kirby ("The Hulk, "X-Men," etc.) worked with Eisner back in the 1930s, when he was still Jacob Kurtzberg; later a young Jules Feiffer would understudy for him. Michael Chabon quoted Eisner in the epigram for his novel "The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay" and may have used him as a model for one of his cartoonist heroes. Hundreds of other young pop artists studied his work.
Berlin (dpa/bb) - Zur Abwechslung mal ganz brav: Adrett und hochgeschlossen zeigten sich am Montag die US-Schauspielerinnen Scarlett Johansson (24) und Eva Mendes (34) bei der Vorstellung ihres neuen Films in Berlin. Dabei spielen die beiden Frauen in der Comic- Verfilmung «The Spirit» des amerikanischen Zeichners Will Eisner sehr erotische Rollen. Der Streifen von Regisseur Frank Miller («Sin City») erzählt die Geschichte eines jungen Polizisten (Gabriel Macht), der auf mysteriöse Weise vom Tod ins Leben zurückkehrt, um als «Spirit» (Geist) das Verbrechen in seiner Stadt Central City zu bekämpfen. Filmstart ist am 29. Januar.
Gabriel Macht has been active in film, theater, and television for most of the last decade, starting with a role on the original Beverly Hills 90210. He has since been seen in such films as Behind Enemy Lines, The Recruit, A Love Song for Bobby Long, and The Good Shepherd. It took Frank Miller to give him a starring part, however: he's slated to appear as resurrected cop Denny Colt in Will Eisner'sThe Spirit, due for release Christmas Day. In an exclusive interview with Mania.com, Macht talked about stepping into the character's shoes, as well as working with Miller and meeting the expectations of a new generation of comic book films.
Question: How did you get involved with the project? Were you a big comics fan going in?
Gabriel Macht: I wasn't a crazy comic book fan, but I was a big fan of comic book movies. My agent sent me into this audition without saying much about it. It was only when I got in there that I found out it was for Frank Miller. My interest level jumped up by about a factor of 10. I had loved the Sin City movie and the 300 movie both, and suddenly here's the guy who created them introducing himself to me. I think every actor wants to work for someone with a vision, and Frank's is one of the strongest I've ever seen. I jumped on the Will Eisner stuff once I got the part, but in the early stages, what we had were Frank's storyboards for the film. And they were so clear and so beautiful and gave such a tremendous impression of where he wanted to go with this movie. We established a great chemistry right away--almost as soon as I read for it--and while the auditioning process was fairly long, I would get more and more excited about it with each step I took.
Graphic novelist Frank Miller talks about his film adaptation of comic book legend Will Eisner’s groundbreaking 1940s crime-fighter strip, The Spirit.
‘At first I found it too daunting, because Will Eisner had been my mentor. But after three minutes of careful thought I decided that nobody else could touch it. So I went from protecting The Spirit to exploring what I perceived as Will’s intent, which was to create something new and exciting. Accordingly, I didn’t want to make a piece of stodgy memorabilia. I wanted to do something with modern technology that was as adventurous as Will was with his horsehair brush and ink.
‘We use digital effects similar to the ones Robert Rodriguez and myself used in Sin City. What’s happened with computer technology is perfectly timed for someone with my set of skills. I tell stories with pictures. What I love about CGI is that if I can think it, it can be put on the screen.
‘The stories that make up the core of this movie were three: ‘Sand Saref’, ‘Bring in Sand Saref’ and ‘Showdown’. The first two introduce one of The Spirit’s many femme fatales, played in the film by Eva Mendes, Scarlett Johansson, Jaime King and Paz Vega. The third story was a bloody fight between the Spirit and the villain the Octopus, played by Samuel L Jackson, that demonstrated both of them could withstand inhuman punishment. Working out how to justify that allowed me to make the Spirit a man who is existentially confused about why he came back from the dead – he knows that he is a cop who was shot dead and mysteriously came back to life, but not why.
Will Eisner’s classic comics character makes the leap to the screen in this spectacular new live-action movie written and directed by Frank Miller (Sin City, 300), and starring Gabriel Macht as The Spirit, Samuel L. Jackson as his psychotic arch-nemesis The Octopus, and Eva Mendes and Scarlett Johansson as alluring femmes fatales.
In Central City, one man fights crime using nothing but his wits and his fists. He wears a mask, a suit and a fedora, and he is known only as The Spirit...
This stunning volume contains interviews with the cast and the crew, color photos & production art, and Frank Miller sketches and storyboards.
CONTENTS:
Introduction by Frank Miller
Chapter One - The Shadow of The Spirit Chapter Two - The Comic Book Movie Chapter Three - Never World Chapter Four - Cast of Characters Chapter Five - The Green World and Black World Chapter Six - The Bunker Chapter Seven - The Death of The Spirit Chapter Eight - The Spirit Lives
THR: With all this producing, you're still active as an actor. Tell us a little about "The Spirit."
Samuel L. Jackson: I've been trying to work with Frank Miller for a while -- and trying to acquire one of his properties. I spent a lot of time in comic book stores, always have, since I was a kid, and I was never able to contact him, but he knew of my interest. When they did "Sin City," I was talking to Quentin (Tarantino) and I told him, "How can you do this thing and I'm not in it?" And he told Frank, and Frank was impressed that I even, you know, knew what it was and wanted to be a part of it. So when "The Spirit" came up, he said I was the person that he thought of to play the Octopus.
Can you talk about working with (Sin City creator) Frank Miller on your new movie The Spirit? What made you want to do the movie?
I’ve never really been someone who knows anything about graphic novels or comics. It’s not that I’m not a fan, but I’ve just never been exposed to that whole world. I loved Sin City, I loved 300 and I loved the kind of mystery of Frank Miller. I was interested to meet him. I heard that he was doing this project and that there were some fun female roles. I had heard of the graphic novel for The Spirit. I knew of it and I wanted to find out more.
So you pursued the role?
Yeah. Well, Frank and I kind of pursued each other. I heard about it and he kind of came at me. Both of us were interested in meeting the other person and we had lunch. We just caught on like a house on fire. It was like, ‘I love you. You’re fantastic.’ We just got along so well.
Who do you play in the movie?
I play a character named Silken Floss. When I read the script there wasn’t really a part for me. But when I met with Frank, he was like, ‘I don’t know where you fit in, but I want to work with you.’ We both felt that way, so he wrote the part for me which was fun, because I had no idea what it was going to be or anything. I knew that he was kind of writing it for me. It was great. So you’ll just have to wait and see.
What was it like working with Frank?
I loved working with him. He’s wonderful, he’s such a visionary, just fantastic. He would come on the sets and lead the whole crew into some kind of presentation. He would draw the storyboard and lead us. I mean he sees it, he can see how he wants it. He’s a visionary, he really is, and it was exciting. He creates these fantastic characters and some of them are just so rotten. None of his characters are grey. None of us are heroes, they’re all kind of grey, you know? And I love that.
Prediction #1: "The Spirit" (Frank Miller) (I Dream in Indigo)
By Indigo
I'm going to start doing a "Prediction" column where I predict what will be the next good movie, "big thing", trend, hot song, etc..
The Spirit! "Directed by Frank Miller, written by Frank Miller and Will Eisner, and from the creators of 'Sin City' and '300', comes 'The Spirit"...
This movie looks like it might be the best movie all year! I'm sold on the mere fact that it's directed and written by Frank Miller, (the same director as "Sin City") and has a wicked trailer. The cinematography, the color scheme , and the effects are all dope. Plus, I just saw Samuel Jackson in "Soul Men" and his performance was great in that, so I'm excited to see him in another movie. Cast members Eva Mendes and Scarlette Johansson make "The Spirit" even more promising...
What’s so special about The Spirit? A review of The Spirit Special #1 (WednesdaysHaul.com)
By Scott Cederlund
November 25th, 2008
In a little over a month, you may end up seeing a movie called The Spirit. People are going to tell you how it’s directed by Frank Miller, creator of 300 and Sin City, to establish his comic book movie pedigree. They’ll probably even throw in the fact that Miller co-directed Sin City as well to bolster Miller’s cinematic credentials. They may even to tell you that The Spirit is based on an old and rather famous comic book by some guy named Will Eisner to try and give the movie a sense of history and importance. And in honor of this Christmas’s big movie release, DC has put out The Spirit Special #1, featuring four stories that presumably tie into the movie somehow.
The first story “Sign of the Octopus” from 1947 feels like it may be the closest in tone and mood to the movie if the movie’s trailer is any indication. Caught and beaten, the Spirit is basically tortured into giving up the whereabouts of a safe full of money. It’s a surprisingly brutal story from the late 1940s, complete with exploding grenades right under a henchman’s body and a bloody bat used to beat the Spirit but it is a reminder that The Spirit does live in a dirty and physical world. This issue features the Spirit’s enemy the Octopus who is played in the movie by Samuel L. Jackson. As what may be a sign that Miller doesn’t get it, Eisner never shows more of the Octopus than his arm. The character remains a mystery, always hidden in doorways, windows and shadows. He’s a threat but he’s never defined clearly. The Octopus is certainly not Shaft and was never trapped on a plane with snakes.
VIDEO: Stunning Scarlett and Eva, Trailer Horrific (Javno.com)
From JAVNO.com: "The film adaptation of the comic strip “The Spirit” by Will Eisner is Frank Miller’s (Sin City) second directing project, but the first project he directed on his own. The film is expected to premiere on Christmas and the movie’s trailers have already been put up on YouTube. The imagination of viewers has been additionally tickled by the stunning actresses in the film, Eva Mendes and Scarlett Johansson.
"But critics of the newest trailer are slashing. Film bloggers think that “The Spirit” is much too like “Sin City” and the dialogues we can hear in the trailer are horrific. See for yourself. We are hoping that the problem is that this excerpthas been taken out of context."
Regardless of how the movie turns out, the one thing that can't be denied is that Frank Miller has got some of the hottest women in Hollywood for his upcoming "The Spirit" comic book adaptation.
Be sure and check out ComicBookMovies.com's The Spirit wallpaper area to see the new exclusive Sand Serif wallpaper, but also all of the "official" wallpapers that we could get our hands on!
Image by Strandell via FlickrPosted by Mr. Stratford
I’ve got to admit, I never read The Spirit until they first announced the movie was going into production. Since then, I’ve picked it up a few times and haven’t really been impressed, let alone entertained enough to keep buying it. [However, if anyone cares to recommend a particular collection or time frame to read, I’d be willing to give it another try.] Therefore, I find it a little hard to care all that much when people start talking about how much Frank Miller has altered The Spirit for his film.
Frank Miller: Will Eisner's 'The Spirit' moved him (Los Angeles Times)
Image by Strandell via FlickrBy Geoff Boucher November 2, 2008
Reporting from San Francisco -- No comic-book creator has seen his work brought to the screen with more reverence than Frank Miller, whose ultra-violent graphic novels "300" and "Sin City" were adapted to film practically panel by panel. "It is very strange," Miller said, "to draw something and then have it come alive in front of you. You start to feel like a low-rent god, but, in my case, one with major feet of clay. . . . "
This minor deity, who favors fedoras and Winston cigarettes, is now attempting a new type of Hollywood trick and it starts on Christmas Day, no less; that's the release date of " The Spirit," the superhero film that Miller hopes will complete his unlikely transformation from comic-book artist to successful movie director, a career path that did not seem possible even at the start of this decade. "The Dark Knight" and "Iron Man" may have racked up historic box-office numbers this summer, but if Miller succeeds with this particular pop-culture leap, it will be the most dramatic proof that comics have become hard-wired into the circuitry of Hollywood.
Interestingly, Miller, the most important comic-book artist of the last 25 years, chose to make his solo directorial debut with somebody else's superhero, and a relatively obscure and vintage one at that. The Spirit was created in 1940 by the late, great Will Eisner, a beloved figure in comics who brought a cinematic flair to his drawing board that influenced several generations. No one admired Eisner more than Miller -- in 2005, shortly after Eisner's death, the book "Eisner/Miller" hit shelves with 350 pages of collected conversation between the artists as a sort of comic-book sector version of the landmark 1967 film book "Hitchcock/Truffaut."
While some in my family and all of my friends insist that I’ve already raised enough of a ruckus, I just can’t keep quiet about The Spirit movie any longer. Having been subjected to the new trailer in theaters twice now, I really have to voice my concern: in the hands of uber-ego Frank Miller, Will Eisner’s groundbreaking and inspiring character has been rendered parody. This isn’t a simple matter of artistic license or Hollywood insensitivity. This movie is shaping up to be nothing short of heresy.
Granted, I am judging this movie solely by the trailer and the two previous teasers that had already burned a hole in my gut. Perhaps it’s unfair to level criticism this early. But what are trailers for, anymore, but giving the audience a capsulated synopsis of an entire movie? Therefore, judging solely by the trailer, the movie’s title is an egregious irony—there is nothing about The Spirit movie to suggest that it has maintained “the spirit” of The Spirit.
Obviously, it’s no co-incidence that it took until the first full-length trailer for creator Will Eisner’s name to even be mentioned in connection with this Sin City-celebratory train wreck. I could easily see Will posthumously wanting his name removed from this movie.
Must Watch: Great Featurette on the Origin of The Spirit (FirstShowing.net)
Image by Strandell via Flickrby Alex Billington October 20, 2008
Lionsgate has released a great behind-the-scenes featurette on the making of Frank Miller's The Spirit, which, like Sin City before it, was shot entirely on green screen stages. The featurette looks at the origin of The Spirit, going all the way back to Will Eisner's comic strips and Frank Miller's friendship with Eisner. As fantastic as this video is, they finally feature some of the more cheesy and over-the-top scenes that we complained about back during Comic-Con. Everytime I watched some new from this movie, I wonder whether I'm not thinking straight and if it really will be fantastic? As Frank Miller says, this isn't a tribute to Will Eisner, this is a tribute to The Spirit! Is anyone convinced that it may be good yet?
The Spirit: My City Screams (And So Do Fans of the Comic Book) (Spout Blog)
Image via Wikipedia"We talked about Frank Miller’s highly anticipated film adaptation of Will Eisner’s long running comic bookThe Spirit back at Comic-Con when the scenes failed to impress us. In fact, they felt like they were straight out of Sin City Redux. It’s been a few months since we were underwhelmed; have the filmmakers changed anything? Not based on the clip we were sent this week. Despite being a self-proclaimed fan of Will Eisner, Frank Miller is managing to stomp the life out of every facet that made The Spirit a compelling comic. Check out the video and find out why we’re not happy."—Kevin Kelly
I've noticed a trend: We do a post about the upcoming movie version of The Spirit, and commenters complain that we're too negative about it. Is it a ploy to bury Frank Miller's directing career, you ask? Why are we hating so much on a movie that we've not seen, and judging it on solely on the trailers and interviews and pre-release hype that we're supposed to be excited about? Well, speaking solely for myself, the reason that I'm afraid of the Spirit movie is because of why I love the Spirit comics.
At its best, The Spirit newspaper strip was about so much more than crime fighters in masks and smart suits and femme fatales: It was all about groundbreaking look and storytelling that slowly but surely turned away from the genre stereotypes towards something that was both larger in scope and smaller in execution. It's not just that the strips were good in and of themselves - although they are, or else they wouldn't be worth reading more than half a century after they were created - but that there was an added thrill that came from watching Eisner and his studio creators stretching the boundaries and expectations of the entire medium on a weekly basis. As Alex has already mentioned, the splash pages brought influences from outside of comics to bear, redefining not only the way that comics could look, but the way that creators thought about the way that comics could look... but just as importantly as the visuals, the writing of the series evolved throughout the strip's initial 12-year run, outgrowing its pulp origins to become something more Runyonesque and humanist; as the series went on, stories would center on characters as more than just stereotypes or plot devices but as individuals in their own right (This focus on the little guy continued in Eisner's later work on books like The Dreamer, The Building and Invisible People).
"Most of the people eagerly awaiting the Frank Miller-ized movie of Will Eisner's amazing comic The Spirit have never actually read the original comic. So they probably don't have a sense for the difference between the comic and Miller's campy Sin City-esque vision for the film version. So as a public service, we're presenting the best 12 splash pages featuring Will Eisner's masked hero, to show once and for all why Miller can't hope to bring their genius to life.
"From the visuals we've seen so far, Miller's distinctive vision seems to have scrapped the rapidly switching genre for his own usual film noir feel, as you can see in the poster at left. The high profile of the Spirit's female paramours also marks a shift from the original comic. There's also a major emphasis on a villain who's never directly represented in the comics, Samuel L. Jackson's The Octopus. Yet there was considerable brilliance in the original strip's directors of photography. Pioneer Will Eisner and his legendary group of collaborators pushed the form forwards in stunning artwork that deserves to be seen by all." — By Alex Carnevale, writing at io9.com, "12 Splash Will Convince You Frank Miller Shouldn't Adapt The Spirit." Click HERE to Keep Reading!
This list is about “must see” movies, not necessarily “sure to be great” movies. Sure, Frank Miller’s adaptation of the classic Will Eisner comic may have all the makings of a massive, bloody, CNN headline-grabbing train wreck — but like all great train wrecks and epic disasters in history, there is the distinct possibility that we won’t be able to look away. Click HERE to Keep Reading!
The Spirit Trailer #2: Actually, Not Bad (Moviefone)
There is a lot to be dubious about in what Frank Miller has thus far released in terms of clips and trailers for The Spirit film due this Christmas. It's still too much Sin City and too little Will Eisner. But if you forget all the history involved here, the latest trailer, available at Moviefone, does make one a little more interested in seeing the movie.
I just wish it wasn't called "The Spirit" and it didn't have Eisner's name on it. We'd all probably enjoy it a lot more if it was called what it is: NOT Will Eisner's The Spirit.
But at least this trailer gives us a smidge of hope.
THE SPIRIT (Lionsgate) Tagline: “My city screams.” Translation: As does the ghost of Will Eisner. The Verdict: Frank Miller, writer of 300 and Sin City, got his first solo directing gig with The Spirit, the landmark creation of Eisner, legendary comics artist and inventor of the graphic novel. And from the campy set-pieces, overheated dialogue, lack of action, and overreliance on femme fatales, it’s hard not to think that it won’t be his last— or the last superhero movie, period.
Reaction to the Sunday New York Times story about Frank Miller's Will Eisner's The Spirit film, this posted on the popular site "ComicMix.com." This is just one, but I picked it out because Mike Gold is well known among comics pros for his many years working at DC. I also interviewed him for my biography, Will Eisner: A Spirited Life, and I know of his devotion to Eisner:
Mike Gold (11:31 AM on Tue Jul 22, 2008) I can live with eliminating Ebony -- he's a difficult character to get across today, to say the least. But despite my affection for Frank's work, everything I've seen promoting this movie, including the most recent trailer, makes me very, very trepidatious.
I can understand the studio promoting it as Sin City The Masked Generation, but after a couple of trailers and lots of ads and convention stuff, as an Eisner fan I'm worried. I'm with Mike Weber: everything I've heard and read about Ellison's screenplay (including from Harlan's numerous mentions) makes me wish somebody with a similar approach made the movie.
It’s official. Frank Miller has become the M. Night Shyamalan of comics.
Just the mention of his name incites nothing but vitriol from fans these days. Not that I’m any kind of Miller fan, but I can’t help feeling bad for him (and M. Night.)
When/How did this happen? What was the turning point? I still remember the days when nothing but hyperbolic praise would flow at the mention of Miller. It was that interview he did for NPR when he rambled incoherently about 9/11, wasn’t it?
Total Film Magazine: Total The Spirit (Comics2Film.com)
This month Total Film straps on its most stylish suit and adjusts its trilby to welcome The Spirit into our midst.
Why? Because he's the star of Frank Miller's filmic follow-up to Sin City - a flick that looks like it possesses all the guns, gals and grit of that particular sleaze cinema masterpiece.
They take a world exclusive look at The Spirit's universe, a place that's full of femme fatales.
Entertainment Weekly on Frank Miller and The Spirit Movie
The Spirit: With help from moderator Kurt Loder (yes, MTV’s Kurt Loder!) and flirty star Eva Mendes, comics creator-turned-screenwriter/director Frank Miller (pictured, with Mendes) debuted a Sin City-kissed teaser-trailer about the lady-lovin’ vigilante who fights crime in Central City; sincerely emphasized the impact his friend and Spirit creator Will Eisner has had on his work; then offered this nugget when asked why he cast the not-so-well-known Gabriel Macht as the title character: ''Holllywood has produced many male actors, however very few men.'' -- from Entertainment Weekly
So what do you think? The trailer, not surprisingly, looks quite stylish - a lot like Frank Miller's Sin City, but distinctive nonetheless. But what do you think of the brief interview with Frank Miller that follows it? Why is he dressed as The Spirit? Bright red tie, hat, shirt sleeves pushed up - shouldn't actor Gabriel Macht, who plays The Spirit/Denny Colt, be out there in the costume?
By Larry Carroll Wednesday, October 10, 2007 3:28 pm.
Most first-time directors would consider themselves fortunate to land Jamie Kennedy and Mo’Nique for their debut effort. But now that the training wheels (named Rodriguez and Tarantino) are coming off for the legendary Frank Miller with “The Spirit,” A-listers are lining up like Motley Crue fans at a leather pants sale.
“I’m excited to be working with Frank Miller, he’s a genius,” Eva Mendes told us recently, nearly jumping out of her chair. “Actually, I didn’t even read a script.”
Thanks to his graphic novels and movie adaptations of “300” and “Sin City” (which credited him as one of three co-directors), the Miller “look” has been well-established. But, in adapting the Sunday morning comic strip launched by Will Eisner in 1940, the feel of a full-on Miller production remains to be seen.
“[Miller] wrote the script as well,” beamed Mendes, who’ll star in the film alongside Samuel L. Jackson, Jaime King, Gabriel Macht and a certain red-hot redhead. “When I first met with him, it was actually me and Scarlett Johansson — we got there at a similar time. We actually sat down and we met with Frank together. It was fantastic, and I was just like ‘Look, I don’t even know what the script is, but I want to work with you’.”
In a few short weeks, the “We Own the Night” star will get her wish. “I play Sand Saref,” she explained. “It’s my first femme fatale character. She’s literally a killer, and she uses her body to get what she wants. I’m excited!”
Those who list Mendes as one of the sexiest women in Hollywood are, no doubt, every bit as thrilled to hear such hot details about the 2009 release. “I loved ‘Sin City’ and ‘300,’ and I love working with creative geniuses,” she gushed. “That brain of his, it’s like, ‘What’s going on in there?’”
COMICS2FILM.com: Lionsgate to Distribute "The Spirit" Film by Frank Miller
The web site Comics2Film.com was the first to post this interesting development in the evolution of "The Spirit" film, to be written and directed by Frank Miller:
SANTA MONICA, CA (May 16, 2007) – Lionsgate (NYSE: LGF), the leading independent filmed entertainment studio, announced today that it has secured domestic and U.K. distribution rights to the live action comic book adaptation 'The Spirit', directed and written by 'Sin City' and '300' creator Frank Miller and based on the classic series by comic master Will Eisner. Lionsgate will partner on the project with Odd Lot Entertainment, which is producing and co-financing, and Batfilm Productions, which is producing. Gigi Pritzker and Deborah Del Prete ('The Wedding Planner', the upcoming 'Suburban Girl') are producing for Odd Lot; Lionsgate’s Mike Paseornek, President of Film Production, is producing for Lionsgate; and Michael Uslan ('Batman Begins', 'Constantine') is producing for Batfilm. Batfilm co-founder Benjamin Melniker and Steve Maier are executive producers, and Odd Lot’s Linda McDonough and Batfilm’s F.J. DeSanto are co-producers. The announcement was jointly made today by Lionsgate President of Theatrical Films Tom Ortenberg, President of Acquisitions and Co-Productions Peter Block, and Paseornek.
Will Eisner's THE SPIRIT
The deal is a unique multi-picture co-financing, co-production and split rights arrangement, with 'The Spirit' being the first film in the pipeline.
Commented Ortenberg, Block and Paseornek, “Lionsgate is proud and excited to join the team bringing Will Eisner’s immortal 'The Spirit' to the big screen. With the SIN CITY series, Frank Miller has proven to be as brilliant and original a filmmaker as he is a graphic novelist. His vision is perfectly matched to that of Eisner, and we believe 'The Spirit' will be a thrilling experience for comic book lovers and mass audiences alike.”
“Lionsgate comes to this relationship with a unique and strong ability to support 'The Spirit'. We are delighted to be in business with the studio and are confident in their well-developed marketing and promotions strategies as well as their depth in launching global franchises,” said Del Prete.
Continued Pritzker, “We look forward to a successful creative and business partnership with Lionsgate, and know they will help shepherd Frank Miller’s vision for 'The Spirit'.”
Frank Miller
Said Miller, “Will Eisner’s 'The Spirit' is a product of passion and dedication for me. Will was a dear friend, a mentor, and translating his vision to the screen will be a labor of love. I look forward to working with the people at Lionsgate, and to add to their lauded reputation for genre films.”
The deal was brokered and structured by Bill Lischak, newly appointed COO of Odd Lot Entertainment.
SYNOPSIS
Adapated from the legendary Will Eisner’s graphic novels, 'The Spirit' tells the visceral, action-packed story of a man who fakes his own death and fights crime from the shadows of Central City. The Octopus – who kills anyone unfortunate enough to see his face – has a different mission: he’s going to wipe out the entire city. The Spirit tracks this cold-hearted killer from Central City’s rundown warehouses, to the damp catacombs, to the windswept waterfront ... all the while facing a bevy of beautiful women who either want to seduce, love or kill our masked crusader. In the vein of 'Batman Begins' and 'Sin City', 'The Spirit' takes us on a sinister, gut-wrenching ride of a hero who is born, murdered and born again.
ABOUT ODD LOT ENTERTAINMENT
ODD LOT ENTERTAINMENT was founded in 2001 by Gigi Pritzker and Deborah Del Prete. It recently produced and financed SUBURBAN GIRL, the adaptation of the best-selling Melissa Bank novel, The Girls’ Guide to Hunting & Fishing, starring Sarah Michelle Gellar, Alec Baldwin and Maggie Grace; Independent Spirit Award-winner MEAN CREEK, written and directed by Jacob Estes; and the commercial hit THE WEDDING PLANNER, starring Jennifer Lopez and Matthew McConaughey. Currently in active development or production are THE LAVENDER HILL MOB, an action comedy remake of the classic Alec Guinness comedy, to be directed by Dean Parisot (FUN WITH DICK AND JANE); RETURN TO SENDER, a sophisticated romantic comedy; and SENSE AND SENSIBILIDAD, a present-day, Latino version of Jane Austen's classic novel, to be directed by Fina Torres (WOMAN ON TOP) from a script she wrote with Luis Alfaro.
ABOUT BATFILM PRODUCTIONS
Formed by industry legend Benjamin Melniker and comic book authority Michael Uslan, Batfilm Productions, Inc. on October 3, 1979 acquired all feature motion picture and allied rights on “Batman” from DC Comics. Batfilm Productions, Inc. has been the successful builder of franchises and brands based on comic books and on other media. In addition to every Batman film from 1989’s BATMAN to 2005’s BATMAN BEGINS and 2008’s THE DARK KNIGHT, as executive producers, Uslan and Melniker earned Emmy Awards when they brought to television with DIC the franchise, “Where On Earth Is Carmen Sandiego?” Involved in major motion pictures including CONSTANTINE and NATIONAL TREASURE, Batfilm has also worked in other areas of the business with the acclaimed mini-series, “Three Sovereigns For Sarah” with Vanessa Redgrave; the MOW bringing best-selling author Robin Cooke to TV based on his novel “Harmless Intent”; animation ranging from the “Batman” original animated DVD's to 65 half-hours of the children's series “Dinosaucers,” the live action 72 episode TV series based on the DC comic book “Swamp Thing”; and even the historical and cultural segments for NBC’s Summer Olympics coverage in Korea.
ABOUT LIONSGATE
Lionsgate is the leading independent filmed entertainment studio, winning the 2006 Best Picture Academy Award® for CRASH, generating two consecutive years of $300 million-plus domestic theatrical box office, operating a $500 million-plus home entertainment business and producing a broad slate of prime time television series for fiscal 2007. It is a premier producer and distributor of motion pictures, television programming, home entertainment, family entertainment, and video-on-demand content. Its prestigious and prolific library of more than 10,000 titles is a valuable source of stable, recurring revenue and a foundation for the growth of the Company's core businesses. The Lionsgate brand is synonymous with original, daring, quality entertainment in markets around the world.
Legs McNeil (Please Kill Me: The Uncensored Oral History of Punk,” “The Other Hollywood: The Uncensored History of the Porn Film Industry,” Punk Magazine)
Bob Gruen (John Lennon, The Clash, New York Dolls rock ‘n’ roll photographer)
Michael Uslan (The Dark Knight, The Spirit, Batman, Batman Returns, Batman Forever, Batman and Robin, Batman Begins, Catwoman, Constantine, National Treasure, Swamp Thing, Shazam!, The Shadow, Constantine)
Abraham Foxman... (On Publishing Prospects for The Plot in the Middle East)
About Me
Name: Bob Andelman
Location: St. Petersburg, Florida, United States
Bob Andelman is the host and producer of the “Mr. Media Interviews” podcast. He is also the author or co-author of 9 books including: Will Eisner: A Spirited Life; Built From Scratch; Mean Business; The Profit Zone; The Corporate Athlete, Stadium For Rent and several others. Complete biography & book reviews here. Looking to hire a collaborator or writer for a book? Contact my agent, Michael Bourret. Magazine editors can contact me directly.
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Seed Newsvine
07/21/08 at 12:54 pm
It’s official. Frank Miller has become the M. Night Shyamalan of comics.
Just the mention of his name incites nothing but vitriol from fans these days. Not that I’m any kind of Miller fan, but I can’t help feeling bad for him (and M. Night.)
When/How did this happen? What was the turning point? I still remember the days when nothing but hyperbolic praise would flow at the mention of Miller. It was that interview he did for NPR when he rambled incoherently about 9/11, wasn’t it?