The Spirit (film)
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This article or section contains information about one or more scheduled or expected films. The content will change as the film's release approaches and more information becomes available. |
| The Spirit | |
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| Directed by | Frank Miller |
| Produced by | Michael Uslan Deborah Del Prete Gigi Pritzker Ben Waisbren |
| Written by | Screenplay: Frank Miller Comic Book: Will Eisner |
| Starring | Gabriel Macht Samuel L. Jackson Scarlett Johansson Eva Mendes |
| Music by | Jay Faires |
| Cinematography | Bill Pope |
| Editing by | Gregory Nussbaum |
| Distributed by | Lionsgate |
| Release date(s) | December 25, 2008 |
| Country |  United States |
| Language | English |
| Allmovie profile | |
| IMDb profile | |
The Spirit (also known as Will Eisner's The Spirit) is an upcoming 2008 American film adaptation based on the newspaper strip The Spirit created by Will Eisner. Frank Miller wrote and directed the film, which stars Gabriel Macht as The Spirit and Samuel L. Jackson as his nemesis, The Octopus. Filming began in October 2007, with release scheduled for December 25, 2008.[1]
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[edit] Premise
Writer-director Frank Miller described the main character:
| “ | The character has a terrifying side to him. This is a man who’s died and came back to life. So it twists into fantasy. And of course there are tons of women in it. There have to be — it’s The Spirit. They’re all in love with him, and he’s in love with all of them. You might say he’s a bit of a slut.[2] | ” |
The film series will not begin with an origin story, but will instead open with the adventures of The Spirit already having begun.[3] The film will be more contemporary than the '40s and '50s era of the strip and will aim for a "timeless feel."
The protagonist will be involved in a love triangle with Sand Saref and Ellen Dolan, the daughter of Central City's Police Commissioner Dolan. The controversial character Ebony White will not appear in the film.[1]
[edit] Cast
- Gabriel Macht as Denny Colt / The Spirit: A rookie cop who returns from the dead to fight crime in Central City from the shadows.[4] Miller had required actors who wanted the starring role to audition, and Macht was able to attain the role in August 2007.[5]
- Samuel L. Jackson as The Octopus: A villain who plans to wipe out all of Central City and will kill anyone unlucky enough to see his face.[5] Jackson was Miller's first choice for the role and was cast in May 2007.[6]
- Scarlett Johansson as Silken Floss: A femme fatale secretary and accomplice to the Octopus.[7]
- Eva Mendes as Sand Saref.[8] The actress told director Frank Miller that she wanted to work with him on The Spirit before she had seen a script for the film.[9]
- Sarah Paulson as Dr. Ellen Dolan: The police commissioner's daughter.[4]
- Dan Lauria as Commissioner Dolan.[4]
- Stana Katic as Morgenstern.[4]
- Johnny Simmons as Young Denny Colt.[4]
- Louis Lombardi as Phobos: One of the Octopus's henchmen.[4]
- Jaime King as Lorelei Rox.[10]
- Paz Vega as Plaster of Paris.[10]
- Meeghan Holaway as Holly.
[edit] Production
In the early 1990s, producer Michael Uslan obtained the rights to Will Eisner's 1940s newspaper comic strip The Spirit for a live-action film adaptation. The producer promised Eisner that he would not permit anyone who "didn't get it" to work on the project. Two ideas pitched to Uslan were to put The Spirit in a costume and to have The Spirit really be a resurrected dead man that possessed superpowers.[11] John Turman, a comic book fan, expressed interest in writing the screenplay.[12]
In July 2004, financier Odd Lot Entertainment acquired the rights to the film. Odd Lot's producers Gigi Pritzker and Deborah Del Pete began a collaboration with Uslan, working at Batfilm Productions, to adapt the story. Eisner, who was protective of the rights to his creations, said that he believed in the producers to faithfully adapt The Spirit.[13] In April 2005, comic book writer Jeph Loeb was hired to adapt The Spirit for the big screen,[14] but the writer eventually left the project. Later in April, Uslan approached Frank Miller at Will Eisner's memorial service in New York several weeks after Miller's Sin City was released in theaters, interested in initiating the adaptation technique with Miller's film for The Spirit.[1] Miller had initially hesitated, doubting his skill in adapting The Spirit, but ultimately embraced his first solo project as writer-director.[11]
In July 2006, Miller was officially confirmed to write and direct the film adaptation for The Spirit. Miller announced that he was putting together a film treatment that included large parts of The Spirit strip panels. Miller described the project, "I intend to be extremely faithful to the heart and soul of the material, but it won't be nostalgic. It will be much scarier than people expect."[15] Miller plans to film The Spirit using the same digital background technology that was used for Sin City and 300.[16] The film would also copy specific shots from the comic, similar to Sin City.[3]
In February 2007, Miller completed the first draft of the screenplay, and began work on a second draft.[2] Principal photography was initially slated to begin in late spring 2007.[15] Miller also plans to begin filming Sin City 2 in late spring,[17] but Uslan indicated that filming for The Spirit will begin before Miller starts Sin City 2.[1] Following the casting of Gabriel Macht as The Spirit in August 2007, filming was re-slated for the following October.[5] It will take place in Albuquerque Studios in New Mexico.[4]
The Spirit was shot using Panavision's Genesis digital camera.[18]
[edit] Marketing
At the New York Comic-Con on February 24, 2007, director/writer Frank Miller and producer Michael Uslan was scheduled to present a panel for The Spirit,[19] though Miller was unable to attend due to recuperation from hip and leg injuries.[2] Instead, Uslan, fellow producer F.J. DeSanto, and former The Spirit publisher Denis Kitchen presented a panel at which they described the history of the film and the film's progress.[1]
In October 2007, Titan Books announced it had acquired worldwide rights to a deluxe making-of book for the film, featuring interviews with the cast and crew, color photos, storyboards and production art, plus the full screenplay. It is scheduled to be released in December 2008, the same month as the film.
[edit] Release
Lionsgate will distribute The Spirit in the United States and the United Kingdom. Sony Pictures will distribute the film in France, Germany, Italy, Scandinavia and parts of Latin America.[5] The film will be released on December 25, 2008.[20]
On 6 May, Lionsgate announced they would release The Spirit on the 25th of December, as a part of the "Spirit of Christmas" marketing campaign.
[edit] References
- ^ a b c d e Pamela McClintock. "Christmas gets Frank Miller's 'Spirit'", Variety, 2008-05-06. Retrieved on 2008-05-14.
- ^ a b c Nisha Gopalan. "With NY Comic Con kicking off, it's (Frank) Miller time", Entertainment Weekly, 2007-02-23. Retrieved on 2007-02-24.
- ^ a b Chris Carle. "NYCC 07: The Spirit", IGN, 2007-02-24. Retrieved on 2007-02-25.
- ^ a b c d e f g Borys Kit. "Miller's 'Spirit' finds love with Paulson", The Hollywood Reporter, 2007-09-25. Retrieved on 2007-09-25.
- ^ a b c d Michael Fleming; Diane Garrett. "Gabriel Macht to star in ‘Spirit’: Sony picks up rights to comicbook adaptation", Variety, 2007-08-02. Retrieved on 2007-08-03.
- ^ Tatiana Siegel; Borys Kit. "Miller sees Jackson as evil 'Spirit'", The Hollywood Reporter, 2007-05-18. Retrieved on 2007-05-18.
- ^ Borys Kit; Tatiana Siegel. "It's a triple feature for Johansson", The Hollywood Reporter, 2007-08-17. Retrieved on 2007-08-17.
- ^ Borys Kit. "Mendes moved to join 'Spirit'", The Hollywood Reporter, 2007-08-22. Retrieved on 2007-08-22.
- ^ Larry Carroll. "Eva Mendes Has ‘The Spirit’", MTV, 2007-10-10. Retrieved on 2007-10-10.
- ^ a b Dave McNary. "Pair joining 'Spirit' squad", Variety, 2007-10-08. Retrieved on 2007-10-08.
- ^ a b Justin Jordan. "NYCC, XTRA: "WILL EISNER’S THE SPIRIT" PANEL", Comic Book Resources, 2007-02-25. Retrieved on 2007-02-26.
- ^ Rob Worley. "Countdown To Hulk: John Turman talks about Hulk and other heroes", Comic Book Resources, 2003-06-01. Retrieved on 2008-06-13.
- ^ Michael Fleming. "Odd Lot, Batfilm join forces for 'Spirit'", Variety, 2004-07-22. Retrieved on 2007-02-13.
- ^ Ian Mohr. "Loeb will get into 'The Spirit'", Variety, 2005-04-05. Retrieved on 2007-02-13.
- ^ a b Pamela McClintock; Ben Fritz. "Odd job for Miller", Variety, 2006-07-18. Retrieved on 2007-02-13.
- ^ Eric Moro. "Exclusive: Frank Miller Talks The Spirit", IGN, 2006-11-09. Retrieved on 2007-02-13.
- ^ Ian Spelling. "Miller: Sin 2 Is Ready To Go", Sci Fi Wire, 2007-02-23. Retrieved on 2007-02-26.
- ^ "The Orphanage Brings VFX And DI Processes Together With Film Master", broadcastbuyer.tv, 2008-04-09. Retrieved on 2008-04-10.
- ^ "NYCC ANNOUNCES MORE SPECIAL GUESTS; IMPORTANT DEADLINES", Comic Book Resources, 2007-01-29. Retrieved on 2007-02-13.
- ^ "New Dates for Hitman and The Spirit", Comingsoon.net, 2007-08-24. Retrieved on 2007-08-25.
[edit] External links
- Official website
- Official teaser page
- Video interview with The Spirit producers at IGN
- The Spirit at the Internet Movie Database
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