Superman Through the Ages! Forum

Eisner comic comes to bigscreen
By MICHAEL FLEMING


'The Spirit'
Lionsgate has acquired domestic and U.K. distribution rights to "The Spirit," a live adaptation of the classic Will Eisner comicbook series. Frank Miller wrote the script and will direct.

Deal marks the start of a multipicture pact under which Lionsgate and Odd Lot Entertainment will co-finance and co-produce together. Odd Lot partners Gigi Pritzker and Deborah Del Prete are showing a finished script by Miller and will broker overseas territories during Cannes.

The Spirit is a man who fakes his own death so he can fight crime from the shadows of Central City. His nemesis is the Octopus, who kills those unlucky enough to see his face and is looking to wipe out the entire city. Miller, who first got behind the camera to co-direct "Sin City" with Robert Rodriguez, will make "The Spirit" his first solo helming effort. Miller created the graphic novels that were adapted into the films "Sin City" and "300," and the production start of "The Spirit" will be influenced by the start date of the "Sin City" sequel that Miller will make with Rodriguez.

"Will was a dear friend, a mentor, and translating his vision to the screen will be a labor of love," Miller said."The Spirit" will be produced by Pritzker and Del Prete, along with Lionsgate's Mike Paseornek and Batfilm's Michael Uslan. Benjamin Melniker will exec produce with Steve Maier, and Linda McDonough and F.J. DeSanto are co-producers.

Frank Miller's "vision is perfectly matched to that of Eisner," said Lionsgate Theatrical Films prexy Tom Ortenberg.

Much as Dan Quayle was no Jack Kennedy, Miller is no Eisner. I doubt this is going to be great shakes.

I think it's important to keep in mind that this quote may have come from a press release package or something similar.  I don't think the president of Lionsgate knew what he was talking about, if he even said that quote that's attributed to him.  And although I can't speak for either Frank Miller or Will Eisner, my personal suspicion is that they would both disagree with it.

I think Miller's work and Eisner's work are very different in many ways.

But I also think that Frank Miller is strongly aware of that.

I met Frank Miller in the 1990s in San Diego, where I got the opportunity to hang out with him for a while.  Will Eisner was having a big birthday bash that year, and I was impressed with how friendly and self-deprecating Frank was.  He clearly respected and admired the works of The Greats.  He was an amazed and admiring fan-boy when he met Gil Kane and when he met Will Eisner.

With Sin City, Frank did a pretty good job of being faithful to his own work.  Hopefully, he'll be just as faithful to Eisner's work in The Spirit.  I wouldn't be surprised if the film has many scenes duplicating Eisner's actual panels.

Miller has certainly paid a lot of lipservice to Eisner, and was a pal, but I don't think their storytelling or styles are very similar.

One of the best pieces of critical writing on comics I've read recently was Gary Groth's critique of Miller's book of interviews with Eisner.

Miller is a big fan of crime comics from the Golden Age, which is why he wound up doing Batman and Sin City comics in the first place. People complain about his Batman being too dark...but then they've never really read the early issues of Detective Comics either. The Spirit was never as gritty as those, so maybe he will respect that.

I'm not holding my breath....

I don't think that Miller is out of mind or ego addicted(like B..ne for example)and so is very improbable that is going to ruin the Esneir creature,but as always the best thing to do is wait and see,Lionsgate have produced nice animated movies for Marvel let's hope they learn the lesson.

Bottom line is Eisner's Spirit demands a light touch- a deft understanding of human character, parody and subtlety -- something Miller is not know for.

Now if it were Dawryn Cooke, I might be more enthusiastic --his take on Denny Colt and Company is respectful to the source material

Maybe he can do the sequel (or do-over, a la The Hulk).

Well, I just happened across the Wikipedia article for this film, and from its quotes, it's as if Miller has been reading The Spirit from another dimension:


He just has to have a "terrifying side to him", doesn't he, Frank? As if to belabour the point, he goes on:


Also, Samuel Jackson is interested in playing the Octopus. Is he aware of the fact that all we ever see of this guy is his gloves? Is Miller?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Spirit_%28film%29

Well, crap.