Frank Miller On ‘300’ Prequel: ‘I Know Nothing’
From MTV:
At the Saturn Awards last month, director Zack Snyder and ‘300’ producers, Mark Canton and Gianni Nunnari all more or less confirmed that there was another tale of Spartan heroics in the works with Canton even saying that they had secured the involvement of original author and comic legend Frank Miller.
So Mr. Miller — you’re totally involved yes? Well, umm, we’ll let you decide after watching the video of his response below. Is it a denial, a non-denial denial? Is he hiding something? Sound off below.
Frank Miller Seeks the Spirit of ‘The Spirit’
From NYTimes:
This weekend in San Diego at Comic-Con International, the nation’s biggest comic convention, the industry grants its highest achievers Eisner Awards, the Oscars of the field. Yet few outside fandom have any idea who the honor is named after. The task of enlightening them has fallen to Frank Miller, a superstar comic writer-artist now making a film adaptation of the Spirit, the best-known creation of the cartoonist Will Eisner.
It’s a fitting match. Mr. Miller, 51, viewed Eisner as a mentor in the many years they knew each other (Eisner died in 2005 at 87), though their long relationship was certainly fraught with arguments across aesthetic and generational lines.
The film — starring Eva Mendes, Samuel L. Jackson, Scarlett Johansson and an unknown, Gabriel Macht, in the title role — follows the Spirit, a droll, dashing, graveyard-dwelling ex-cop who fights evildoers. It embodies the comic’s urban, shadow-drenched aesthetic, which deeply influenced Mr. Miller’s visual sensibility.
He and Eisner shared a pronounced independent streak as well. Eisner “would never countenance self-pity in anyone, including himself,” Mr. Miller said. Nor does Mr. Miller, despite the pressures he is facing. For his first time alone behind the cameras he is commanding a budget in the $50 million range and a feature aimed at a Christmas opening. And while his hero occupies a hallowed place in comics history, he is far from a household name.
Frank Miller working on graphic novel, movie follow-ups to 300
From Variety:
Legendary Pictures has confirmed it is developing a “300″ follow-up for Warner Bros. that Frank Miller is writing and Zack Snyder is intended to direct.
Miller is writing the graphic novel the project will be based upon, although at this point it’s not clear whether it will be a prequel or spinoff. Most of the characters, including Gerard Butler’s King Leonidas, died in the original, making a follow-up tricky.
Snyder won’t officially commit until after he sees Miller’s take, but he’s definitely interested, and the prospect of his involvement already has fanboys in a tizzy.
Legendary, which also co-financed and produced Snyder’s “Watchmen” for Warners, considers the project a major priority.
“The vision of Frank Miller’s universe that Zack Snyder brought to the screen in ‘300′ is unlike anything ever seen before,” said Legendary topper Thomas Tull. “We want to be certain that the story originates with Frank and be as compelling as the first.”
Frank Miller Addresses The Untraditional Look of ‘The Spirit’
“Now, about that blue suit.
Comic books have long traditions based on the limitations of pre-digital printing. Among these are traditions from the old newsprint-run-through-letterpress approach (yes, comics have been—and still do–follow tradition that dates all the way back to Gutenberg!). Bad printing on pulp paper is why it was necessary for every superhero to have his emblem printed on his chest, and that everything that’s black be printed in blue. Hence Superman’s preposterous blue hair. And the Spirit’s blue hat, mask, and suit.
In tests—and we did several—the blue made the Spirit look like an unfortunate guest at a Halloween party. Going to black brings back his essential mystery, his Zorro-like sexiness. It also makes that red tie of his look very, very cool. So I made the call, with all respect to Eisner’s creation, and most importantly, to what I perceived as his underlying intention. It was an easy call for me to make. The Spirit dresses in black, and looks much the better for it. As I said, my desire was never to slavishly follow the rules of ’40s printing into campy oblivion, but to reintroduce Eisner’s creation, via modern technology, to our brave new world.
And THE SPIRIT as some sort of SIN CITY REDUX? No, SIN CITY, that one’s my own baby, folks, and it looks the way it does for its own reasons. THE SPIRIT is, and will always be, Eisner’s SPIRIT. Anybody watching me on the set could attest that I very frequently drew a storyboard for a given shot first as I saw it, then as Will might’ve seen in—and, in every case, went with what I saw as Will’s version.”
Frank Miller’s Buck Rogers In The 21st Century?
Nu Image/Millennium Films has acquired film rights to “Buck Rogers,” and will give live action screen treatment to the venerable pilot who awakens in the 25th Century and battles evil.
Nu Image/Millennium’s Avi Lerner got the rights from the Dille Trust, which is run by the surviving family of series originator Frank Dille. Those rights had once been with Disney, but the Dille family was attracted to moving them to a small movie and gaining more control over the direction of the film. Despite web reports that Frank Miller had boarded the project, sources at Millennium disputed than any creatives had yet aligned to the project.
- From Variety
Comic book geeks, there’s hope for you yet.
ITEM: Eva Mendes and comic book genius Frank Miller at “The Spirit” Preview at New York ComicCon.
FACT: This is the closest anyone who reads comics, or in the comic book industry, will ever get to a girl this smokin’ hot. (more…)
As we continue to promote Frank Miller’s The Spirit, here’s more pics of Scarlett Johansson
We love Will Eisner’s The Spirit. And, we love Frank Miller — having grown up supping from his comic teet with Daredevil and The Dark Knight Returns. But your average 16-30 year old movie goer says WTF is the Spirit?! That’s why we’re spreading the word, educating our readers on the coolness of Will Eisner. We want to get people excited about this movie… Enjoy…
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Frank Miller “Ronin” coming to theaters
First up for Harold is an adaptation of the Frank Miller miniseries “Ronin” for Warner Bros. He then is set to adapt Michael Reisman’s children’s fantasy novel “Simon Bloom” for Universal. “Ronin,” which Miller wrote and drew in the early 1980s, centers on a masterless samurai who is reincarnated in a dystopic near-future New York populated by squatters, factions and mutants. The ronin must try to destroy a demon with a mystic sword, which also is found in New York.
Via HR