We've heard rumblings about
Frank Miller directing
The Spirit for quite some time now, but I believe this is the first official confirmation we have received on the project.
Variety are telling us that Lionsgate will distribute the movie in both the U.K. and U.S. Miller of course, is a famous comic book writer and artist so it's with little surprise that his directorial debut would be in the genre. However with a huge back catalogue, it may be surprising to some that it won't be one of his own works (
Sin City,
300,
Ronin) that he decides to film for the big screen. Instead it's The Spirit, which was created by the legendary
Will Eisner back in the 1940's. He's not a character I'm all that familiar with, so I will let Variety tell you more...
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.
Comic book movies are huge these days but with so many of the popular characters already locked in with the big studio's, it's the smaller and slightly less well known characters who producers are turning to next. Could The Spirit work? Yes of course, but it has to be done in a world which suits the character. It has to be a 1940's or 50's setting... otherwise the character will just be so goofy. The start date on the movie all comes down to when
Sin City 2 starts. Is Frank Miller going to get more power on directing the sequel? Is
Robert Rodriguez stepping aside slightly? Is it shooting next month as planned? So many questions, so few answers.