The Spirit Movie

[Pyroclasm]

Don't know if anyone's seen this, but I saw this on another board.
They're photos of the filming of "The Spirit" in front of the green screen.  They were posted on another site earlier today before being pulled.  So take a look before these get pulled too. ;)
http://s278.photobucket.com/albums/kk107/musa6/Miller%20Spirit/?albumview=link

[GogglesPizanno]

Everything I've seen about this film looks like it's the Spirit by way of the Shadow visiting Sin City.
Which is actually a movie I'd rather see.

A shadow film done in the style of Sin City.... (drool)

[Figure Fan]

I don't know what to think of this movie. I've never been exposed to The Spirit, and all of the big name actors are a surprise to see.

I like The Spirit's look, though. I'll probably see it. :cool:

[Glitch Girl]

I have very mixed feelings about this movie.

While I think the "Sin City" treatment is probably the best way to deal with th source material and I think Miller is a fan of Eisner's work...

There are little things (like why is the Spirit wearing black?) that worry me.  I notice Samuel L. Jackson is playing the Octopus and we can see his face clearly in those green screen shots, even though the Octopus is a character who's face is never revealed in the comics (unless he turns out to be a red herring, which is entirely possible).

Okay, I admit, part of me is a purist which is why I'm copping a "wait and see" attitude, but I have to admit some worry here.

[Pyroclasm]

I'm actually unfamiliar with "The Spirit".  I was just kind of excited to see another movie done in that fashion.  I loved SkyCaptain & the World of Tomorrow, Sin City & 300.  There's just something really cool about being able to create the characters' world digitally.  When I spotted someone posting these pics, I just had to share them with you guys. ;)

[Figure Fan]

I didn't even see the last two pages of those photos!

Is The Spirit a comedy at all? I don't remember it being one from what little I've heard, but a lot of these photos have a comedic quality about them.

Thoughts?

[JKCarrier]

Is The Spirit a comedy at all? I don't remember it being one from what little I've heard, but a lot of these photos have a comedic quality about them.

Oh yes, there's a lot of humor in The Spirit. Also a wide streak of optimism and humanity, which is where I'm afraid the ultra-cynical Miller may miss the boat. But it'll be a great looking film, no doubt about it. Fingers crossed.

[UnkoMan]

Hmm... I am actually wary about this reinterpretation of The Spirit. Odd, since i just made a post about how Batman doesn't always have to be so serious...

The Spirit, though... he's only HAD one interpretation. Will Eisner's version is THE ONLY version. And, yeah, the Spirit has a lot of seriousness... it also has humour. It does have optimism and humanity, like was said. It's got action, it's got drama. The Spirit's got it all, really, but is never bleak. He's tough but not mean. Though occasionally dealing with similar subject matter, I find the Spirit to be the total opposite of something like Sin City.

Also. what IS up with the black? I can only assume they will change it to blue later. Doesn't explain the shirt though. Also, the mask is a bit funny looking. He just doesn't really look like The Spirit at all.

PS: What, no Ebony White? Okay, so he's a horribly racist character, but he is really quite important to The Spirit mythos. It's not like an updated version couldn't be included somehow. It's been done before.

[Glitch Girl]

I'll be honest Unko, I didn't expect them to put Ebony in the movie version, too many peiord racial stereotypes to deal with. 

While I'm no officianado on the Spirit, I do have the first 16 Spirit hardback collections (and would have more if they were easier to find around here) and have a great love for the character and the style.  I am hoping for the best on this one.  Until they start releasing composite images, it's going to be hard to get a real good feel for the look. 

[Epimethee]

Weird. When explaining the differences between supension of disbelief in film vs. comics, Eisner used the Spirit's mask as an example of something which works in (non-photorealistic) comics and looks ridiculous in a movie.

As for Ebony, IIRC Eisner and his studio itself more or less stopped using him in later years because of the the racism issue.

[Midnite]

Trailer

[the_ultimate_evil]

i've never read a spirit comic in my life, though i know it's meant to be cheesy but i'm just having a meh thought on this


though the music was a nice touch :D

[Figure Fan]

Yeah, I just watched this myself, thinking, "Uhh..seriously?"

I guess it's similar to the way that grenades don't do anything but knock people backwards ala Sin City. I know Sin City had some over the top themes and parts as a book, but putting them in motion on film just hurt my brain. I spent the whole time try to decide if it was to be taken seriously or satirically.

The Spirit looks cool, though..

[RTTingle]

   Yeah... it looks cool.

   It has that look I love... like Sky Captain, Sin City and 300.

   It's one of the few things I love with how far digital technology has come - the ability to take something that has a very distinct look from one medium and translate it to another without losing that look.

   Take for example, Warren Beatty's valiant attempt to translate the look of Dick Tracy to screen.  It just wasn't possible on that scale quite yet, but the business was still taking some incredible steps with Who Framed Roger Rabbit and later Cool World.  So what did they do to compensate - they used color.  All the yellows were the same yellow, all the reds the same red, etc.  They figured it was the best way to translate the actual look of a comic to screen.  That and the makeup job was damn spiffy.  Hmmm, now that I think about --- would love to see another attempt on that IP!

  Its one of the things I find so curious about Speed Racer as well and I'm interested to see how they do it.

   Yet, with the huge steps we've had the last few years to be able to do that...

... the Spirit is in black?

   It baffles me why black when they do an incredible job of being able to control the exact look and color of what we see on the page to the screen just like the red flowing tie.  I could handle it if it was a dark navy blue.  But Black?  I'm baffled as to why?

   I won't let this ruin the movie for me, I'm still going to give it a fair shot.  It'll be hard as mentioned before - because the Spirit for the most part, has been under one person's direction for 60 years --- Will Eisner (With Darwyn Cooke doing a fine job since for DC).  Its not like Batman who has dozens of interpretations.  So its hard to let go and say, Its just one interpretation of many.  It's hard to think of it as Frank Miller's take on Will Eisner's Spirit.  If nothing else, I appreciate someone doing another take, since the 80's TV Movie go at it with Sam Jones (Yes... that Sam Jones!).

   The only thing I can think of, is reading once about how Batman was colored blue (even if he was supposed to be just all black and grey), because that was the limitations of the coloring back then and how do you shade black on a character without making it all mixed in with the background?
   
    I'll try to keep my huge expectations in check though with the movie and hope if nothing else --- to be just entertained.

   As for Ebony,

It has been confirmed by writer-director Frank Miller that Ebony White is to be excluded from his upcoming motion picture adaptation of Will Eisner's series.

, but thats from Wikipedia and I'm sure dated, so who knows.

RTT

[MikeB7]

I don't like the black outfit or the tone of the trailer at all.  If this 'modern interpretation' is more popular to the general public and nets more money for Eisner's family, then yay.  But having collected the hardbacks and reading them numerous times already, it doesn't feel right.  That narration, I was just thinking, "What the hell?".  The Spirit isn't gritty like that, he's most often shown with a smile on his face, slapstick style action.  I'll try not to prejudge, but I would've LOVED to have seen the bright blue suit in the shadowy setting, with a less serious tone.

[JKCarrier]

I'm still interested in seeing it, but yeah... that trailer has a whole lot of Frank Miller in it, and not much Will Eisner. "My city screams"? Oy. I hope at least a little bit of Eisner's self-deprecating humor makes it into the final product.

[zuludelta]

I don't want to conjecture too much based on a minute long trailer, but I have to agree with what others have said, it does seem more like a "Spirit"ual sequel (sorry, couldn't resist) to Frank Miller's Sin City movie than a film version of Will Eisner's seminal pulp-styled hero.

Weird. When explaining the differences between supension of disbelief in film vs. comics, Eisner used the Spirit's mask as an example of something which works in (non-photorealistic) comics and looks ridiculous in a movie.

I agree that a "masked man" in the pulp/superhero mold will probably almost always look a tad ridiculous in filmed live-action. The digitally stylized look Miller favours helps mitigate that ridiculousness, though, but in all honesty, my preferred filmic treatment of most any comic property would be 2-D animation.   

[captainspud]

Part of me is worried, but another part of me looks at the intentionally cartoon-ized movement as he bounces along the rooftops, and the worry wanes a bit. They could make his movement a lot more realistic if they wanted to, but they chose to make him move in a series of freeze-frames instead.

It'll likely be grittier than the source, but I don't think the core is being entirely ignored.

[Jakew]

I just think it's weird that the 'Sin City style' is being shoehorned onto a totally different comic property. I mean, I know Sin City and The Spirit are both noir-ish comics ... but so is Batman, and that works on film without looking like Sin City.

[Bujin]

I just think it's weird that the 'Sin City style' is being shoehorned onto a totally different comic property. I mean, I know Sin City and The Spirit are both noir-ish comics ... but so is Batman, and that works on film without looking like Sin City.

However, a Batman movie in that style might be very cool! 

[Epimethee]

IMO the visual treatment isn't too far off Eisner's work during his Spirit years (loved the initial shot and the rooftop background): the dominating black and white treatment, the flat colors, the theatrical decors. Maybe something a bit closer to the Dr. Caligari aesthetics would have been nice. However, the movement of the movie's Spirit feels choppy, where Eisner's work always felt to me as the quintessence of "liquid". As for the narrative... ouch. A friend and I did a Wolverine/Punisher/Grim and Gritty guy of the day parody twenty years ago and it wasn't *this* outré.

[RTTingle]

The narration needs work ---

"my mother... my lover..."

--- one of those would have been fine.  But both, one right after the other?

Egads.

RTT

[daglob]

I dunno, I was watching the trailer and thinking about how much it looked like something from Miller's run on Daredevil. I wish THAT movie had been done like this trailer.

It might be a decent movie, but will it really be The Spirit?

[captainspud]

Interview with Frank Miller

I haven't read it yet-- just saw it and I'm heading out the door.