ROTTEN TOMATOES: Trailer Bulletin: Will Eisner's The Spirit (Plus New Eva Mendes and Scarlett Johansson Art!)

Trailer Bulletin: Will Eisner's The Spirit (Plus New Eva Mendes and Scarlett Johansson Art!)

Frank Miller is at the helm. Yippee for guns and girls!

by Jen Yamato | April 23, 2008

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What happens in Sin City, doesn't stay in Sin City...at least, not when Frank Miller's at the helm. Watch the new teaser trailer from Miller's presentation of Will Eisner's The Spirit and take a peek at Eva Mendes and Scarlett Johansson in the first character shots from the 2009 flick.

Will Eisner's The Spirit, set to open January 16, 2009, is gearing up to be the first big flick of the new year. The noirish crime fighter pic, adapted from Will Eisner's landmark 1940s comic strip, boasts a tragic hero (Gabriel Macht), an evil villain (Samuel L. Jackson as The Octopus), and femme fatales left and right (Scarlett Johansson, Eva Mendes, Paz Vega, Jamie King, and Stana Katic).

The new one-sheet. Click for more images from The Spirit!

The newly unveiled teaser trailer (shown at last week's New York Comicon) doesn't show much, but it does give us the sense that the style and atmosphere of The Spirit will benefit from the same digital technology that made Miller's Sin City jump from page to screen. This type of visual medium isn't perfect for every kind of film, but it seems to fit well with the dark and noirish tone of the Spirit story, even if Miller updates the vintage look for a less period-specific feeling. View the teaser below.

In addition to the teaser, Lionsgate has delivered the above new one-sheet -- oh yeah, and there's this image of Eva Mendes as Sand Saref, "the jewel thief with dangerous curves" and "the love of [The Spirit's] life turned bad." Click for hi-res image.

We're also impressed with this character shot of Scarlett Johansson as Silken Floss, "a punk secretary and frigid vixen" (though it seems in an earlier Eisner incarnation Floss was a doctor -- here's to creative license).

With The Spirit, Frank Miller will make his solitary writing and directing debut (after going halfsies with Robert Rodriguez on the 2005 adaptation of his Sin City graphic novels).

The full synopsis:

Adapted from the legendary comic strip, THE SPIRIT is a classic action-adventure-romance told by genre-twister FRANK MILLER (creator of 300 and SIN CITY). It is the story of a former rookie cop who returns mysteriously from the dead as the SPIRIT (Gabriel Macht) to fight crime from the shadows of Central City. His arch-enemy, the OCTOPUS (Samuel L. Jackson) has a different mission: he's going to wipe out Spirit's beloved city as he pursues his own version of immortality. The Spirit tracks this cold-hearted killer from Central City's rundown warehouses, to the damp catacombs, to the windswept waterfront ... all the while facing a bevy of beautiful women who either want to seduce, love or kill our masked crusader. Surrounding him at every turn are ELLEN DOLAN (Sarah Paulson), the whip-smart girl-next-door; SILKEN FLOSS (Scarlett Johansson), a punk secretary and frigid vixen; PLASTER OF PARIS (Paz Vega), a murderous French nightclub dancer; LORELEI (Jaime King), a phantom siren; and MORGENSTERN (Stana Katic), a sexy young cop. Then of course, there's SAND SAREF (Eva Mendes), the jewel thief with dangerous curves. She's the love of his life turned bad. Will he save her or will she kill him? In the vein of BATMAN BEGINS and SIN CITY, THE SPIRIT takes us on a sinister, gut-wrenching ride with a hero who is born, murdered and born again.

Check out more Spirit goodies (including the creatively named Spidget widget) at the official site, http://www.mycityscreams.com. We recommend clicking around to the official production blog, where Frank Miller shares on-set stories like the one about how in adapting the script himself, he was committed to Eisner's original vision...except where love interest Ellen Dolan was concerned:

"The only problem with Ms. Dolan is that she was, with all respect to my beloved mentor, a lousy character," Miller writes. "Ellen Dolan made Donna Reed look like Angelina Jolie."

After scrapping a scene where Ellen goes bonkers "with slashing, stabbing, hurling scalpels," Miller says he ended up shooting "something truly grisly" with a "rotating bone saw" - but teases that the scene won't make the final cut.

Are we already planning for DVD, Mr. Miller?

Related Items

Movie:	Sin City
Celeb:	Frank Miller
	Scarlett Johansson
	Eva Mendes
	Gabriel Macht
	Samuel L. Jackson
	Sarah Paulson
	Paz Vega
	Jamie King

(1-17 of 17 posts) | Reply

fullmetalnek writes:
on Apr 23 2008 06:42 PM

Too Sin City.

(Reply to this)

The Tony Show writes:
on Apr 23 2008 06:50 PM

fullmetalnek took the words right off my keyboard- I hope Miller doesn't end up being a one trick pony and destroying the uniqueness of his own work by turning everything he touches into a Sin City clone.

(Reply to this)

jokerboy1991 writes:
on Apr 23 2008 07:19 PM

I think the SIN CITY look is totally perfect for THE SPIRIT, and that MENDEZ poster looks like 300. I wonder how those styles will blend together. I still think its gonna be great, I guess with that scene taking out that means its going to be R!!!YESSS! I cant wait to here JACKSON hopefully yeal mutha fuka!- I miss that. Looks like a great noir, I love the UNTOUCHABLES song touch.

(Reply to this)

dirtygerman03 writes:
on Apr 23 2008 07:31 PM

I agree with you both. WAAY to much like Sin City. Just from seeing the original cover pages to the comics, they don't really look the same. I think Miller is just taking it into his own hands and doing whatever he wants with it. It looks all right but we'll have to wait and see.

(Reply to this)

Brendan81 writes:
on Apr 23 2008 07:50 PM

the spirit did not have such a dark tone. miller has used the same visual style for everything he's done since the comic sin city, even if it doesn't fit. like the sequel to dark knight returns. if you look at the work he did on daredevil or batman year one you can see that he used to be more versatile.

(Reply to this)

mouse_clicker writes:
on Apr 23 2008 09:15 PM

Hm, I thought Sin City 2 didn't start production for a while... oh... wait...

(Reply to this)

CoUcH ToMaToE DoUgIe writes:
on Apr 23 2008 09:59 PM

he got rid of ellen dolan? Sure, why respect your mentor's choice

for the Spirit's love interest? Maybe because it was his choice, Frank and

I don't know maybe you should respect your mentor's opinion!! Also, their

is an on going Spirit comic book that features the supposed lousy character

of Ellen Dolan as the hero's girlfriend. But of course what would the

book's writer, Darwyne Cook, know about quality characters. He only wrote

the legendary "The New Frontier" comic series but I guess he is stupid

for keeping such a lousy character. Jeez, Miller i thought you respected

Eisner and wanted to honor his greatest work right. But I guess every story

has to be like one of your stories. Hey, i'm not against him having an

opinion but for major element of a legendary's character to be lousy is a

false statement. Trust me folk, if Darwyne Cook can make Ellen Dolan work

well in a modern comic series than why can't you?

(Reply to this)

thereign writes:
on Apr 23 2008 10:12 PM

Wow. Terrible teaser. Too Sin City, too Batman Begins...and when he jumps/slides/falls off the roof in silhouette, I picture someone screaming "AAAAAHHHHHHHHHH--!!{splat!} And is that really the Untouchables theme I'm hearing for the teaser? Doesn't quite fit.

Can't wait for a parody of this to hit YouTube.

(Reply to this)

Young Turk writes:
on Apr 24 2008 01:18 AM

When I read Sand Seraf's name I thought it read sans serif....

(Reply to this)

Bruce Campbell writes:
on Apr 24 2008 04:41 AM

Sin City = Godly movie.

This movie looking like Sin City = Means it looks godly.

Duh people.

(Reply to this)

minderbinder writes:
on Apr 24 2008 06:52 AM

Sure, it looks like Sin City. But that totally works for me, this looks awesome from the little bit we've seen.

I love this style, certainly don't mind another movie with the comic noir vibe.

(Reply to this)

Johnnys writes:
on Apr 24 2008 09:24 AM

In reply to this comment (#1702443)
Actually Couch Tomatoe Dougle Ellen Dolan IS IN the movie - taken straight from the synopsis " Surrounding him at every turn are ELLEN DOLAN (Sarah Paulson), the whip-smart girl-next-door" - so relax. The movies gonna be great.

(Reply to this)

jokerboy1991 writes:
on Apr 24 2008 02:42 PM

I think this going to be R. Does anyone know what exact rating Miller is going for?

(Reply to this)

adu writes:
on Apr 24 2008 08:19 PM

Sounds similar to Sin-City, that doesnt meant it cant be just as good!

(Reply to this)

tomwaitsjr writes:
on Apr 27 2008 01:30 PM

I set Scarlett Johanson's pic to be my wallpaper.

Yah, the Voice Over, one thing color rest B&W is exactly like Sin City.

Odds are, it'll make money if Miller is doing the Green Screen thing again.

I'm sure Lionsgate is more than pleased to have Spirit compared to Sin City.

On a side note, Scarlett's new album of Tom Waits song is horrible, horrible, horrible. MY EARS ARE STILL BLEEDING.

God wanted me to go Deaf rather than hear any more of her again!

(Reply to this)

southoftheriver writes:
on Jun 14 2008 12:03 AM

In reply to this comment (#1707041)
Speaking of Tom Waits... The voice over for the trailer is definitely him. I can't find any info on whether or not his voice (or he for that matter) will be a part of the film. Anybody know anything about this???

(Reply to this)

Big Boss writes:
on Aug 16 2008 07:24 PM

FOR GODSAKES ITS MADE BY FRANK MILLER. HE MADE SIN CITY. ITS HIS STYLE. Looks gud tho im leanin more towards Watchmen.

(Reply to this)