Frank Miller heard the screams of Central City and answered her call, deciding that he and no one else should adapt The Spirit into a film.That film is based on a 1940s comic strip by Will Eisner, the man Miller considered his mentor. The Dec. 25 release stars Gabriel Macht as Denny Colt, the rookie cop who's killed and returns from the grave as the masked crime fighter called the Spirit. He's surrounded at every turn by lovely ladies both good and bad, including Silken Floss (Scarlett Johansson), Dr. Ellen Dolan (Sarah Paulson), Lorelei Rox (Jaime King), Plaster of Paris (Paz Vega) and Sand Saref (Eva Mendes).
Out to destroy the Spirit is the Octopus (Samuel L. Jackson), a cat-killing, Nazi-uniform-sporting psycho archrival who seems to know the secret behind his nemesis' newfound invincibility.
SCI FI Weekly recently spoke to Macht by telephone for an exclusive interview and to Miller during a press conference with reporters in New York City. The following are edited excerpts from those conversations.
Frank, tell us a little about your relationship with Eisner, and can you comment on the transition from comic books to movies? Miller: Do you have a month? My relationship with Will Eisner was a long and abiding one where we argued incessantly. And the very first time he saw one of my pages he told me what was wrong with it, and we just kept arguing ever since. It was the classic Irish Catholic meets the Bronx Jew. We just went at it tooth and nail, [and] loved each other dearly. As far as what translates from comics to film, I find that the truer they are to the source material, the better. I would cite Marvel Entertainment's recent Iron Man and Incredible Hulk, which were witty jobs of adapting them. I think if they get too presumptuous, comic-book movies tend to fall apart.
The film has lots of film noir references. Do you have a favorite film noir piece or actor?Miller: I'm pretty much an encyclopedia of film noir, so I really don't know where to start, except that I was really thrilled with the voices in this movie. Gabriel's voice is straight out of Raymond Chandler, and Eva's voice is, well, Eva's, and Scarlett's voice is a dream come true. And I guess we put up with Sam, you know.
What was your aim with The Spirit, the film and the character? Miller: I was out to interpret Eisner's creation and to incorporate the two things that Will Eisner and I have loved deeply, which are New York City and beautiful women. The Spirit is a haunted man. He doesn't know why he's alive. He faces an existential question that's only answered by a very bad man.
The costumes are practically co-stars in the film. Can you talk a little about that?Miller: Well, I'll start by saying I suggested that there be different costume for Sam and that all the women really look great. And I worked hard on Gabe's costume because at first it looked really foolish, until we spruced [him] up with the black outfit and everything. But for what [costume designers] Michael Denison and Michael Crow did, I take no credit. It was my idea to make [Jackson] a Nazi, though.
Gabriel Macht, what was you sense of what Frank Miller was attempting to do with The Spirit? Was he trying to realize his own version of the material or Eisner's version? Macht: To begin with, here's a guy who, for the most part, sits in his studio alone with his pencil or pen or a brush, and he's illustrating and writing all by himself. You would think that a guy like that, who is in such a solitary environment, would have a tough time expressing his vision or just having an ease with people, with an ensemble and a large crew. Honestly, I cannot tell you how ... The guy is so articulate.
He comes to set with a vibrancy and a knowledge of comics, a knowledge of Greek drama, and he is so bright, and his way of expressing himself with such ease translates onto the screen. He's so easy with everyone. Really, he's so like a kid in a candy store, so excited to be there and so knowledgeable. In my experience, most directors keep everything close to their vests and they're just not as expressive. So you're trying to figure out what they mean. He knew how to talk to all these different actors who work in different styles the way that they needed to be talked to so that we could grab his vision and expand on it.
Now, with that said, when I did some of my research, I did read some of the Eisner-Miller interviews. There's a book that's just basically the two of those guys sitting down discussing their philosophies, their art, what drives them, their influences. When we set out to make this film, he told me, he told everyone, "We want to make Will Eisner proud of what we're doing here. We're not making Will Eisner's
The Spirit as it was in the '40s. Will Eisner was an innovator of his time. He would have wanted the most up-to-date technology and vision of this story." And who better to tell this story than Frank, who knew Will so well? I think there's a story that the producers approached Frank and they said, "We've got the rights to Will Eisner's
The Spirit. We'd love for you to direct it." And he said, 'No, no way, I'm not going to touch it," because it was too grand, too big, it was too sensitive for him because of his relationship with Will Eisner. And two minutes later he said, "But I won't let anyone else direct it."
So that created this last few years, where Frank took a bunch of the scenes and the stories and some of the storylines from the old comics and created this new piece. Every day, and if it wasn't every day, every other day, we'd come up with a challenge on set, and we'd say, "Well, would Will go for it? Would he buy this moment, or are we going too far from what Will did?" And I think, after doing my research in reading the comics, I think we absolutely honor Will Eisner's vision and just take it to a new level." The spirit of Will Eisner's
The Spirit is absolutely in
The Spirit that Frank Miller directed.
You and Samuel L. Jackson spent a couple of weeks beating the hell out of each other for the big fight between the Spirit and the Octopus. Take us through that scene.Macht: Yeah, it was pretty funny. We have a scene where we're in the mud flats. It's sort of a swampy area and there's tons of mud. We get in there and the wardrobe people would take their little mud that they'd made in their little pots and start dabbing our clothes with it. And we both looked at each other like, "Now, what's that gonna do? There's a mud pit that we're about to stand and roll in. What are you doing? This is ridiculous." So the two of us would say, "All right, are you ready?" And when the cameras were ready we'd basically just fall down, roll around in the mud so we'd look like we'd been fighting in the mud for a while, and we'd go at it with each other. There are some really great bits in that fight. There are some very violent, intimidating, threatening moments, and then there are some pretty hilarious, unbelievable, embarrassing moments. We took it to each other. There's something that's in the Spirit and the Octopus; we're sort of unstoppable, and it's almost like they could be fighting for 15 days straight and still take the punishment. I think in many ways that's what makes them super.
I had a blast with Sam. He's terrific in the movie. When you've seen Sam at his best, he's that times 10 [in
The Spirit].
Have you seen the finished film? What's your thought on how it's come together? Macht: I saw a version of it maybe three months ago. They've cut six or even minutes from that version, so I'm dying to see it now. I saw it on a movie screen, but off an Avid output, so I didn't get the full experience. When I was watching it, though, even off the Avid, I was like, "Oh my God, this movie is stunningly beautiful to watch." I think when you see it completely in hi-def and the way it's supposed to be seen, absolutely color-corrected, with the music and all of that, I think I'm just going to be completely blown away. I know the film is an absolute terrific popcorn roller-coaster ride. It's just a lot of fun. You know, you hear actors selling their movies all the time, and this one I'm 1,000 percent behind because I think it's such a great ride.
