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Must Watch: Great Featurette on the Origin of The Spirit

by Alex Billington
October 20, 2008

Lionsgate has released a great behind-the-scenes featurette on the making of Frank Miller's The Spirit, which, like Sin City before it, was shot entirely on green screen stages. The featurette looks at the origin of The Spirit, going all the way back to Will Eisner's comic strips and Frank Miller's friendship with Eisner. As fantastic as this video is, they finally feature some of the more cheesy and over-the-top scenes that we complained about back during Comic-Con. Everytime I watched some new from this movie, I wonder whether I'm not thinking straight and if it really will be fantastic? As Frank Miller says, this isn't a tribute to Will Eisner, this is a tribute to The Spirit! Is anyone convinced that it may be good yet?

Watch the behind-the-scenes featurette on The Spirit:

You can also watch The Spirit featurette in High Definition on Yahoo

The Spirit is both written and directed by legendary comic book author Frank Miller, who previously worked with Robert Rodriguez to direct segments of Sin City. The film is based Will Eisner's newspaper comic strip of the same name that originally debuted in 1940. Lionsgate pushed up its release from January next year. The Spirit will now hit theaters everywhere on December 25th, Christmas Day.

The Spirit Poster

Explore tags: Cool Stuff, Hype, To Watch

django

Why aren't you guys doing any coverage of Senechdoche, New York? That's afilm aby a writer/director that actually looks PROMISING, and it's coming out this week! As for the Spirit, I'll see it. I think deep down I would've rather seen a tribute to Will Eisner, but Miller's really been milking his hollywood minute, and after it blows over, I'm hoping he'll take some long hard looks at his comics work, and return to form somehow. Who knows, though. So far the shots look more "Miller"-ey than 300 turned out. Wonder if he ever consulted w/ Zack Snyder on how exactly to translate comics-to-film the way he did. Ultimately, it comes down to character. If the dialogue is convincing and not hammy, then the cast should be able to generate some interest in Eisner's work. If not, there will be absolutely nothing to buzz about except Samuel Jackson & Scarlett Johanssen's costumes. Gabriel Macht wearing that particular Spirit mask, from day one, has never grabbed me. But the stylistic shots of his chuck taylor's did. We may see some stylistic innovation, but it'll be worth nothing w/out good characters and a good solid story to tell. Eisner was the king of both, in his chosen art form.
Darrin

after the last trailer, hell yea i'm convinced.
Johnny Crow

I think the Spirit will be amazing. I love that film noir feel and look.
K

Very impressive! Makes more sense now.
Lefthanded

It may be good. But, I'm sick of S.L.J.
Da Man

This was my most anticipated film of the Fall/Winter season simply because I love Frank Miller's work so much and i trust thim with this one. It has since been replaced by Watchmen as my most anticipated but it's still up there. And Dude, Lefthanded, How can you be sick of Sam Jackson? My love for him was rekindled back in May at the end of Iron Man.
Kevin Kelly

This film looks less appealing than one of those balls of shit that a dung beetle labors to push around. This is an affront to everything that Will Eisner created in his comic books, and a snapshot example of what's wrong with Hollywood. How can you possibly be excited by this? Here's a way to see the movie early: rent Sin City and watch it a couple of times while dubbing it with the soundtrack to Sky Captain and The World of Tomorrow. Ugh, I think I just threw up in my mouth.
Johnny Hall

How people can form such vehemently condemning conclusions about a film they haven't even seen yet is beyond me. If you've already espoused yourself to an opinion and you've never seen the movie that dictates an inability to be objective. And what good is your opinion to others if you've drawn a conclusion before all the facts are in? Besides, no matter how dear we may hold the purity of comic art the subsequent generation is entitled to used a degree of license.