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'PAGE TO SCREEN'
By Aaron Hillis
movies.channel.aol.com/franch...ler.adp
Moviefone How did you get approached for this adaptation?
Frank Miller Therein lies a tale. Robert Rodriguez really wanted to make this movie, and I really didn't want to make it. I just felt that 'Sin City' was my precious baby, and Hollywood would just slap a happy ending on it and turn it into a run-of-the-mill action movie. He kept at me, and eventually we met. There he was, in this giant cowboy hat, in a saloon in Hell's Kitchen. He showed me on his laptop that he had already done a bunch of really gorgeous, black-and-white and color shots just using people like his sister, some of his crew, and himself. I was intrigued, but then I turned him down again.
MF Why was that?
FM Well, same reason. He seemed like a really nice guy with the best intentions, but I thought there would be some of those "dark gods of Hollywood" that would mess it up. I didn’t want to have that memory of my creation. But the man does not give up. Not too many days later, he calls me up and says, "Hey, I got an idea. How about I fly you out to Austin to do a test for a day, from one of your short stories. I’ll get some friends, show you my technique, and we’ll see after that if you’d want to do it." So he takes all the risk, and the worst thing that could happen is that we end up with a cool DVD to show our friends. You can't turn down an offer like that! So I went to Austin, and the first person I run into was Josh Hartnett. And then Marley Shelton. Test, my butt, this was the first day of principal photography! [Laughs.] I didn’t think we could shoot a three-page story in a couple of days, but we shot it in 10 hours. I got to work with actors and see how the technology worked, then the fish hook was stuck in my palette. He reeled me right in. But the prime reason why I really went for it was that Robert was not kidding, he wanted to translate my book rather than adapt it. That's the way he put it, because it's not changed. The words and pictures are from the book. It's ruthlessly faithful.
MF What kind of technology was involved?
FM It's digital, CGI. This is the 'Star Wars' of crime movies. The actors are all real, there aren't any Yodas running around, but the city itself is a creation of computers. It combines a lot of the mystique of the old black-and-white stuff like Fritz Lang and Orson Welles. Cutting-edge modern technology. So, as they do in my book, the cars do fly 10 feet off the ground. When Marv runs and jumps from building to building, he can jump 20 feet.
MF How much of the film, besides the actors themselves, was digitally created?
FM There was one major working set, which was the saloon that all the locals go to. That was a real set. Other than that, there was very little [that was real]. The way we shot was that if an actor was using a prop, or obviously sitting on a chair or something, we had that as a real element. But if the actor was walking across a street or running down an alley, odds are there was no alley there when we shot it. That's all created later.
MF The movie is based upon three separate tales: the first 'Sin City' story, 'Big Fat Kill' and 'That Yellow Bastard.' What made you decide on those storylines?
FM It was Rodriguez's suggestion. What intrigued me is that I’ve fielded at least a dozen previous offers for 'Sin City.' The movie people have wanted this for a while. [Rodriguez] was the first guy who came along with an over-arching concept which hadn’t occurred to me. Once the idea settled in, I loved it because this is going to make people feel like they've been to Sin City. They’ll see these cross-connected lives, the bar that everyone goes to, and one barmaid (played by Brittany Murphy) who is in every story. Nancy Callahan (Jessica Alba) is in two of them, and Marv's in two of them. It all connects, and as we worked on it, we just made it connect more and more. It’s very true to the material, but we gave it more the feeling that it was one world, that these things are happening at the same time.
MF How does this differ from other graphic-novel movie adaptations?
FM It’s utterly faithful. It looks like the books. Greg Nicotero and his team, who did the prosthetic work, set the tone by turning Mickey Rourke into my character Marv. That seemed to have started a fever among the cast. Benicio Del Toro showed up and he became, as Greg said, the first actor to ever request a prosthetic. He wanted to look more like the drawing, so they went to work on him. Then along comes [Nick Stahl's character] That Yellow Bastard, and Greg just outdid himself. I can’t talk about Greg’s magic because I wasn’t there for the making of. But I can tell you that it takes a damn long time. I think poor Nick went through three hours of makeup a day, and probably another hour getting stuff taken off. He even had the distended belly that I drew.
MF How did you and Rodriguez share the filmmaking responsibilities as co-directors?
FM It was one of those wonderful times you have in your creative life where things just seem to be right. It was very organic. There were very few arguments, and the arguments we had were productive. It was if the duties just fell naturally to one or the other. For one thing, I was able to concentrate on certain things that freed up Robert to do the million things he does. He wears a lot of cowboy hats on-set. He's the overall boss of the store, the chief camerman, and in charge of all the technical stuff. And he’s a director. So, having me around, I was able to really narrow in on certain aspects [and be] the point man for what 'Sin City' was. It was the rare case of an author being in that position, especially a comic-book author.
MF Working backwards from the 'Sin City' movie, were there film directors who inspired your graphic novels?
FM Oh yeah! I love film noir and crime fiction. Sam Fuller is a big favorite of mine, arguably my favorite director. There are more obvious ones, like Orson Welles and Fritz Lang, and little known ones like Robert Siodmak, whose 'Criss Cross' is wonderful. Roy William Neill is another one. I eat this stuff up.
MF Would you ever consider making any of your other works into film?
FM Sure. Now that I've seen it can be done. Working with Bob and Harvey Weinstein, I realized there are some executives out there who not just get it, but let you do it. They’ve been wonderful. The suggestions they’ve made have been very useful. If I could work with this squad again, I’d do it in a second. [I'd like to work on] 'Hard Boiled.' And the entire 'Martha Washington' saga, I’d love to do it piece-by-piece like they did with 'Lord of the Rings.' Just let it be the epic it wants to be.
MF This sounds like a real labor of love. Do you think directing is now going to influence your graphic novels?
FM It will probably make my comic books less cinematic because I'm scratching that itch. And now I want to explore the ways the two forms are different. A lot of people in comics refer to them as movies-on-paper, but I never thought of them that way because it demeans comics. Comics can do things movies can't, just as movies can do so many things that comics can't. The way I’m playing with it intellectually is [in] trying to explore the difference between the two.
MF Do you have your next project lined up?
FM I'm about 120 pages into a new Batman graphic novel. It's called 'Holy Terror, Batman!' and it's Batman vs. Al-Qaeda. [Laughs heartily.] I am shameless.
source:
movies.channel.aol.com/franch...ler.adp
By Aaron Hillis
movies.channel.aol.com/franch...ler.adp
Moviefone How did you get approached for this adaptation?
Frank Miller Therein lies a tale. Robert Rodriguez really wanted to make this movie, and I really didn't want to make it. I just felt that 'Sin City' was my precious baby, and Hollywood would just slap a happy ending on it and turn it into a run-of-the-mill action movie. He kept at me, and eventually we met. There he was, in this giant cowboy hat, in a saloon in Hell's Kitchen. He showed me on his laptop that he had already done a bunch of really gorgeous, black-and-white and color shots just using people like his sister, some of his crew, and himself. I was intrigued, but then I turned him down again.
MF Why was that?
FM Well, same reason. He seemed like a really nice guy with the best intentions, but I thought there would be some of those "dark gods of Hollywood" that would mess it up. I didn’t want to have that memory of my creation. But the man does not give up. Not too many days later, he calls me up and says, "Hey, I got an idea. How about I fly you out to Austin to do a test for a day, from one of your short stories. I’ll get some friends, show you my technique, and we’ll see after that if you’d want to do it." So he takes all the risk, and the worst thing that could happen is that we end up with a cool DVD to show our friends. You can't turn down an offer like that! So I went to Austin, and the first person I run into was Josh Hartnett. And then Marley Shelton. Test, my butt, this was the first day of principal photography! [Laughs.] I didn’t think we could shoot a three-page story in a couple of days, but we shot it in 10 hours. I got to work with actors and see how the technology worked, then the fish hook was stuck in my palette. He reeled me right in. But the prime reason why I really went for it was that Robert was not kidding, he wanted to translate my book rather than adapt it. That's the way he put it, because it's not changed. The words and pictures are from the book. It's ruthlessly faithful.
MF What kind of technology was involved?
FM It's digital, CGI. This is the 'Star Wars' of crime movies. The actors are all real, there aren't any Yodas running around, but the city itself is a creation of computers. It combines a lot of the mystique of the old black-and-white stuff like Fritz Lang and Orson Welles. Cutting-edge modern technology. So, as they do in my book, the cars do fly 10 feet off the ground. When Marv runs and jumps from building to building, he can jump 20 feet.
MF How much of the film, besides the actors themselves, was digitally created?
FM There was one major working set, which was the saloon that all the locals go to. That was a real set. Other than that, there was very little [that was real]. The way we shot was that if an actor was using a prop, or obviously sitting on a chair or something, we had that as a real element. But if the actor was walking across a street or running down an alley, odds are there was no alley there when we shot it. That's all created later.
MF The movie is based upon three separate tales: the first 'Sin City' story, 'Big Fat Kill' and 'That Yellow Bastard.' What made you decide on those storylines?
FM It was Rodriguez's suggestion. What intrigued me is that I’ve fielded at least a dozen previous offers for 'Sin City.' The movie people have wanted this for a while. [Rodriguez] was the first guy who came along with an over-arching concept which hadn’t occurred to me. Once the idea settled in, I loved it because this is going to make people feel like they've been to Sin City. They’ll see these cross-connected lives, the bar that everyone goes to, and one barmaid (played by Brittany Murphy) who is in every story. Nancy Callahan (Jessica Alba) is in two of them, and Marv's in two of them. It all connects, and as we worked on it, we just made it connect more and more. It’s very true to the material, but we gave it more the feeling that it was one world, that these things are happening at the same time.
MF How does this differ from other graphic-novel movie adaptations?
FM It’s utterly faithful. It looks like the books. Greg Nicotero and his team, who did the prosthetic work, set the tone by turning Mickey Rourke into my character Marv. That seemed to have started a fever among the cast. Benicio Del Toro showed up and he became, as Greg said, the first actor to ever request a prosthetic. He wanted to look more like the drawing, so they went to work on him. Then along comes [Nick Stahl's character] That Yellow Bastard, and Greg just outdid himself. I can’t talk about Greg’s magic because I wasn’t there for the making of. But I can tell you that it takes a damn long time. I think poor Nick went through three hours of makeup a day, and probably another hour getting stuff taken off. He even had the distended belly that I drew.
MF How did you and Rodriguez share the filmmaking responsibilities as co-directors?
FM It was one of those wonderful times you have in your creative life where things just seem to be right. It was very organic. There were very few arguments, and the arguments we had were productive. It was if the duties just fell naturally to one or the other. For one thing, I was able to concentrate on certain things that freed up Robert to do the million things he does. He wears a lot of cowboy hats on-set. He's the overall boss of the store, the chief camerman, and in charge of all the technical stuff. And he’s a director. So, having me around, I was able to really narrow in on certain aspects [and be] the point man for what 'Sin City' was. It was the rare case of an author being in that position, especially a comic-book author.
MF Working backwards from the 'Sin City' movie, were there film directors who inspired your graphic novels?
FM Oh yeah! I love film noir and crime fiction. Sam Fuller is a big favorite of mine, arguably my favorite director. There are more obvious ones, like Orson Welles and Fritz Lang, and little known ones like Robert Siodmak, whose 'Criss Cross' is wonderful. Roy William Neill is another one. I eat this stuff up.
MF Would you ever consider making any of your other works into film?
FM Sure. Now that I've seen it can be done. Working with Bob and Harvey Weinstein, I realized there are some executives out there who not just get it, but let you do it. They’ve been wonderful. The suggestions they’ve made have been very useful. If I could work with this squad again, I’d do it in a second. [I'd like to work on] 'Hard Boiled.' And the entire 'Martha Washington' saga, I’d love to do it piece-by-piece like they did with 'Lord of the Rings.' Just let it be the epic it wants to be.
MF This sounds like a real labor of love. Do you think directing is now going to influence your graphic novels?
FM It will probably make my comic books less cinematic because I'm scratching that itch. And now I want to explore the ways the two forms are different. A lot of people in comics refer to them as movies-on-paper, but I never thought of them that way because it demeans comics. Comics can do things movies can't, just as movies can do so many things that comics can't. The way I’m playing with it intellectually is [in] trying to explore the difference between the two.
MF Do you have your next project lined up?
FM I'm about 120 pages into a new Batman graphic novel. It's called 'Holy Terror, Batman!' and it's Batman vs. Al-Qaeda. [Laughs heartily.] I am shameless.
source:
movies.channel.aol.com/franch...ler.adp
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