The Spirit Comic-Con Panel
With the popularity of Sin City and 300 it's hard not know Frank Miller. But for those of you who haven't spent most of your days and lonely nights flipping through the pages of comic books, you might not be familiar with Will Eisner. Eisner's not just a legend and the creator of The Spirit, but was a close mentor and friend to Frank Miller throughout his career. So when Frank was asked to do the film adaptation of his friend's work he "refused for three seconds" before taking the helm. "If I didn't do it, somebody else was gonna do it." So, as with Zach Snyder and Watchmen, Miller seems to have felt a sense of responsibility to make The Spirit film as best as it can be.
"I've had moments of creative euphoria that I've never had before," Miller confessed to a crowd of anxious geeks. Assisting in Miller's first solo directorial debut is none other than Samuel L. Jackson. Jackson applauded Miller as a director, highlighting his lack of ego as not only a great quality, but a rare one in Hollywood today. Jackson himself is thrilled to bring a character who throughout Eisner's comic was nothing more than a pair of gloves.
But perhaps Jackson and Miller's greatest search was for the bigger guns. The Octopus, the film's heavy, started with huge .50 caliber desert eagle hand guns, until both Miller and Jackson wanted something bigger. So they brought in some new handguns that were even bigger.
That wasn't enough.
Miller then started to create new guns that don't even exist.
Big enough? This is Samuel L. Jackson we're talking about here. Tiny guns need not apply.
So Miller started wiring guns together. Now that's what we're talking about.
Gabriel Macht's description of the Spirit is the best sell for the Spike Guy I've ever had. "He can laugh at himself, he falls in love with every woman he meets, and he beats the hell out of Samuel L. Jackson." That sounds like a super hero to me. And working with Scarlett Johansen, Eva Mendes, Sarah Paulson... etc. You can't beat that.
And we'll leave you with one Samuel L. Jackson line from the film we just can't believe...
"Come on! Toilets are always funny."
It plays better than it reads.
Check out all The Spirit Posters and Trailers here
Check out all of Spike's Comic-Con Coverage!
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