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Frank Miller wants to see Sam Jackson with 6 more arms!!!

Published at:  May 18, 2007 3:02:08 AM CDT

Ahoy, squirts! Quint here. Now this isn't a trade announcement or a rumor that a deal is in its final stages.

Instead it's a bit of fantasy casting, albeit fantasy casting by the director of this particular project.

Frank Miller is finally getting THE SPIRIT going and he was at Cannes, I'd imagine selling to the foreign markets, and he talked about his casting ideas, particularly in regards to the villain.

Miller wants Sam Jackson to play The Octopus, The Spirit's biggest villain, a character whose face you never see in the original comic. He's got a pair of distinctive gloves that serve to let the audience know that he's there.

And no, he's not literally an Octopus. He's a man. An evil bastard of a man, but a man. Just clarification.

Sam Jackson's got a force of personality that is perfectly suited for a role in which you never see his face, especially when he has to be a horrible villain.

Whoever Miller gets, I have a good feeling about this project. The material's great and Miller's obviously got the passion for it. What do you folks think?




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    Readers Talkback

  • May 18, 2007 3:11:05 AM CDT

    Miller turnaround

    by mr_x

    from robocop 2 has been phenominal, if only we could have a daredevil bornaagin movie. that would have been the bomb

    Reply to Talkback

  • May 18, 2007 3:12:01 AM CDT

    Hopefully Clive Owen..

    by redfive!

    Will play The Spirit then Im gonna be very intrested.I hope Frank nails this,but im still alittle nervious about his first time solo.

    Reply to Talkback

  • May 18, 2007 3:19:04 AM CDT

    me too, redfive!

    by bob oblaw

    i love me some Frank, and Robert Rodriguez and Zack Snyder have finally done him some celluloid justice, but him going solo?.. (Bites nails) i don't know, man..

    Reply to Talkback

  • May 18, 2007 3:30:14 AM CDT

    Fingers crossed

    by smellmycheese

    He'll do himself justice. Clive Owen def a good choice!

    Reply to Talkback

  • May 18, 2007 3:41:02 AM CDT

    Hey frank be sure get the Rock as the spirit

    by pipergates

    and make sure you get your pals Rodriguez and Tarantino to hold your hand. and have respect for your mentor Eisners storytelling ways. and no sloppy dk2 writing hear ya. and recreate Eisners world in his style like Znyder did yours. you lucky bastard, its your turn now, show us what you got. (theRock is the only one who can look as believably unbeatable as Spirit has to be. just make him act meeker than his usual swaggering self.)

    Reply to Talkback

  • May 18, 2007 3:43:10 AM CDT

    THANK GOD HE'S JUST A MAN. ALL FOR THIS MOVIE

    by thedohdoh

    Now, this movie sounds wholly original to me and I hope it has an R-rated angle. Any word on the rating Quint, or a guess? I'm really looking forward to his one, as it really does look like Miller is out to prove something. And I believe he can. He's got the look in his eye of being underestimated, and even seems to hold back some words about Sin City from time to time. Almost as excited for this as I am for Watchmen, almost. And that surprises me. Miller might end up taking Rodriguez's limelight, and Zach Snyder seems more and more on the edge of the coolness that QT started with and still has, but he's gotta make Inglorious Bastards to get his cool-lite turning on to full brightness again.

    Reply to Talkback

  • May 18, 2007 3:59:15 AM CDT

    bit like the claw

    by kingoflight

    from inspector gadget.

    Reply to Talkback

  • May 18, 2007 4:03:11 AM CDT

    Afro Octopus

    by seph_j

    I love when franchises come together.

    Reply to Talkback

  • May 18, 2007 4:03:15 AM CDT

    Do The Octopus and The Joker

    by napoleon park

    buy their gloves at the same store?

    Reply to Talkback

  • May 18, 2007 4:07:08 AM CDT

    I read a while back at AICN

    by napoleon park

    that Frank Miller was working on a Spirit REMAKE. The Octopus wasn't in the 1987 Sam Jones Spirit movie, P'Gell was.

    Reply to Talkback

  • May 18, 2007 4:09:25 AM CDT

    bit like the claw

    by kingoflight

    from inspector gadget.

    Reply to Talkback

  • May 18, 2007 4:10:55 AM CDT

    Concerns...

    by ememtium™

    The promotional poster Frank did is way too dark and gritty - http://tinyurl.com/3yftvd - I'm hoping he's not going to bend Will Eisner's vision into his own or make a PG13 version of Sin City either.
    As for casting I really hope he picks neither Clive Owen (he's a miserable faced man) nor The Rock (wtf?!). Someone like Hugh Jackman (even though he has his own comic franchise with Wolverine) could play both the brutal side and give the character the lighter touch seen in the comics. http://tinyurl.com/34ut6k

    Reply to Talkback

  • May 18, 2007 4:11:33 AM CDT

    If they haven't cast The Spirit/Denny Colt yet...

    by napoleon park

    I read somewhere that Thomas Jane is available.

    Reply to Talkback

  • May 18, 2007 4:12:43 AM CDT

    Bruce Willis - The Spirit

    by spartacus hughs

    Breakable

    Reply to Talkback

  • May 18, 2007 4:56:10 AM CDT

    If you read the threads of....

    by colonel activity

    both of The Dark Knight announcements, you would have already known this info.

    Reply to Talkback

  • May 18, 2007 5:26:20 AM CDT

    Sam is too Sam to play a character of mystery!

    by redbox

    Frank, you fuck this up, and you're shit in my book forever... This is Eisner, damn it! FU Frank! Do "The Spirit" Right! _ http://tinyurl.com/3x8xls ------------------------------ ------------------------------ Fragments of the Rock of Miller - http://tinyurl.com/3574sd ------------------------------ ------------------------------ Brad Bird is doing 'The Spirit' Animated Feature?? Probably Not - http://tinyurl.com/2qk624

    Reply to Talkback

  • May 18, 2007 5:47:21 AM CDT

    Rating

    by onefatman

    Going by the extreme nature of the sin city novels and film - i'd say that frank is going to push the mpaa as far as he can. I reckon he'd have the balls to go for a hard rating. I'm not familiar with the source material - is it as violent as sin city?

    Reply to Talkback

  • May 18, 2007 5:56:09 AM CDT

    The rumor is...

    by blueberry

    That the Spirit is one of the actors from Sin City. Clive Owen or Josh Hartnett?

    Reply to Talkback

  • May 18, 2007 6:33:24 AM CDT

    Mr Glass!

    by col. tigh-fighter

    If Sam can channel his form in Unbreakable, he can do anything.

    Reply to Talkback

  • May 18, 2007 7:23:23 AM CDT

    my first thought

    by koozyk

    they're adapting claw, again? it wasn't done well in inspector gadget. i guess seeing the villain's face was a let down.

    Reply to Talkback

  • May 18, 2007 7:29:11 AM CDT

    We know what Sam Jackson looks like--so what?

    by mr incredible

    What the hell would be the point of this?! Some surprise.

    Reply to Talkback

  • May 18, 2007 7:44:52 AM CDT

    Remeber when Christian Slater

    by kikuchiyoboy

    did that cameo in Star Trek 6? He was shot in the shadows. They never revealed his face but people were like oooh, it's Slater. It be funny if he'd do that today. People would be like "Who the fuck is that? And why is he in the shadows?"


    I think they should go with a voice you can sorta recognize, but not pinpoint who it is. I concur that Sam's too big for this. He might as well be standing center frame looking straight into the lens giggling for 90 minutes.

    Reply to Talkback

  • May 18, 2007 7:58:08 AM CDT

    Hollywood will never let him go faceless

    by doctor_sin

    Just look at how Spidey's mask tears open at the end of EVERY film, so we can all be sure we see exactly who it is underneath. Someone - a manager, agent, producer, etc - will want Sam's face onscreen. It's a silly vanity thing.

    Reply to Talkback

  • May 18, 2007 8:22:33 AM CDT

    Is it his character form Unbreakble?

    by spandau belly

    Escaped from the mental asylum and back at large?

    Reply to Talkback

  • May 18, 2007 8:37:47 AM CDT

    The Spirit

    by blood t cat

    is probably more known to most comic nerds as a name that's been dropped by guy's like Miller and Moore than something they've actually read. Kind of like when film nerds drop Bresson or Ozu.

    Reply to Talkback

  • May 18, 2007 10:02:51 AM CDT

    Too Many !!!!!'s

    by banallfirstposters

    None of the articles posted on this site are that exciting.

    Reply to Talkback

  • May 18, 2007 10:15:05 AM CDT

    About the rating...

    by double-oh

    I'd rather see a faithful adaptation and the Spirit was never R rated material. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that Millar won't go down that road and since he has such great respect for Eisner, I'm inclined to believe he’ll make the right choice.

    Reply to Talkback

  • May 18, 2007 10:40:42 AM CDT

    Styles

    by hugeprawn

    has there been any word on if The Spirit will be shot ala "Sin City" style, or a more traditional approach?
    cheers

    Reply to Talkback

  • May 18, 2007 11:40:05 AM CDT

    How about HULK HOGAN... wait, no one says that anymore?

    by heckles

    My bad. How about Snoop Dogg as the Octopizzle Fo Shizzle.

    Reply to Talkback

  • May 18, 2007 1:30:40 PM CDT

    Me as Denny Colt/The Spirit

    by maegnarval

    Sure why not:
    http://www.myspace.com/2497542

    Sam Jackson as the Octopus would be Cool yes!
    Where's the auditions?

    Reply to Talkback

  • May 18, 2007 1:49:30 PM CDT

    Shit, now I WANT to see an 8-armed Samuel L. Jackson!!!

    by tallboy66

    Not robo arms like Doc Ock, but actually having 8-Fucking-Arms. And kicking ass. With all 8 arms. That'd be fantastic. Lord knows he needs the extra limbs after Jurrassic Park. And that Shark movie. Of course, he would really just need a toro after that one.

    Reply to Talkback

  • May 18, 2007 2:12:04 PM CDT

    "Sam Jackson's got a force of personality"...

    by sledge hammer

    ...or in other words, Sam Jackson yells a lot, usually these days while giving the exact same "I'm Sam Jackson and I'm cool" performance in nearly every single role these days. Personally I'd rather see someone like Ian McShane as The Octopus. Someone who has a powerful vocal presence, but who, to the wider audience, is still not instantly vocally recognisable enough to be an anonymous shadowy character.

    Reply to Talkback

  • May 18, 2007 2:24:51 PM CDT

    6 ARMS AND A CHROME TAINT!

    by stuntcock mike

    The revenge of Julius.

    Reply to Talkback

  • May 18, 2007 2:26:54 PM CDT

    Oh, and you guys had better get used to the idea...

    by sledge hammer

    ...of an r-rated Spirit movie, because according to Miller he's going to be making his Spirit the way Eisner would have done if he hadn't been hamstrung by editors or rating codes. Personally I don't see this as a bad thing necessarily, given that Eisner's Spirit could get pretty dark and grim (for it's time) in some stories when needed, just as it could be extremely silly at other times. In fact The Spirit pretty much tried everything at one time or another under Eisner's hand, so just so long as Miller nails the characters and the world of The Spirit I'm down for the ride.I just hope that he doesn't hire Hartnett for the role, nice guy with pretty decent taste in scripts but the boy usually can't out act a slab of wood.

    Reply to Talkback

  • May 18, 2007 4:26:29 PM CDT

    Jackson would do it

    by volstaff

    The guy is a big comics nerd.I saw him on Jay Leno awhile back talking about going to the comics store a lot.
    Wonder if Miller would ever be open to the idea of relaunching Elektra the right way. I loved that Elektra:Assassin 8 issue story from back in the day ( can't remember who drew it, it had really trippy artwork though).

    Reply to Talkback

  • May 18, 2007 4:34:27 PM CDT

    Ow, mommy! It Hurts!

    by unclepuppethead

    Um, the Octopus doesn't have eight arms...

    Reply to Talkback

  • May 18, 2007 5:55:19 PM CDT

    Know who I think would be a lot better for this?

    by chrth

    MORGAN FREEMAN. It'd be against type for him but he has a voice that could easily convey the subtleties of language when the face is not visible. And he wouldn't have to scream or shout to do it.

    Reply to Talkback

  • May 18, 2007 7:43:49 PM CDT

    If they can't get Orson Welles

    by napoleon park

    how about the voice actor who plays "The Brain" on Animaniacs? If you're looking for a voice actor and off screen presence, look to the animation voice actor pool. It would be a nice switch on all the animated films where they have name actors doing the voice roles.

    Reply to Talkback

  • May 18, 2007 7:45:35 PM CDT

    Miller should rewrite one of the Eisner stories

    by napoleon park

    where the Spirit meets a woman from his past who turns out to be a dangerous criminal.
    Oh, wait, he did that and called it Daredevil and Elektra.

    Reply to Talkback

  • May 18, 2007 7:48:45 PM CDT

    Since The Spirit is an indomitable force

    by napoleon park

    who can take a beating and never gives up in the face of adversity, he should do a story where the Spirit faces a much more powerful foe but refuses to give up until his valor impresses his enemy. Like that Daredevil vs. Submariner tale Wally Wood and Stan Lee did in Daredevil #7.
    Oh wait, Miller and Roger Mackenzie did that and called it Blind Alley...

    Reply to Talkback

  • May 18, 2007 7:50:23 PM CDT

    Since Miller is Miller

    by napoleon park

    he should just write another Sin City story and have his beaten to shit, returned from the dead protagonist have two black eyes that look like a skin tight blue mask.

    Reply to Talkback

  • May 18, 2007 8:31:46 PM CDT

    HULK HOGAN!!!!!!!!!

    by p2rock

    just for fun

    Reply to Talkback

  • May 18, 2007 9:07:28 PM CDT

    ***** Bruce Campbell for THE SPIRIT *****

    by jdanielp

  • May 18, 2007 9:47:24 PM CDT

    Mos Def

    by mr_deadite

    For Ebony White.

    Reply to Talkback

  • May 18, 2007 9:49:13 PM CDT

    Freeman

    by mr_deadite

    Morgan Freeman is too old now, but he'd have been great.

    I'd actually really like to see Bruce Campbell now that JDanielP mentions it.

    Reply to Talkback

  • May 19, 2007 3:58:04 AM CDT

    Spirit pre-dates Sin City by decades

    by readingwriter

    Just for the couple of younguns on the thread who didn't seem to know. Owen or Hartnett are terrible choices. The Spirit movie should LOOK like Dark City (which looks like The Spirit comics), but the tone is very different. The stories alternated between comic, adventurous, dark, spy--often Colt didn't even appear except on the sidelines. He has helpers and a cool hideout, but the LOOK is all. Steranko and Wrightson, for two, also were influenced by the comic, but Eisner was decades ahead of his time. If you like Miller's 80's stuff, Eisner's stuff from the 30's on will impress. Terrifically entertaining stuff. As for who should play him, the actor needs to be physically right, but also has to have the ability to be funny and serious--some of the panels show Colt with truly goofy expressions. If Jim Carrey and The Rock had a kid... (kidding) Maybe Burt Lancaster in his prime would have been the perfect Spirit. Can't think of anyone now except the obvious--Bruce Willis. But certainly not Clive freakin Owen or John babyface Hartnett.

    Reply to Talkback

  • May 19, 2007 11:17:36 AM CDT

    Why would you use someone so distinctive?

    by i hope you die

    Sam Jackson would completely defeat the point of not showing his face. I mean, you could use Samuel L. Jackson in a movie and not show his face, and nobody would even realize you didn't show his face. It'd be about as mysterious as just having him face off against a character called "Samuel L. Jackson." This is officially the stupidest idea I've ever heard.

    Reply to Talkback

  • May 19, 2007 1:59:33 PM CDT

    George Clooney as Denny Colt/Spirit.

    by hesiod2k7

    It's the obvious choice.

    Reply to Talkback

  • May 19, 2007 7:50:55 PM CDT

    To late for Miller to become a film maker

    by major_tom_aint_dead

    I think that the great fighter of the noble artist rigths causes died after Sin City: Hell and Back, and then a fucking clone took over and signed to do DK2. That, or Miller is a fucking hipocrite, wicht is sad to say about him. And now the man feels like he can take hollywood by the sole power of his own balls...whatever, Frank.

    "The Spirit", Eisner´s original, deserves to be available to new generation of readers, not a fucking patriotical pseudo macho movie adaptation...

    Reply to Talkback

  • May 19, 2007 8:02:04 PM CDT

    Miller... Stick to the books.

    by aldentre

    I saw Frank Miller talk at ComicCon last year about his "Spirit" adaptation. After sitting through the agonizing panel, I had no faith that the movie would be any good. Granted, this was a while ago, but he didn't sound like he knew a thing about filmmaking. To think that he, or anyone, could just take the reigns of a feature film after looking over Robert Rodriguez's shoulder for one movie would be a total discredit to the truly masterful filmmakers out there (Rodriguez included).

    Reply to Talkback

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