*** SIN CITY ***

The Arrow - Frank Miller - JoBlo

Wednesday
Sin City / Blade: Trinity / The Grudge /
Star Wars: Episode III / Boo & Cemetery Gates

Tuesday
  Seed of Chucky / Donnie Darko (Director's Cut) /
Shaun of the Dead / Hellboy (DVD)

Monday
Batman Begins / Open Water / The Incredibles /
Saw / Resident Evil: Apocalypse

Thursday
Fantastic Four / Constantine / Team America /
Friday the 13th

Friday
Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow / Alien Vs. Predator /
The Devil's Rejects / Riding the Bullet /
Harold & Kumar Go To White Castle

SIN CITY PANEL:

Participants:
Robert Rodriguez (co-director)
Frank Miller (co-director)
Jessica Alba
Rosario Dawson
Jaime King

The film stars:
Jessica Alba, Maria Bello, Bruce Willis
Elijah Wood, Rosario Dawson, Nick Stahl
Benicio Del Toro, Michael Clarke Duncan
Carla Gugino, Josh Hartnett, Jaime King
Michael Madsen, Brittany Murphy, Clive Owen
Mickey Rourke, Marley Shelton

Release date:
To Be Announced 2005

The best panel that I checked out during the entire Con, director Robert Rodriguez didn’t only manage to convince me that he was the right man to bring the thoughts of artist Frank Miller to the big screen, but also that he knows what the Con is all about, bringing actual exclusive footage from the film to the audience, as well as actual appearances on-stage by hotties Jessica Alba, Jamie King and Rosario Dawson, from the film. For anyone who hasn’t seen Rodriguez before, he comes off like your everyday guy…but with genius thoughts and the will power and drive to pull it all off. He was wearing his trademark cowboy hat at this event, and led the entire panel, providing us with plenty of behind-the-scenes details of how his movie is going. He also showed us the infamous clip that he apparently filmed by himself (with the help of actors Josh Hartnett and Marley Shelton) in order to convince the generally skeptical Frank Miller, that he was the man to bring his vision to the big screen.

The clip lasted a few minutes and features Shelton standing on a building terrasse, overlooking a black-and-white skyline. It was a beautiful shot because the only color in the entire clip was Shelton’s bright red dress, which was a very cool contrast against the gray surroundings. Hartnett then walked onto the terrasse and up to Shelton, spouted some words about love and how he wanted to be with her, and as he was speaking, some colors in her face would be added, in her lips, her eyes, etc… What I especially liked about the clip was its ending, which featured the duo looking deeply into each others’ eyes, kissing and then a gunshot leading to its conclusion (which I won’t give away here) The camera then pulled back quickly and provided the audience with a great overview of the entire film noir-ish city.

After the clip was shown, the crowd burst into major applause (including yours truly), after which we were shown even more scenes from the film, particularly those featuring a number of the different characters (actors) from the movie, including Benicio del Toro, Bruce Willis, Jessica Alba, Nick Stahl, Carla Gugino, Clive Owen, Mickey Rourke and many others. What was especially cool about these clips shown was how Rodriguez contrasted them on the big screen with actual panels from the comic book, which you can see, he clearly went out of his way to emulate to the last dot. Almost every single shot looked exactly like the ones in the comic book…amazing. Many of these shots were shown with black backgrounds, as they were all shot on green screen, and will have backgrounds added to them later in the post-production. That said, everything we saw looked brilliant enough as it was (although definitely not for everyone), so I can’t wait to see what it all looks like when it’s finished up.

By the way, you’ll be happy to know that Rodriguez said that these clips would be available on the Net in the coming weeks, so stay tuned for that. The one that sort of bothered me about the panel (but even then, just a twinge), was how Rodriguez somewhat “threatened” the audience before showing the clips, by re-stating the fact that no videotaping would be allowed about 2-3 times before showing them. Now while I understand his need to do so, and certainly appreciate him bringing the clips exclusively to the Con, he seemed to overplay it and was making me feel guilty despite not even doing anything. That said, the man is a man among men and if I were to actually meet him one day, I’d tell him that to his face. Great man, very down-to-earth and even cooler is his attitude which doesn’t allow anyone or any thing to hold him back from doing what he wants to do. Hollywood doesn’t let you do it that way? That’s fine…I’ll do it the Texas way! Here are a bunch of other notes that I picked up from this superb panel:

• When Rodriguez first heard about the idea of turning Miller’s graphic novels into a movie, he knew that it couldn’t just be a “regular movie” and wanted to try and do it himself. He said that he is always “looking for a challenge” and that this was a perfect opportunity for just that.
• Rodriguez said that he could also relate to Miller a lot since both men tend to manage many aspects of their own profession (Miller writes/draws/inks all of his own stuff, while Rodriguez writes/directs/edits/etc… all of his own stuff), and so he had to track him down in order to convince him that he was the man for the job. Tracking him down was apparently a job in itself, as Rodriguez compared his salesmanship of Miller to “one of the characters from GLENGARRY GLEN ROSS”.
• As some of you might already know, the backstory of how he finally convinced him includes Rodriguez filming a sequence for the movie himself, with actors Josh Hartnett and Marley Shelton, adding the background and then tracking Miller down in a bar in order to show him the scene on his laptop. Miller’s reaction was immediate a positive one, as he said something to the effect of, “Wow, that looks great”, to which Rodriguez replied, “That’s your comic.”
• Miller said that the first time he met Mickey Rourke with his little pet dog (loved adores his dog and brings him everywhere with him…you can see him ONCE UPON A TIME IN MEXICO as well), he knew that he was perfect to play the lead character of Marv in the SIN CITY novel section of the film, especially since he basically felt like he was talking to Marv when he was speaking to Mickey.
• The film will be based on the three graphic novels entitled THE HARD GOODBYE (aka SIN CITY), THE BIG FAT KILL and THAT YELLOW BASTARD. Each section was shot on its own, which is why Rodriguez kept hiring new actors as the shoot progressed, since each story required new blood. Rodriguez said that the film would feature the three stories together, but that he might feature them separately on DVD, so that folks could watch them on their own, as well as any future additional SIN CITY segments that he might film.
• Rodriguez said that when he showed Quentin Tarantino clips from the movie, the auteur said that it was the most “eye-popping” thing he’d ever seen.
• Rodriguez said that he is attempting to film the movie as close to the actual panels from the graphic novels as possible, actually going back to the comic during the filming to make sure that every detail is accounted for. Many of the actors have also invested themselves into that same way of thinking, with folks like Mickey Rourke and Benicio del Toro, asking to be redone to look exactly like their characters in the book, etc… Jamie King said that she actually never spoke to Mickey Rourke as himself and only saw him as the character of “Marv”.
• Rodriguez told Miller that he wanted to make “Frank Miller’s Sin City” and Miller was cool with that. Quentin Tarantino, who apparently came in as “guest director” for a day, also wanted to make his segment look as Frank Miller-ish as possible.
• Rodriguez said that he brought the clips to the San Diego Comic Con because this is the exact audience that needs to see it first.
• Dawson, whose “costume” is about as skimpy as you can get, described her get-up as “my S&M superhero outfit”.
• When speaking about how he cast Alba in the film as Nancy, Rodriguez said that the audience “has to fall in love with her” and that Alba was perfect for just that.
• Alba said that she had never seen the clip before today and that she was totally jazzed about it. In fact, she said, specifically, “That fuckin’ rocked!” I agree.
• Rodriguez said that Miller was also very protective of his characters and even used to hang out with his favorites a little more than usual.
• The best day of shooting was apparently the day Quentin Tarantino came to direct. Rodriguez asked Miller what he had said at the end of that day, which was that it was the “most fun that I’ve ever had in my life.”
• Since the DGA (Director’s Guild of America) was creating problems for Rodriguez and Miller co-directing this movie, Rodriguez just went ahead and quit the union, so that he could make the picture as he wanted it.
• Rodriguez said that directing for Miller wasn’t too difficult (it was his first time directing a movie) since it was essentially like an artist changing canvases (he just went from the comic medium to film)
• Someone asked Rodriguez about Johnny Depp’s character from ONCE UPON A TIME IN MEXICO, to which the director replied that there might an animated sequel for the character at some point in the future, or possibly even a video game.
• One of my favorite lines out of Rodriguez’s mouth (of which there were plenty), whereby he promoted even more independent thinking and belief in oneself was: “Stop aspiring and start doing”. I like that line because I know so many people who liked to talk about doing this, talk about doing that, but never really do…anything! Great line to live by. Just fuckin’ DO IT already.
• Rodriguez also told us about how he finally convinced his friend and fellow hot-shot movie director Quentin Tarantino to direct his features digitally in the future. Tarantino had always been against the idea, but apparently turned to Rodriguez after his day of filming digitally and said, “Mission accomplished.” He said that he was going to be shooting his next movie in digital, although he was still writing it now (hmmm, what movie is that?)
• Rodriguez also noted how co-director Frank Miller had “transformed” by the end of the shoot, not even considering any adaptation his other works unless accompanied by the words “translation” instead of “adaptation”, and “Frank Miller’s…” before the title.
• In terms of the film’s rating, Rodriguez said that he wasn’t too worried since most of the film was in black and white, including many of the blood shots, which will show up in “white” on film (just like in the novels). The MPAA is known to be much easier on films that don’t feature “red” blood. In that sense, the film might not appear to be as gory or graphic as you might think.
• When asked about Michael Aldred’s MADMAN, Rodriguez said that he was also interested in doing that film, but even then, if only he would co-direct the picture with him.
• Frank Miller was asked about his involvement with BATMAN BEGINS and how much of his BATMAN: YEAR ONE would be utilized and said, “I don’t know what they’re doing with that movie and don’t have any feeling about it either way.” He acknowledged that he was involved when earlier drafts featured parts of his YEAR ONE novel, but has no idea what they’re utilizing for Christopher Nolan’s movie now.
• In regards to SIN CITY, the movie, Rodriguez said that “If you liked the books, you’ll love the movie, but even if you didn’t like the books, you might still enjoy the film. We basically translated it panel-by-panel.”
• How faithful were they to the books? At some point, Miller himself approached Rodriguez about having a character wear a hat between scenes. Rodriguez thought the idea was alright, but said that it wasn’t in the novel, so they wouldn’t do it. Miller approached him a little while later, giddy as a schoolgirl, graphic novel in had, and actually noted how he had apparently included it in his published work as well, but had forgotten about it. Seeing the hat in the book, Rodriguez also added it to the movie. Yeah…that’s a direct translation alright!
• How long will the movie run? Rodriguez said that he had “no idea”, but that the current cut was about two hours and fifteen minutes and he expected the final cut to be less than two hours. He also said that he had more than enough material to make all three movies watchable separately on DVD. He also noted how he might do more SIN CITY movie adaptations.

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