Superhero Hype! has learned that Lionsgate is really digging what writer/director Frank Miller is doing with Will Eisner’s The Spirit. They’ve already signed him for two sequels to the graphic novel adaptation and, from what the studio has seen, are expecting it to be a blockbuster when the action-adventure opens on January 16, 2009.

The Spirit tells the visceral, action-packed story of a man (Gabriel Macht) who fakes his own death and fights crime from the shadows of Central City. The Octopus (Samuel L. Jackson) — who kills anyone unfortunate enough to see his face — has a different mission: he’s going to wipe out the entire city. The Spirit tracks this cold-hearted killer from Central City’s rundown warehouses, to the damp catacombs, to the windswept waterfront… all the while facing a bevy of beautiful women who either want to seduce, love or kill our masked crusader.

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Deborah Del Prete, CEO and Partner of Odd Lot Entertainment, is currently Producing Will Eisner’s The Spirit. During our recent visit to the set, amidst a rush of activity including a closed rehearsal and shooting various scenes between the Spirit and the Octopus, Del Prete was able to take some time to speak to us about The Spirit and how she helped bring the project to life.

As Producer Del Prete has been involved with The Spirit from its initial development stages nearly seven years ago to the current production and will continue on through post-production.

In terms of the story Del Prete says that, “Sand Saref stories are a major component.” How developed is the story? “It’s the Frank Miller version, it’s very developed…it’s not an origin story, but there will be origin revealed in it.”

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Check out this The Spirit on set visit from MTV.com. It tells us that Scarlett has already finished filming her part and that the results should be something very wonderful.

And oh, what ladies he has to love. “People are going to find that this is a different side to Scarlett Johansson,” Del Prete said of the A-lister, who inspired Miller to expand the originally minor role of a character named Silken Floss. “She is quite wonderful in it; she’s actually finished shooting. She is very funny, she is very sexy, and she is very different than we have seen her in other movies.”

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Earlier this week, ComingSoon.net/Superhero Hype! flew down to Albuquerque, New Mexico to visit the green screen sets of Will Eisner’s The Spirit, which director Frank Miller has been shooting at the city’s new facilities, Albuquerque (ABQ) Studios. It brings to life Will Eisner’s classic comic book character Denny Colt, a police officer in Central City who was killed in action, but then returned as The Spirit, a masked crimefighter who has a way of attracting the ladies—and not only the nice ones—but who’s thwarted at every turn by the evil mastermind The Octopus.

The film is being made much like Miller’s Sin City and Zack Snyder’s adaptation of Miller’s 300 with actors doing all of their performances in front of a green screen and all the backgrounds and environments created using the latest computer graphics. This was ComingSoon.net’s second visit to an all green screen set after spending some time on the set of 300 two years ago, and while one might not expect there to not be a lot to write about when a movie is being made with no actual sets, in fact, there’s still stuff to see, since it’s an interesting process that requires a lot of clever workarounds for things that tend to be easy when using practical sets, such as how actors interact with objects within their environment, or lack thereof.

The production had taken up two of the larger soundstages at the brand new Albuquerque Studios facility, where security was extremely tight. Cameras and audio recording were verboten, and anyone who wanted to visit the stages needed to turn in their personal ID in order to get a special badge with an image of what looked like a Frank Miller drawn full body portrait of The Spirit. There wasn’t any question that it was worth losing or forgetting your driver’s license or passport there, if it meant a chance to watch a master like Miller at work. The Spirit is the first production to use the complex’s two newest stages and they were on Day 27 of a shoot that would be going through December 14.

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Frank Miller will be video blogging on the official Spirit website. He has posted his first blog for his solo directing effort, essentially letting us know he’s starting out. The flick is currently shooting on green-screen soundstages in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

By the way, it seems that Scarlett’s character goes by the name of Silken Floss, not Silk N. Floss. The site describes her as being “a punk secretary and frigid vixen”. Now that’s what I call interesting!

Paz Vega has also joined the cast of Will Eisner’s The Spirit. She will play the knife-wielding Plaster of Paris.

Principal photography began today in New Mexico. Lionsgate is working with Odd Lot Entertainment to get the film canned in time for release on January 16th, 2009. The production got just enough start to likely avoid the oncoming strike.

Source: CanMag

Sin City‘s Jaime King has joined the cast of The Spirit. She will be portraying the hypnotizing Lorelei Rox. The character had her first and only appearance in the September 19th, 1948 issue. Her character story arch, while short, was one of the most memorable. She is described as a modern-day siren with a voice that could kill.

Production will begin this month in Albuquerque Studios in New Mexico and is set for release on January 16, 2009.

Source: Jaime King Online, IESB, Superhero flix

Eva Mendes chatted to IESB.net about The Spirit and working with Scarlett Johansson on My Brother the Pig:

Q: What about The Spirit? Are you… Sand Saref?

EVA: The Spirit? I’m Sand Saref! I start that in just a couple weeks! Yeah.

Q: So are you reading that old comic strip?

EVA: Yeah, I have some. Frank Miller gave me some of the old comics. And I’m excited because I’ve never actually played, like, a real Femme Fatal. And this woman is just, you know, she is just, she would eat you for breakfast. So yeah, I know, it’s kinda fun!

Q: What can you say about your costume?

EVA: Right now we are thinking a very old-meets-new, Rita-Hayward-ish kinda hair. We have a forties feel to some of the outfits and stuff but obviously modernizing Frank Miller’s, you know, lovely insanity. So it will be a nice little mix. But you, that’s what we’re thinking now, and that can at least change once we’re there, it usually does.

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Sarah Paulson has joined the cast of Will Eisner’s The Spirit, comic auteur Frank Miller’s directorial effort featuring the classic comic strip character.

Paulson (Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip) joins leading ladies Eva Mendes and Scarlett Johansson in the film noir about a rookie cop (Gabriel Macht), who returns from the dead to fight crime as the Spirit from the shadows of Central City.

However, while Mendes and Johansson are playing femmes fatales, Paulson is playing the hero’s true love, Dr. Ellen Dolan, the police commissioner’s daughter. Samuel L. Jackson will play the villainous Octopus.

Also joining the cast are Dan Lauria, Stana Katic, Johnny Simmons and Louis Lombardi.

Lauria (ABC’s miniseries The Path to 9/11) is playing the police commissioner, while Katic (Feast of Love) is a rookie cop. Simmons (Evan Almighty) plays a young Denny Colt, while Lombardi (Fox’s 24) will play Phobos, a henchman for the Octopus.

Production will begin in October in New Mexico. Lionsgate is scheduled to release the film domestically in 2009.

Source: Reuters/Hollywood Reporter