300 (due out March 16, 2007) is the latest movie adaptation of a Frank Miller graphic novel. The story focuses on the 480 B.C. battle where the King of Sparta led his army in a battle against the Persians, which resulted in democracy in Greece.
While promoting 300 at Comic-Con, Miller (who also serves as executive producer) admitted that he was very collaborative with the film’s director Zack Snyder and whatever changes need to be made, the two of them agreed upon it first.
“All of [my book is there], but there might be some subtle things withdrawn and other things added in,” says Miller. “It’s my book, plus some other material thrown in.”
While SIN CITY was about collaborating as a co-director with Robert Rodriguez, 300 was more about assisting director Snyder, particularly when he wanted to add or subtract moments from the original source material.
“We talked [new scenes] over,” says Miller. “I had some suggestions, and he’s a very good collaborator, but one thing I learned in directing is it really was in his hands. Ultimately, I had to defer. If he was doing anything that was outrageously wrong, I would have raised a stink as the rights holder. It seemed to be in a very good shape and I didn’t want to be an impediment to another director.”
Like SIN CITY, 300 the actors were shot entirely in front of a blue screen.
“The screens were green on SIN CITY and they were blue on 300, but it was still a matter of using the live actors and creating the world around it,” says Miller.
While Miller has been spearheading his own graphic novels to the big screen, it was announced this week that he will make his solo directing debut with an adaptation of Will Eisner’s classic 1940’s character THE SPIRIT.
“I’m going to take some of the lessons I learned from Robert Rodriguez and I’m going to be using the comics as storyboards and do my best to be faithful as possible,” says Miller. “The tone I have in mind, will surprise a lot of readers, because they’re used to a kinder, gentler Spirit that developed after Will got drafted. And this is going to be a scarier take on it, much like the earlier version.”
Like his last two projects, Miller plans on shooting THE SPIRIT entirely on green screen, while compositing in the backgrounds and other special effects in post-production.
“It will be ‘almost’ all green screen,” he reveals. “As a cartoonist, it appeals to me more. But I’m not saying this is the only way at all. You look at the very first SUPERMAN movie, it had very little blue screen use, but it is a successful movie. It’s just that it’s a more expensive and slower way to do it, and I happen to love the visual style of comics, and I find super heroes tend to look sillier in a real world.”
Although Rodriguez has been swamped with his work on GRINDHOUSE, Miller says he’s “on deck,” when the director wants to begin SIN CITY 2 and he wants Angelina Jolie to play femme fatale Ava Lord in the next film.
“I sure hope so,” says Miller. “I believe Robert has discussed it.”