Time-jumping film will
resurrect star Mickey Rourke; Jessica Alba, Clive Owen are back
too.
Marv died in "Sin City" but that doesn't mean Mickey Rourke won't
be back for the sequel.
Ditto for Dwight (Clive Owen), Shellie (Brittany Murphy), Nancy
(Jessica Alba), Manute (Michael Clarke Duncan), Gail (Rosario
Dawson) and the rest of the Old Town gang. That's because "Sin
City" is the "Pulp Fiction" of comic-book adaptations since the
interlinking stories aren't linear, when it comes time for the next
installment in theaters, you'll get a prequel and a sequel at the
same time.
"It jumps around a bit," writer/co-director Frank Miller said, "but
mostly it's one story, incorporating some short stories that weave
in and out of that."
Miller, who wrote and illustrated the hard-boiled graphic-novel
series the films are based on, said he is "well in progress" on the
screenplay for "Sin City 2" and anticipates that he and co-director
Robert Rodriguez should be shooting as early as June in Austin,
Texas.
The first "Sin City" took its stories from the first, third and
fourth books "The Hard Goodbye," "The Big Fat Kill" and "That
Yellow Bastard." This next one will jump back in the sequence and
derive most of its story from the second book, "A Dame to Kill
For." But even though it's the second book, the action is set
before book one, developing Dwight's past, loves, lusts and
alliances.
Before Marv sleeps with Goldie, before Detective Hartigan finds
skinny little Nancy all grown up and dancing at a strip joint,
Dwight has a love affair with Ava, who leaves him to marry someone
wealthy. Four years later, Ava's back, claiming the marriage is no
good, and asking Dwight to help her out. This being "Sin City," you
know there's more to the story than that. (And that to-die-for
dame? Angelina Jolie, Salma Hayek and Rose McGowan have all been
tipped to play the femme fatale, but a rep for the studio said
there's no word on Ava yet.)
Miller is also toying with incorporating "Blue Eyes," a short story
that introduces the assassin Delia. The chain of events helps set
up "The Hard Goodbye" and "The Big Fat Kill" in the original film,
but what about what happens next? Miller is also writing a new
story that'll explore what happens to Nancy after Hartigan's
suicide. "Yeah, there will be surprises, but they wouldn't be
surprises if I told you, would they?" Miller said.
The stories are also going to be as graphic as the first "Sin City"
film graphic in violence as well as style, showcasing the fully
digital live action that made the film one of the most faithful
comic adaptations yet to hit the screen. "My drawings were up on a
special monitor, where they would move the camera to match my
compositions," Miller explained.
After more than 10 years of turning down offers to sell the screen
rights to his work, Miller finally relented because Rodriguez
demonstrated that he could re-create the comic's stark look. That's
what made him sign on for a sequel, due in 2007, as well as more to
follow (see " 'Sin City' Co-Directors Working On Sequels, Eyeing A
Tarantino Replacement").
"I was very, very fortunate," Miller said. "I won the lottery the
first time out and got to do the movie it needed to be, a movie
that knew what it was, and didn't have to go through the
bureaucratic nonsense that most movies do."
So many movies are being made from graphic novels lately because
"Hollywood sees us as a vital source of material," Miller said. The
problem, though, is that Hollywood usually wants to tinker with the
source material and make it "some vehicle with some star with a
slapped-on happy ending because some focus group asked for it," he
said.
And Miller, like his pulp characters, isn't about to let anyone
sully his name. He's resolved not to let any of his other comics be
adapted without him behind the camera. "I can't send my little baby
down like Moses in the river and say goodbye to her," Miller
said.
Of course, it's a little too late with "300," his graphic novel
about the Battle of Thermopylae, the film version of which is being
directed by Zack Snyder ("Dawn of the Dead"), because he sold the
screen rights before he caught the directing bug. Miller is one of
the producers, however, so he does have some say about the script,
and so far, he's happy with how it's turning out.
"What I've seen of it, when I saw the set, when I saw the script,
it looks like the book, it feels like it," Miller said. "It's
always hard to predict these things, especially if you're not the
director, but I like what I've seen."
Check out everything we've got on "Sin City."
(source= MTV Movies)
