The Spirit gets shot

Overlooked in yesterday’s Eva Mendes casting announcement (blame that hypnotic bottom) is the fact that Frank Miller’s feature film adaptation of THE SPIRIT also now has a cinematographer: Bill Pope.

Why is this remotely important, you might ask while still thinking about Mendes’ sumptuous rump? Because the director of photography ultimately determines and/or influences the general aesthetic of a movie, and Pope has served as cinematographer on THE MATRIX, SPIDER-MAN 2 and DARKMAN (which I contend is the best comic book movie ever made, despite not being based on an actual comic book). A filmography like that should give you some confidence in the film’s eventual quality, or at least the potential style and atmosphere.

Miller may not have a lot of experience behind the camera, but he clearly has the wisdom to surround himself with talented people. The movie is based on Will Eisner’s classic masked vigilante comic character, and Miller (both an admirer and colleague of the late sequential art founder) has stated his version will be faithful as well as “much scarier than people expect”.