Creator and co-director of the upcoming SIN CITY: A DAME TO KILL FOR, Frank Miller, just recently jumped on reddit for an AMA and divulged some interesting details about his latest film, among other comic book properties such as Batman and Superman. You can check out the whole shebang here, but I've included some of the highlights below. First up, however, is the brand spanking new trailer for SIN CITY: A DAME TO KILL FOR.
Check out Nancy's new look:
On how he got involved with Robert Rodriguez on creating SIN CITY:
Robert Rodriguez approached me. He really wanted to do it and saw how to do it. I didn't want to do it and didn't see how to do it. Anyways the next stage was about a week later, when Robert Rodriguez phoned me up and said "hey Frank, why don't you come out for a weekend, I'll fly you out, we'll do a scene with a few friends. If you like it, maybe we'll do a movie, if you don't we'll have a cool DVD to show our friends." So I went out there, his so-called friends were trained professional actors. I had been mostly nervous about working with actors. And what I was surprised and delighted by was that I get along great with actors, in fact I love them. I love working with them and they love working with me. And I feel like i've made a whole pile of new friends.
On whether or not he has a cameo in the film:
Oh yea, two cameos in fact. One very minor, where I get buffeted by shards of broken glass and another Robert Rodriguez and I do it as a surprise, as two thugs who end up committing suicide. It's very short, it's very sweet and it's very funny if you know us, because we both stay very much in the character we perform on film. We perform as we are making the film.
On whether or not Eva Green being cast in 300: RISE OF AN EMPIRE and SIN CITY: A DAME TO KILL FOR was a coincidence:
Haha. You know, I can't say I had any role in her work on 300, much as I admired it, and I remember jumping up and down like a little kid about her taking on such a powerful and deadly role in Sin City.
About the best advice he ever received:
The best advice I received was probably from Neil Adams, the artist, and he looked at my work when I was an amateur, and he just said to me "artists are people who know how things work." And that stuck with me. That if I was going to draw something, I had better know how it was drawn together.
How he feels about Superman:
Keep in mind that Superman was the first of the superheroes, he even pre-dated Batman, he was created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Schuster in Ohio, and as time went by they changed Superman accordingly. He started out as a what the Jews call a Golem, a product of the earth who would bring the leaders of warring forces face to face and make them then and there, in the trenches, face each other. And thereby diffuse a war that was happening. Along came WWII, everybody was wearing a flag, and Superman hoisted the flag.
On what makes Batman so likable:
It's a variety of things, really. But mainly it's in a way he's a superhero naked, in that he is plainly out for revenge, so much so that he actually dresses like a villain, and throws bad guys through windows, there's all kinds of rough and tumble stuff. I was also in love with the idea of a character that could not fly. The man needed a car to get around. And he got by on wits and skill alone. That's why I couldn't resist having him beat the crap out of Superman just once, i had to see that just once. You kind of have to be of a mind to like that sort of a character. But Batman is also so personable. You could do him 20 different ways, and they could all work. He's like a giant diamond. You could slam him against the floor, throw him against the ceiling, but you can't hurt it. Everything from the Adam West TV show to my stuff and dozens of others, Jerry Robertson, each contributed to this ongoing myth that has survived and been revitalized on an ongoing basis.
I always enjoy reading Miller has he is a very insightful and somewhat of a no-nonsense kinda guy. Fans have been waiting nine years since the original SIN CITY to see more of Frank Miller's spectacularly enjoyable graphic novel fleshed out. Judging from the previews thus far, it looks like it'll be worth the wait. I just hope it doesn't take as long to get to work on a third trip to the (mostly) black and white city.
SIN CITY: A DAME TO KILL FOR hits theaters on August 22, 2014.