Frank Miller, the graphic novelist-turned-filmmaker who is helming The Spirit, wrote on his production blog that the adaptation of Will Eisner’s seminal comic strip won’t be a retread of Miller’s own Sin City.
“Much has been the fuss in the comics’ blogosphere about my Spirit movie–much justified, much hoped for and, much to my delight, that there has been a fuss at all,” Miller wrote. “Some comics readers are terrified that The Spirit will be a retread of my Sin City. Others quarrel over the change of the Spirit’s traditional blue hat, mask and jacket to black. These are understandable concerns for any lover of Will Eisner’s masterpiece. I take this opportunity to address these concerns.”
Miller described the film as “an extension of what I know to have been Eisner’s central intent: to create something new, witty and exploratory. That’s what he did. That’s what I’m doing.”
Viewers of the early teaser trailer of The Spirit may have been led to believe it will mimic Sin City’s black-and-white aesthetic. Not so, Miller said: “It only resembles Sin City in that I am its director, and, well, yes, I have my ways and my proclivities.” He added: “The Spirit, despite any accidental impression left by that kickass teaser trailer, is a full-color movie. Sin City–and I hope to make of it a movie trilogy all its own, come hell and high water–is, visually, a playhouse for black and white.”
As for the blue suit? The Spirit’s original blue costume resulted from the limitations of pre-digital printing on newsprint, he said. “Going to black brings back his essential mystery, his Zorro-like sexiness,” Miller said. “It also makes that red tie of his look very, very cool. So I made the call, with all respect to Eisner’s creation and, most importantly, to what I perceived as his underlying intention. It was an easy call for me to make. The Spirit dresses in black and looks much the better for it. As I said, my desire was never to slavishly follow the rules of ’40s printing into campy oblivion, but to reintroduce Eisner’s creation, via modern technology, to our brave new world.”
The Spirit is slated for release on Christmas Day. 
Watch the trailer here in HD DIVX avi or CLICK HERE to view without any special codecs
