UPDATE: Robert Rodriguez directing SIN CITY

By: Patrick Sauriol
Date: Thursday, February 26, 2004
Source: Variety, Ain't It Cool News, Dimension Films

Fans of Frank Miller's black-and-white comic book series SIN CITY will want to take note of this news: according to Variety, SPY KIDS director Robert Rodriguez has started filming the SIN CITY movie. No, you read that last sentence correct: Rodriguez has already finished filming the opening sequence of the SIN CITY movie...we're just finding out about it today.

Rodriguez has cast Josh Hartnett (HOLLYWOOD HOMICIDE) and Marley Shelton (VALENTINE) in the big screen adaptation of Miller's work. The film's opening uses Hartnett and Shelton, but it's unclear whether Rodriguez's movie follows the first SIN CITY story or is an amalgam of the many tales from that dry and dirty town. If the movie follows the opening sequence of the first SIN CITY tale, that would mean Hartnett is playing the role of Marv, a ex-con who gets duped into looking like he committed a murder. If our assessment is accurate Shelton would be playing the role of Goldie, a stunning woman that spends the night with Marv...and winds up dead.

The director is currently casting the remaining parts of the film, with the remainder of the shoot starting again in Austin, Texas next month. The picture is set up at Dimension Films.

Of special note is the inclusion of comic creator Miller: he's getting co-directing credit on the picture. According to Variety's story, Rodriguez convinced Miller that he was the man to make a SIN CITY movie by filming a sample scene and showing how faithful he would be to the comic's stark look.

UPDATE!: Ain't It Cool News has reported on the SIN CITY story and added to the collective knowledge base. According to site operator Harry Knowles, Josh Hartnett is not playing the character of Marv. Knowles also explains how Rodriguez coaxed Frank Miller into letting him make the SIN CITY movie by completing the first ten minutes of the picture as a representative of the kind of visual look he wanted to bring to the picture. Rodriguez has also used that same footage to show the actors he wants to play the film's central roles.

Meanwhile, Dimension Films has issued a press release commenting on Rodriguez's movie. The studio clarifies that the movie's storyline will incorporate three of the SIN CITY graphic novels, specifically the first as well as THAT YELLOW BASTARD and THE BIG FAT KILL.


"Robert Rodriguez came to me with a bold, coherent plan for bringing my baby to the screen," said creator Frank Miller in the release. "I'm jumping at the chance. This is gonna be a whole new kind of crime movie."


Got a scoop? Know something that you need to tell us about? Send it to us!