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Frank Miller must be one of those fellows who rarely sleeps. Following the success of Sin City and 300, he’s been taking on loads of future projects. Still, he finds time to mentor a few underlings as well and is currently helping actress/model Jaime King (Goldie in Sin City) shop her graphic novel around to “big publishing companies.” Miller is also in talks to direct yet another adaptation of one of his comic books, Hard Boiled, which revolves around an insurance investigator turned cyborg assassin. Of course, he is also currently stepping out in his first solo directorial venture for an adaptation of the late Will Eisner’s The Spirit. The film won’t be out until January 16, 2009, but it’s never too soon to talk about the upcoming noirish drama. As expected, Miller has much to say on the film and its title character:

“The character has a terrifying side to him. This is a man who’s died and come back to life. So it twists into fantasy. And of course there are tons of women in it. There have to be — it’s The Spirit. They’re all in love with him, and he’s in love with all of them. You might say he’s a bit of a slut.”

Casting is interesting but not altogether unexpected: Gabriel Macht in the title role, Samuel Jackson plays the villain as Octopus, Eva Mendes as Sand Serif, Scarlett Johansson as Silken Floss, and many others including Paz Vega, Sarah Paulson, and Jamie King. Of course, there will also be the undeniable atmosphere associated with a Frank Miller project:

Imagine New York from Houston Street to Bank Street or Jane Street. That part of the city is Central City. [The Spirit] rarely leaves that neighborhood. In fact, he’s almost like one of those characters from Mean Streets — he would get lost above Houston. He’s such a neighborhood boy. I believe, as in Sin City, in taking the city I love and picking out whatever looked best from whatever decade I choose. So we’ll see ‘53 Cadillacs, and we’ll see cell phones.

It’s mythic New York. And that’s what Will drew. He and I really did share two profound loves: One was for New York, and the other was for beautiful women…. [For example], Scarlett Johansson plays Silken Floss. I looked at Silken Floss and, now, here’s this beautiful, really uptight woman [who was a secretary in the comics]. And I was like, she had to have her bad old days. She had to have her crazy days where she got up at 6 at night every day and there was some kind of daddy taking care of her. And that’s the Silken Floss that’s in the movie.

Miller has also written the screenplay for a sequel to Sin City, which he hopes will eventually turn into a trilogy series of films. Of course, between Miller’s schedule and that of Robert Rodriguez, this may or may not be happening in, say, the next decade or so. Of course, that must be an awfully tough problem to deal with in Hollywood, eh?

Check out even more piccies and the teaser trailer for The Spirit below:

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