anderswolleck

If I cut off seven of your fingers and asked you to name the top three comic book creators in the world, one of those digits would be Frank Miller. Miller was previously best known for seminal runs on the comic books Daredevil, Batman, creator owned works like Give Me Liberty [with Dave Gibbons] and Big Guy and Rusty the Boy Robot [with Geof Darrow]. Hes collaborated with many of the most brilliant creators in the comic book field such as Chris Claremont, John Romita Jr., Bill Sienkiewicz, David Mazzucchelli and many more.

But now that hes co-directed [with Robert Rodriguez] the film version of his noir comic, Sin City, Miller is the first heavyweight comic book creator to become a major Hollywood filmmaker. Sin City combines four of Millers sordid tales, The Hard Goodbye, The Customer is Always Right, The Big Fat Kill and That Yellow Bastard into one beautifully rendered film. The film was a big hit in theaters and is now being released on DVD August 16.

I got a chance to chat with Miller about Sin City 2, the upcoming film adaptation of 300 which is his retelling of the battle of Thermopylae, comic book movies and much more.

Buy the DVD for Sin City

Daniel Robert Epstein: From what I read, its hard to figure out what your exact role on the set of Sin City was.

Frank Miller: I was the co-director.

DRE: Were you literally directing just as much as Robert [Rodriguez]?

FM: Basically we worked on every scene together. Sometimes wed keep my scene and sometimes wed keep his. It went back and forth. It was a very organic meld between the two of us.

DRE: Would you work with the actors as much as you would on the look of the film?

FM: Oh yeah, working with the actors was my favorite part of the job. I never got to work with actors as intensely before and I found that I really loved that part of the job. I mean working with Mickey Rourke is a lot different than just having some abstract notion.

DRE: Were you satisfied with the whole process?

FM: I was thrilled. Quentin Tarantino described the Kill Bill movies to me as being like a marriage between him and Uma Thurman so I said Well Sin City was like a string of mad affairs.

DRE: There were some changes from the Sin City comic books such as the last scene with Alexis Bledel. Did you and Robert create that together?

FM: That last scene was Roberts idea and I think I probably touched it up a little. But hes got good ideas. Were always bouncing things off each other and I dont think that he could remember any better than I could who was responsible for what scene. But that last scene was his idea. No doubt about that.

DRE: When I first sat down to see Sin City, I said there was no way theyre going to be able to rip off the Yellow Bastards penis.

FM: Bruce [Willis] went and did it!

DRE: I know, it was horrible and terrifying.

FM: Oh come on, it was wonderful.

DRE: But I knew he wasnt going to pop it off like a champagne cork like he did in the book.

FM: Yeah but I love the distaste with which he threw it away.

The whole genesis story of that story was from two separate incidents. One is, when I went to see the last Dirty Harry movie, The Dead Pool and I was disgusted. I went out and said, this is not a Dirty Harry movie, this is nothing, this is a pale sequel. But I walked out and said thats not the last Dirty Harry story, I will show you the last Dirty Harry story. Years later, I just happened to be visiting my mother and I walked into her kitchen and saw the back of an absolutely beautiful five foot nine woman and she turned around and said Hi Uncle Frank and a bastard was born.

DRE: Was it just the fact that Bruce Willis is able to bring sympathy and empathy to a character that made Hartigan became a little softer than he was in the comic?

FM: It could be. I have a rather harsh drawing style so its hard for me to qualify that. I will say that Bruce just makes you love him. I think that you cannot look at Bruce without feeling rather adoring because hes, just the coolest.

DRE: I interviewed him for Hostage, his other movie this year and I really wanted to just hang out with him rather than do an interview.

FM: The thing is he just warms up the screen. I regard him as my generations Humphrey Bogart.

DRE: Thats quite the compliment.

FM: Well, I mean it sincerely. I think that every generation produces one of those and I think that we got one with him.

DRE: If Bruce is Humphrey Bogart is Mickey Rourke Robert Mitchum?

FM: [laughs] Thats pretty good. Im not going to try to top that.

DRE: When I first saw Sin City, I sat down going No way, this is not going to work and at the end of it I realized you all really pulled it off.

Certainly the only negative thing Ive heard is Michael Madsens expository monologue to Hartigan at the beginning of That Yellow Bastard. Even though it works in the comics, do you think its just a lot of words for someone to say in a movie?

FM: Thats your and the audiences call. We really rolled the dice with this movie. It was Roberts vision from the start that we would be as faithful as it was. So we simply stayed as faithful as we could. In fact, many times Robert pulled me back when I wanted to change things by saying Too late, you already inked it. I was ready to adapt. The reason Sin City was not turned over to any moviemakers for 12 years is that I wouldnt let my baby get sent down the river. Robert Rodriguez convinced me that he really meant that he wanted to make a movie of the comic, not some sanitized version of it. From then on, we were so much on the same page it was ridiculous.

DRE: Was the original color of The Yellow Bastard in the book invented by [Franks wife and colorist] Lynn [Varley]?

FM: Yeah, it was a basic full scale Y. It was as harsh a yellow as you could get. Then in the movie I asked for it to look a little bit like Frenchs Mustard. I thought that would be really disgusting.

DRE: Over the years youve done tons of comic press and some mainstream press. How was doing all the worldwide press for Sin City?

FM: It felt as if I had a very good bout of training to get ready for because its a whole different level of attention. When youre at Cannes [Film Festival] or in London and people are all over you with questions, it was very lucky that I had developed enough facility to handle it. Ive done a lot of publicity over the years for a very small audience and now Im dealing with a very big stadium. Its a different world but the same dynamics apply.

DRE: Like you said, you were doing Sin City for a relatively small audience so did you think the movie would do as well as it did? I think it made $70 million.

FM: Yeah it did great. I didnt know how it would do. I had no idea. I remember that at the beginning the whole question was, Would my stuff actually appeal to people? Im used to having my 100,000 buy the comics but were talking big time here and they showed up. I was thrilled.

DRE: The Sin City books were re-released by Dark Horse. How onboard were you with shrinking it down to Manga size?

FM: I wanted it immediately. I wanted to go smaller and I wanted to make the paper cheaper. I wanted it to feel more like something that you would read rather than an art book.

DRE: Did the art have to be adjusted at all?

FM: It shrunk down fine.

DRE: Now its the size of the old pulp novels.

FM: Yeah and I wanted it to be something that a woman could put in her purse or a guy might carry on an airplane. It didnt have to be a precious item anymore.

DRE: I would guess that it wasnt a coincidence that you started Sin City right after your Robocop experience.

FM: Definitely, it was my anti-movie. What is so funny about this whole narrative is that I sat down in an unfinished living room at my drawing board and simply came up with what I always wanted to do. At the time I had carpenters sawing up my kitchen, so the noise was terrible with band saws wailing away and all of that. I simply sat down and said I dont give a damn anymore, Im going to just draw what I want to draw and Im going to write what I want to write. I came up with Sin City and then 12 years later Im back in the movies.

DRE: Though it is much different than your previous Hollywood experience.

FM: Oh absolutely. This was a heavenly experience. I cant tell you how good it felt. Robert is a great partner, [producer] Elizabeth [Avellan] is wonderful, the crew was great and I cant believe how well I got along with the cast. We all walked away from the whole thing saying, When do we start again?

DRE: Was there any panel in the Sin City that you thought that Robert wasnt going to be able to translate. Like the toilet bowl scene or Dwight sinking into the tar.

FM: Oh yeah, there were a lot of them. I didnt know crap about movies and I certainly didnt know about digital. Robert showed me that we could do whatever was in my head or on my page. I came in at a very high level on the business and the cutting edge of the technology and that was all due to Robert because he just insisted upon it and then showed me how to do it.

DRE: Whats the status of new Sin City movies?

FM: Were working on putting the structure of Sin City 2 together but were talking about starting shooting in January.

DRE: What stories is it going to be?

FM: Were talking about weaving together A Dame to Kill For and a new story Im coming up with.

DRE: Cool!

FM: We got to have something new! You know?

DRE: Please!

Could Clive Owen still play Dwight since its pre-Big Fat Kill and Dwights plastic surgery?

FM: Man, Im not answering any questions about cast. I got to negotiate with these people.

DRE: Clive Owen was so great, though.

FM: Oh my god, Clive was just wonderful to work with because he immediately grasps everything. Thats what got me about all three of the male leads. They were just so darn smart. I would say something to Bruce and he would just turn around to me and glare at me with that scary glare of his and then hed deliver something I couldnt imagine.

DRE: Even if Sin City hadnt come out it would still be somewhat of a big year for you Hollywood wise, even though you werent involved with Elektra and Batman Begins.

FM: I was involved in Batmans first draft with Darren Aronofsky. But when they changed the crew, they changed us too. So we just walked away from it, but I wasnt involved in Elektra at all.

DRE: Did you see Elektra and Batman Begins?

FM: I saw Batman Begins. I thought it was pretty damn good.

DRE: When an element from your screenplay or from Batman: Year One showed up, such as when he signaled the bats with the boot button, did you like that?

FM: Oh wasnt that fun? I just loved that. The thing is, when you work on a collection of works like Batman, you expect that people are going to naturally harvest your ideas. I dont think its anything to be petulant about. Frankly I thought they did a pretty damn good job of it and mainly I just wanted it to be a good movie. Thats all I really cared about. I didnt make up Batman so Im making no claims.

DRE: Did you avoid Elektra or did you just not see it?

FM: Im too close to her. Shes like my daughter. Shes my little baby girl and I know shes been whoring around but I just dont want to watch it. Ive got nothing against the people who made Elektra but if I saw it Id hate it. I met Jennifer [Garner], shes a very beautiful, wonderful gal, and I met all the people that worked with her on Daredevil but when it came to Elektra I just couldnt quite handle it.

DRE: I think my favorite comic story of yours for the past few years is definitely Man With Pen In Head [about his cameo in the Daredevil movie, published in Autobiographix]. I love autobiographical and semi-autobiographical comic books. It was so great because as much as Sin City and 300 are obviously very personal to you. Man With Pen In Head is peering directly into your head.

FM: Sure, yeah.

DRE: How was it creating that short story and do you want to do more semi-autobiographical work?

FM: I dont know. When it occurs to me I suppose I will. Mainly that was a job done simply because [Dark Horse Comics editor] Diana Schutz called me and said Id like to get something autobiographical out of you. So I had to come up with something because I cant really turn Diana down because shes such a sweetheart and has been a friend forever. Stuff like that is usually about people learning to masturbate so I thought, Let me make fun of them, let me do one thats nothing but a pile of lies. Thats what I produced.

DRE: Recently Steve Gerber came out and said that he just wont work on characters that the original creator is not getting compensated for it. Youve been one of those creators for many years. How do you feel about that?

FM: I understand Steves position. I dont really share it because at some point those things do become a collective property. But I understand his position and I respect it. I just dont think thats a reason not to write a Batman story.

DRE: Its too hard to pass up, right?

FM: Also Bob Kane is kind of taken care of. But even if he werent its just one of those cases where youve got to say Do I have something to do here? Would it be more virtuous of me to come up with a Superman who isnt Superman or Batman who isnt Batman and put it out in the market saying Im not going to pay anybody off?

DRE: Thats a very good point. I got to speak to Tyler Bates whos doing the music for 300. He told me theres a minute and a half of beautiful test footage. Have you seen that yet?

FM: I have. Its really gorgeous and really brutal. [300 director] Zack [Snyder] showed it to me. I was in-between pieces for Sin City at the time and he showed it to me in the screening room and it was looking really cool. Of course I was jumping all over him about making sure that the phalanx was just right and that kind of stuff. Im a military history freak so I have to push him that way.

DRE: I just heard just this past week that it might be shooting in October or November. How involved do you want to be with that and are you an executive producer for sure?

FM: I will be, yeah. What counterbalances that, is that Im not the director. Zack is the director so he is the one making the movie. I have to respect that. I know what its like to be a director and you do not step on those toes. But I will be the fly on the wall jumping all over people saying this is not what a Spartan would do and that sort of thing. But its going to be Zacks movie.

DRE: Did you have to approve Zack?

FM: Well, it all kind of came together as a package. At the time I hadnt directed a movie myself so I didnt have the perspective I have now. Now I understand that the position that counts is the director. The writer doesnt count all that much and producers count a little bit but the director is the one making the movie.

DRE: Have you seen the fan film Rats?

FM: Yeah, it was pretty sweet actually. It seemed like something someone did out of love.

DRE: Can we talk about you still living in Hells Kitchen?

FM: Sure, I mean Im standing in Hells Kitchen. Where are you at?

DRE: Right now believe it or not Im in Australia visiting the set of Superman Returns.

FM: Is it cool?

DRE: We saw some sets that were just unbelievable.

FM: Yeah, howd Superman look?

DRE: I touched the costume yesterday, Frank, I touched the costume! I met Brandon [Routh] whos playing Superman. I asked him the toughest questions I could think of about Superman. Political stuff, the comics and he always came back with good answers and he seems to really understand the character.

FM: You know, thats whats happening now, man. I noticed that Christian Bales Batman was very informed by the comics. There was nothing sarcastic about it and there wasnt some otherworldly take on the character. His very first moment, when he says, No, youre practice. Thats the Batman I know. I really liked that about it.

DRE: It was really cool that the thugs never saw Batman. Batman is the best hand to hand fighter/ninja in the world and you never see him hit you. All of a sudden you wake up in the hospital.

FM: Yeah, right. Hey what happened to my arm? I think that they did a real nice job that way. Weve got a new generation of actors coming up who really want to play the comic book characters instead of saying This is my interpretation of these pissant comic books.

DRE: Have you seen the X-Men movies?

FM: I love them! I eat them up. I like the Spider-Man movies too. I think that Sam Raimi is top notch. The first Spider-Man is Steve Ditko and the second one is John Romita [Sr].

DRE: Whats interesting is that the essential difference between Marvel and DC Comics really seems to show up in the movies. Marvels characters work in all sorts of adventures while with DC, the origin stories are always the best. Whats your opinion on that?

FM: My best answer would be that Marvel does folklore and DC does myth. So myth is harder. Folklore is Paul Bunyan but myth is Odysseus. Its very hard to do a Batman movie and its very hard to do a Superman movie. I think its easier to do a Spider-Man movie because hes kind of like the guy next door. Im not attempting to diminish the efforts of Sam Raimi and Tom DeSanto with what theyve done with X-Men and Spider-Man but Im just saying I can understand why DC has to struggle a bit harder to do justice to the characters.

DRE: Im always going out to eat and hang out in Hells Kitchen. Can you set stories in Hells Kitchen anymore?

FM: I could set stories in there, Id just have to go two blocks further west. My avenue is 9th Avenue and its a very nice place at this point. Its a great place to walk and I walk there everyday. Its full of Irish pubs and sweet people with dogs and kids. Hells Kitchen is definitely not what it was when I first arrived in New York in the late 70s.

DRE: God no. Its obviously safer and thats good but it isnt the same.

FM: I would rather live in Hells Kitchen now than when I first showed up in New York from Vermont. You couldnt even find a place to eat. I mean buildings were blown in half and the Westies were running it. Now its just a lovely part of town, but it still has a lot of character in it.

DRE: Well thank god it was bad when you first got there otherwise I dont know if the Daredevil would have been the same.

Do you write screenplays anymore?

FM: Right now Im in progress on the screenplay for Hard Boiled. I dont write a lot of screenplays because its not my favorite area of work. Id rather be shooting the stuff than writing it. But if its my material I kind of have to usually jump in although I didnt write the screenplay for 300.

DRE: When Hard Boiled was first coming out and it was delayed, I was the guy who every week went into the comic book store and asked Is it in yet? Finally the store owner was just like Stop asking.

FM: Stop asking [laughs]. Thats great but I didnt draw it.

DRE: Well you know how good Geof [Darrow] is but I wanted to read it!

FM: Geof is amazing. Hes a good guy and a great artist.

DRE: How close is the Hard Boiled screenplay to the book?

FM: Its a take on it. Its not meticulous, but I think it captures the flavor and it just embellishes a bit. What Im looking to do with the screenplay is to make it funnier.

DRE: Are you taking your inspiration from your initial idea or what Geof and you did with it?

FM: Theres no way that I can approach that script without looking at what Geof did. Geof is a visionary and an absurdist so the screenplay needs to reflect that.

DRE: Is the story going to be as mysterious until the end like the book was?

FM: I get the sense that youve been around the block enough to know how movies actually work. Until you see the sign up on a marquee, you dont actually have a movie. So until youre actually shooting you dont really know what the movie will be. Im not going to deceive you and pretend Im completely in charge of this thing. Im just telling you Im working on it.

DRE: Who own the rights to turn it into a movie right now?

FM: Warner Bros has the option.

DRE: Ive spoken to a lot of creators from before your generation like Marv Wolfman and Len Wein and they can hardly get their foot in the door at Marvel and even DC.

FM: Really? I didnt know that.

DRE: Yeah, Len says he can get a pitch in at DC but its always rejected.

FM: Thats rough. Ive known Len and Marv forever.

DRE: What changes have you seen in Marvel and DC in this new age?

FM: Well its in the ascendancy of the artist. Thats pretty much undeniable at this point. A Jim Lee project is a Jim Lee project and if Im part of it, well thats cool too but I also draw. Drawing really counts now and I think its a healthy thing. Alan Moore and Neil Gaiman are the absolute apex of the writers era. All I can say really is that it gets down to simple economics. The market collapsed because it was revealed to be false in the 90s and so it has become a buyers market whereas in the late 80s it was a sellers market. So now unless youre a pretty bankable name, or you have something they really want to see, you got to hustle a little harder.

DRE: Youre in an enviable position for any creator. How has that affected you?

FM: Not at all. Im very fortunate, I can say that much. Im not going to pretend otherwise. Im not going to shuffle my feet and act like Jimmy Stewart. But Im very fortunate and I love the opportunities Ive got.

DRE: What made you want to write All-Star Batman & Robin The Boy Wonder?

FM: This is my Robin story. This is Dick Grayson learning to become a superhero. Batman is a cool character and we already know that but its Robin who Im out to make everybody fall in love with.

DRE: I think in the introduction to The Man Without Fear trade paperback, you said that you actually liked doing Daredevil better than Batman. Do you have any plans to do any Daredevil or any Marvel work?

FM: I got nothing planned now, but who knows? Ive done this stuff long enough to know I shouldnt say anything too abrupt. My relationship with Marvel has been up and down but a company is a company and its people that you count on. Marvel and I will talk one of these days.

DRE: Did you read Brian Michael Bendis Daredevil?

FM: No and Ive got nothing against Brian at all, its just that if I read anybody elses Daredevil Ill probably throttle them. Im very possessive with characters that I fall in love with. Daredevil is a particular source of affection because I cut my teeth on him and I love Matt [Murdoch] so I probably would disapprove anything that Brian does no matter how good it is.

DRE: If you said Im going to do a Daredevil story, would you then read everything up until now?

FM: Nope. Do I have to read the last 500 issues of Superman to write a Superman story? I dont think so. What I need to know is The Iliad and the stories of Hercules. I dont need to read all those old comic books.

DRE: I did just read The Essential Daredevil that had the first 25 issues. I like to read those because it fills in some blanks for me.

FM: Well how is it? Is it fun? Is it stupid?

DRE: Its fun and stupid.

FM: I dont mind fun and stupid. I saw the Fantastic Four movie and its fun and stupid. I really enjoyed the hell out of it. I thought the guy that played the Thing [Michael Chiklis] was terrific and Jessica [Alba] was a delight as always. I thought that she delivered the goods completely in every which way. Shes a very clever actress. Its just that people tend to discount her abilities because shes gorgeous and now shes blonde so now no longer can they say a Latina. Now shes blonde so shes got to be stupid. Shes not stupid; in fact shes one of the smartest people Ive ever met. Also the guy who played The Human Torch [Chris Evans] was hilarious!

DRE: Him and the Thing nailed Jack Kirby.

FM: I loved when Jessica says to The Human Torch Don't even think about it! and Johnny jumps off the roof saying Never do! It had those great moments of character. The Human Torch is a complete asshole. I thought they had some major Kirby moments in that movie and thats high praise. That movie, even more so than the Spider-Man and X-Men movies, captured the silliness. When you think about it, a bunch of people go out into space for a DNA experiment, get hit by cosmic rays and gain weird powers. That makes no sense whatsoever. I mean come on, its complete nonsense.

DRE: Yeah, theyre going out to basically kill themselves.

FM: Then all of a sudden one of them is invisible, another turns into a big orange rock, another can stretch. It doesnt make any sense at all.

DRE: Does Kirby still inform your work?

FM: Oh yeah and he always will. Hes our Beethoven and I work on that foundation. He and Eisner are the two giants that will always inform my work but there are so many great creators.

DRE: What comics do you read on any kind of regular or irregular basis?

FM: I read anything Richard Corben draws. I read Paul Popes work and I certainly read anything Brian Azzarello and Jill Thompson produce. Also Im a big fan of James Kochalka.

DRE: I find Kochalkas work so joyous.

FM: I think that hes just going to become more important and its going to be fun watching that happen. He reminds me of me when I was six years old and I came into my mothers kitchen with a bunch of sheets of typing paper folded over and stapled in the middle that were covered with drawings and I said Mom this is what Im going to do for the rest of my life. Ive learned a lot from people like Kochalka because they do stuff that shouldnt work but does. Scott Morse does some fascinating things as well like The Barefoot Serpent. Also I happen to really enjoy the crime stories that Ed Brubaker writes, like Catwoman.

DRE: Do you read many new novels?

FM: I do and whats most interesting lately is coming out of the Feminist Press. In a Lonely Place by Dorothy Hughes is the best crime story Ive read this year. It is a brilliant story of a serial killer and its just stunningly good.

DRE: Does it have a feminist bent?

FM: The only reason its under the Feminist Press is because it was written by a woman but it hasnt published in 50 years. Theyre releasing all these novels again now and, of the ones Ive read, Dorothy Hughes is by far the giant of the bunch. I think she stands as tall as almost anybody.

DRE: Really? Im a big Jim Thompson fan.

FM: Jim Thompsons great, but doesnt he make you want to take a shower?

DRE: Yeah, I literally sometimes do after I read one.

FM: Yeah I know [laughs]. Ill read The Killer Inside Me or Pop. 1280 and Ill go I really feel dirty right now. Then in one of his more obscure novels a character gets a woman pregnant and she tells him so he punches her in the stomach and says Youre not pregnant anymore.

DRE: This is a broad question but do you think well ever live in a world or at least in an America where the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund [CBLDF] isnt needed?

FM: My answer would be no because some fights have to be kept on perpetually. The fund is defending retailers against the various wannabe district attorneys and other assholes. I dont think that well ever not need it but I just love the fact that it exists. When I first came in, the only thing we had was the Comics Code, which enforced censorship. Now we have an organization that actually fights censorship and I support it wholeheartedly. Have you heard Hillary Clinton talking about videogames?

DRE: Yes its just awful!

FM: This battle is never going to end and youre working online. Youre in the real battleground. Theyd have to kill you at this point.

DRE: Personally when I walk out of my apartment and I see homeless people and crackheads, Im like Why isnt she fighting to save them?

FM: I feel that and many other things. Why didnt she try to keep these people from knocking the towers down? But Im hearing about videogames. Its pathetic.

DRE: Now that comics have been legitimized by movies like Ghost World, American Splendor and the superhero movies, has the CBLDFs fight gotten any easier?

FM: No, its a tough fight. [CBLDF Executive Director] Charles Brownstein, [CBLDF President] Denis Kitchen and the rest of us are all in a big battle because you never know when somebodys going to come at you. Theres always some guy or gal who really wants to get elected to some position in government who will use comic books as a nice foil because comic books dont have the money that videogames, computer companies or movies have. The fund is willing to take up the banner, really charge and is changing the history of comics dramatically. Theyre starting to know that we may be small but well give you a very bloody nose.

by Daniel Robert Epstein

SG Username: AndersWolleck