December 18, 2008

• Spirit

  
  If you ask nicely, resident movie mean guy Samuel L. Jackson will tick off a laundry list of comic books he loved as a kid, and sometimes, still reads. “Superman, Batman, The Flash, Aquaman, Silver Surfer, you know, the ordinary,” said the actor, who stars in the upcoming The Spirit, which premiered Wednesday night..

  Opening Christmas Day, it stars Eva Mendes, Sarah Paulson, Scarlett Johansson and Gabriel Macht. Jackson plays his nemesis, The Octopus.
  
  “It’s pure boy stuff,” Jackson said of comic-based films. “Guys like to chase each other and hit each other over the head.”

  Jackson wasn’t alone in his adoration of a good comic-strip story.

  “I love the overall theme of most comics; I think the universal theme of good versus evil kind of gets everybody,” Mendes said. “I did Ghostrider a few years ago, and I familiarized myself with comics. (But) do I pick up comics? Do I have one in my bag? No. I’m going to be honest. I’m very specific about what I read on my downtime. Because I have very little downtime, you know?”

  Writer/director Frank Miller called his cast amazing. I agree but I also hope the story is not lame!

  “A good story is a good story. A good character is a good character,” said Miller, who also is behind hit films like Sin City. “And what I did with this astonishing cast was adapt it to modern times.”

  Jamie King, who also starred in Sin City, said comic books are made for film translations, and the reason people love them is obvious.

  “Everybody wants to be a hero, and everybody wants to have super powers and really be able to share their talents with the world,” King said. “That’s what superheroes do. If I had a power, it would be to have the ability to heal people.”

  Said Paulson: “Comic books scream to be actualized. Sometimes you read a novel and your own imagination is actually what tells the story. But when you have a drawing, it begs to be put to life.”

  • 10:46 am
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