Meanwhile, back at the ranch ... Robert Rodriguez and his Texas-style family filmmaking

Here's a longer version of my feature on filmmaker Robert Rodriguez from today's Sunday Calendar section of the Los Angeles Times.

It was not your typical Hollywood creative meeting. Instead of sparkling water and ahi salad, the Four Seasons conference room was provided with Sprite, French fries and a tray of chocolate lollipops. Magic markers and paper were piled up on the table for doodling and with good reason -- most of the people in the room weren't old enough to drive.

Clearly, the Rodriguez boys were back in town.

"We have our way of doing things and, so far, Hollywood seems pretty happy with it," said Texas-based filmmaker Robert Rodriguez, who was sitting with two of his sons, Rebel and Racer, both of whom contributed to their father's newest feature, "Shorts," which arrives in theaters this weekend.

The contributions weren't small, either: Rebel, 10, shrugged and nodded when asked if he was the one who came up with the name of the film. "Yes. It's called 'Shorts' because the kids in it are short, they wear shorts and the movie is made up of all these really short stories."

Who needs a marketing consultant when you have that sort of logic?

"Shorts" is a collection of interlocking vignettes about kids, a sort of 21st century revival of the "Our Gang" comedies, but with a wishing rock, crocodile men and a giant killer booger. As interesting as all that might sound, the most compelling aspect of the film is how it was made: Shot entirely in dusty Texas on a lean budget, "Shorts" is being distributed by Warner Bros. but could hardly be further removed from the corporate culture.

Rodriguez was the writer, director, producer, cinematographer, visual effects supervisor and editor, and even collaborated on the music. The film's plot was cooked up by his sons, who also appear in the film. Essentially, the Rodriguez household put together "Shorts" the way other families set up lemonade stands, and, after the success of his "Spy Kids" franchise, there are hopes that "Shorts" will click with its similarly zany, hyper-real sensibility.

"This whole thing started with me and the kids watching old episodes of the Little Rascals, which I loved when I was a kid," he said. "They just laughed and laughed. We took that, and it eventually became 'Shorts.' "

Rodriguez has five children, all with Elizabeth Avellán, the Venezuela-born producer. The couple split in 2006 after 15 years but remain business partners in Troublemaker Studios -- no mean feat considering the spasm of rumors that accompanied Rodriguez's romance with Rose McGowan, star of his last blood-splattered film, 2007's "Grindhouse."

Despite the gossip-page intrigue, Rodriguez is shy and fills conversational lulls with a nervous laugh. Born in San Antonio, he loves his western wear. Frank Miller, the creator of "Sin City," likes to tell the story of how he first met Rodriguez at a New York diner: "He's the only straight guy," Miller says, "who ever wore a cowboy hat into Hell's Kitchen."

He is also consumed with fatherhood and, even before parenthood, daydreamed about making home movies with a large brood. "Shorts" was supposed to be just that.

The movie started with sibling envy. Rebel was tired of hearing how his older brother, Racer, came up with the premise for his dad's 2005 movie "The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl in 3-D," so he decided that he would mine the "Our Gang" model for a movie. These are big thoughts for a kid, but life at the 100-acre ranch is geared toward creative fun, with hidden rooms in the main house and cedar-lined ridgelines dotted with ancient arrowheads and the occasional rattlesnake.

That terrain inspired Rebel to come up with the idea of a rainbow rock that grants wishes and Crocodile Canyon, a nasty pit of reptile danger. The film's unforgettable snot monster, meanwhile, was a leftover idea from Rodriguez's short "Bedhead," written when he was 19. The family fashioned a homemade trailer and when Warners saw it, the lark abruptly became a feature-film property. Rodriguez financed it himself. He declined to specify the budget but said it's "very, very low."

"It's rare for the studios to find a filmmaker who wants to make a family film," he said. "To find someone that has an idea, embraces it, has kids and wants to make something exciting -- well, they don't see that too often."

He chuckled when asked if the studio suits ever get antsy with his let's-put-on-a-show approach. "They actually like that," the 41-year-old said. "You're making it less expensive than they could ever make it here. And they get a movie that they can sell as a big movie, they make money off of it, I get to keep it locked down creatively."

Rodriguez's filmography has a split personality. He might be best known for action films with a lurid, roadhouse edge -- "Sin City" (which was co-directed with Miller), "Once Upon a Time in Mexico," "Desperado" and his startling 1992 indie breakthrough, "El Mariachi" -- but his greatest commercial success has been in cheeky family films. His three "Spy Kids" movies, all fluorescent-bright espionage fantasies, pulled in a collective $465 million worldwide despite being made on budgets of less than $39 million.

After 13 feature films, Rodriguez still has the puppy-dog enthusiasm that got "El Mariachi" made for $7,000, which he earned as a paid patient in medical trials. Sitting at the Four Seasons, he stared down at his cowboy boots as he tried to remember all the things he is working on, which include a "Predator" reboot, the B-movie-minded "Machete," a "Red Sonja" film, a "Sin City" sequel, a live-action version of "The Jetsons" and a fourth "Spy Kids" entry. The plan is to make all of those far from the Hollywood machine.

"It's almost like they get protected from themselves," he said of the studios. "They know that when some things get taken through the machine they end up overspending and making it worse. The movie's not allowed to breathe."

Rodriguez still has something to prove, of course. His last youth-audience film, "Sharkboy and Lavagirl," cost $39 million and pulled in $69 million worldwide. "Shorts" is being watched as a bellwether of his ability to cut through to family audiences without the "Spy Kids" brand.

Like the “Our Gang” comedies that began almost 90 years ago, “Shorts” presents a gaggle of neighborhood kids who in brief, frenetic episodes crack wise in the face of conflict, caste indignities and hopelessly stiff adults. (The grown-ups, by the way, include a gleefully greedy James Spader and William H. Macy in lab-coat nut mode.) They make big plans, as kids often do in comedies, but they are never belittled or patronized, which is rare.

There’s also the hyper-reality swirl of “Shorts” that might make it a cinematic nephew to Bob Clark’s wonderfully daft 1983 film “A Christmas Story,” where the world bends and twists to the physics of childhood memory and imagination. It’s a reference not lost on Rodriguez, who, of course, is immersed in pop culture and creates collages of movie trailers, music videos and famous scenes from cinema into tailor-made feed for the family television.

“You can just let it wash over you,” the filmmaker said with a dreamy expression. “It’s big fun.”

“Shorts” is told out of order, but it’s not some funhouse ode to Christopher Nolan’s “Memento.” Instead, it’s a bit of craft the children taught their father.

“We grew up with very linear storytelling, but now with the way they watch television and play games, they’re used to seeing part of something and then seeing another part later, out of order,” Rodriguez said. “They show me something from the Cartoon Network and they’ll show me the best part and then back up to the beginning--"

Just then the filmmaker was interrupted by Racer, who held up his finished drawing. "It's a tarantula-grasshopper-wasp," he said. His father leaned over and gave the drawing his undivided attention. And with good reason. You never know where the next movie might be lurking.

-- Geoff Boucher

RECENT AND RELATED

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SILLY: Charlie Brown in "Sin City"? Good grief!

Frank Miller searches for "The Spirit" of Will Eisner

Frank Miller: Imagine Stallone in "The Dark Knight Returns"  

Photo credits: Portrait of Robert Rodriguez by Ana Johannson for The Times. Johannson also shot the family photo, which shows, clockwise from top, father Robert with Rocket, Rogue, Rhiannon, Rebel and Racer. "Shorts" image courtesy of Warner Bros. "Sin City" image courtesy of Dimension Films. Photo of Antonio Banderas and Rodriguez on the set in 1994 by Rico Torres / Columbia Pictures.

Charlie Brown in 'Sin City'? Good grief!

This excellent spoof (which I came across on the always-fun Super Punch) is by Timothy Lim and Jean Luc Pham. It's divided up into Part One and Part Two. Hey, if Frank Miller could give Will Eisner's beloved characters the "Sin City" treatment, why not Charles M. Schulz? I would also love to see The Yellow Kid go up against Marv someday ...

-- Geoff Boucher

RECENT AND RELATED

"Watchmen," as reimagined by Charles M. Schulz

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Berkeley Breathed ends "Opus": "I'm destroying the village to save it"

VIDEO: "Watchmen," Saturday morning safe

FIRST LOOK: 'The Spirit,' reincarnated

I talked the other day to Michael Uslan, the Hollywood producer and a persistent presence on the comic-book scene for decades. One of the truly nice guys in the business, Uslan told me without a trace of irony that he recently faced "absolutely the most terrifying thing" in his long creative career -- daring to pick up the baton of Will Eisner's "The Spirit."

I interviewed Uslan and his co-writer, F.J. DeSanto, who have collaborated on a promising three-issue arc that revisits some of the key mythos of the masked man, and I'll be putting that interview up on Hero Complex as we get closer to the Feb. 11 release date of the first issue. (And, yes, Uslan does talk about Frank Miller's film adaptation of "The Spirit" and addresses some of its harsher critics.)

In the meantime, here's a look at some of the art by Justiniano and Walden Wong from the second issue, which goes on sale March 18.

      

-- Geoff Boucher

RECENT AND RELATED

'The Spirit' movie that could have been

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'Batman & Robin' drops f-bomb, Frank Miller calls it 'terrible and glorious'

Sam Adams LAT review of 'The Spirit' film: 'A flat humorless yarn'

Image: DC Comics

Gabriel Macht looks for his heroic moment

I ran into Gabriel Macht -- literally-- last week at the premiere of "The Spirit." We were both in the lobby of Grauman's Chinese Theatre walking briskly in different directions when we collided. He smiled and gave me big slap on the back -- the guy seemed to be glowing, he was so excited. We had met last summer when I was the moderator of "The Spirit" panel in Comic-Con International in San Diego and then we met up recently for a cup of coffee and an interview that we conducted while hiking through the Hollywood Hills.

That interview resulted in the story below, which is running in the Los Angeles Times tomorrow as a lead-up to the opening of "The Spirit" on Christmas Day.

Once upon a time, superhero roles were considered career-killers. But not anymore, not with Christian Bale, Will Smith, Robert Downey Jr. and Hugh Jackman proving that if the glove fits, you should wear it.

Still, for Gabriel Macht, who suits up as the latest masked man in “The Spirit,” which opens Christmas Day, there are new and different risks in this modern era of cinematic crime fighting.
For one thing, there’s the danger of getting upstaged by the bad guy, who in “The Spirit” happens to be the nefarious Octopus, a near-invulnerable crime boss played with great zeal by Samuel L. Jackson. Macht first got a sense of that threat while doing an informal script read-through with his future costar.

“I needed earplugs when Samuel L. Jackson started doing lines, he had the volume at 11,” Macht said with a bewildered smile a year after the table read. “Look, when actors come to read-through in Hollywood they don’t give anything; everything is a whisper. They’re not risking, they’re not showing anything, and they’re not trying to do stuff with the character. The attitude is: ‘Put on a camera, get me lights and makeup and hair and wardrobe, that’s when I’ll perform.’ Not Sam. He shows up and he was screaming and went crazy. It lifted everyone. And I knew way back then that we were going to be taking chances in this movie.”

And “The Spirit," is absolutely a film that cranks the volume and goes for broke. The movie aspires to mint a leading-man career for Macht, who may be a veteran of the New York stage and a graduate of Carnegie Mellon School of Drama but has a Hollywood résumé of supporting roles and indie fare. The movie is the solo directorial debut of Frank Miller, the acclaimed comic book creator, and, like his artwork in the pages of “300” and “Sin City,” “The Spirit” is a stylized vivid visual swirl that instantly divided viewers into love-it-or-hate-it factions at advance screenings. 

Majel Rodenberry, 'The Wolf Man' and Frank Miller's 'Buck Rogers,' all in Everyday Hero headlines

Sorry for the skimpy blog this week! I'm trying to finish up some long pieces for the upcoming 2009 Film Sneaks Issue of the Los Angeles Times and also keep pace with assorted holiday doings. Anyway, here is a two-day edition of Everyday Hero, your roundup of handpicked headlines from the fanboy universe ...

MAJEL B. RODDENBERRY DIES AT 76: One of the signature faces -- and voices -- of "Star Trek" through the decades has died. Majel B. Roddenberry, the widow of "Trek" creator Gene Roddenberry, died Thursday in Bel-Air after a battle with leukemia. My colleague Dennis McLellan has written a fine obituary, here's an excerpt: "'She was a valiant lady,' Leonard Nimoy, who played Mr. Spock on 'Star Trek,' told The Times. 'She worked hard, she was straightforward, she was dedicated to 'Star Trek' and Gene, and a lot of people thought very highly of her.' Once dubbed 'The First Lady of 'Trek'' by the Chicago Tribune, Majel (sounds like Mabel) Barrett Roddenberry was associated with 'Star Trek' from the beginning. In the first TV pilot, she played a leading role as Number One, the first officer who was second in command. But at the request of various executives, changes were made, and she did not reprise her role in the second TV pilot. Instead, she played the minor role of Nurse Chapel when the series began airing on NBC in September 1966. Roddenberry had another distinction: Beginning with the original series, she supplied the coolly detached voice of the USS Enterprise's computer -- something she did on the various 'Star Trek' series. She also was the voice of the Starship Enterprise for six of the 10 'Star Trek' movies that have been released, as well as the 11th, which is due out next year. Roddenberry also played Dr. Christina Chapel in two of the "Star Trek" movies, 'Star Trek: The Motion Picture' and 'Star Trek: The Voyage Home.' And she played the recurring role of the flamboyant Lwaxana Troi on 'Star Trek: The Next Generation' and 'Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.' Roddenberry, whose pre-'Star Trek' acting career included guest appearances on series such as 'The Untouchables' and 'The Lucy Show,' had no idea she was establishing a career path in science fiction when she took her first 'Star Trek' role. 'Not at all,' she said in a 2002 interview with the Tulsa World. 'I certainly didn't have any idea that I'd be doing it this long, for so many different shows and films -- especially as a product of a series that was a flop. The original was only on for three years. It wasn't considered a success by anyone's standards.'" [Los Angeles Times] ... ALSO: Here's a photo gallery of the actress in various roles.

VAMPING AT THE MUSEUM: It's been a big year for fangs and pierced arteries and now there's an exhibit titled "Gothic: Dark Glamour" (running through Feb. 21) at the Fashion Institute of Technology in Manhattan. Critic Karen Rosenberg has written an especially vivid review, here's an excerpt: "Organized by Valerie Steele, the director of the Fashion Institute of Technology’s museum, the show unfolds in a nightmarish mise-en-scène conceived by the British artist and set designer Simon Costin. The clothes have been installed in a labyrinth of haunted palaces, ruined castles and cemetery-gate enclosures. Naturally it all takes place in F.I.T.’s cryptlike basement galleries. The gloom and doom can be overpowering, but Ms. Steele and Mr. Costin understand that too much is never enough for the goth devotee. And it’s impossible to upstage the clothes, with their capes, corsetry and fetishistic hardware. As uniformly macabre as it is, 'Gothic: Dark Glamour' resonates with several groups. Fashionistas will relish the chance to see famous creations by Oliver Theyskens, Ann Demeulemeester and other avant-garde designers. Readers of Poe, Shelley and other Romantic literature will enjoy seeing gothic characters and settings come to life (or undeath). And the eager consumers of adolescent vampire fantasies, from 'Buffy the Vampire Slayer' to 'Twilight,' will thrill to the clothes’ sex-and-death subtext...At F.I.T. an antechamber to the main gallery displays fashions representative of three gothic muses: the victim, the widow and the vamp. In the victim category are filmy gowns that could have been worn by the swooning subject of Henry Fuseli’s 1871 painting 'The Nightmare.' (A reproduction is on view.) In the widow category is Victorian mourning dress: suffocatingly high-necked, monochromatic black ensembles. In the most spectacular category, that of the vamp, is a scarlet dress by Eiko Ishioka made for Francis Ford Coppola’s film “Bram Stoker’s Dracula.” Its cascading bustle suggests spilled blood...Also in the show’s first section is a fascinating curio cabinet of gothic accessories, among them a bat-shaped belt buckle, a brooch made from a pigeon’s wing and a bottle of laudanum. Some objects date from the Victorian era, others from current collections; it can be difficult to tell which is which." [New York Times] MORE: You can find the museum's website and info on the exhibit right here.

THE "BUCK" STARTS HERE?: A few weeks ago I met up with Gabriel Macht, the star of "The Spirit," for coffee and he told me that he wants to make as many films as he can with Frank Miller. He would like, in fact, to become the director's on-screen muse, a la Martin Scorsese and Robert DeNiro (or, these, days, Scorsese and Leonardo DiCaprio). Well, Macht might want to start diving into some old Buster Crabbe movie serials. Why? Here's the story in the trades today by Steven Zeitchik and Borys Kit: "Frank Miller and Odd Lot Entertainment, the creator and production company behind the upcoming comic-book adventure 'The Spirit,' are close to teaming again on the classic sci-fi property 'Buck Rogers.' Odd Lot, the shingle run by Gigi Pritzker and Deborah Del Prete, is in negotiations to option the rights to 'Rogers' from Nu Image/Millennium, which obtained those rights this year from the Dille Trust. Millennium is expected to get a credit on the movie but won't be involved in day-to-day production. John Flint Dille, a friend of Miller's, operates the trust, which may have partly prompted rumors at the time of the Millennium acquisition that the comic auteur-turned-filmmaker might come aboard to direct. But Miller was not attached at the time; he only became involved when Odd Lot entered the picture. Miller will write and direct his own big-screen take on the comic serial; while the creator has only begun to sketch ideas, it's expected to be a darker take, with many of Miller's signature visual elements and themes, such as corruption and redemption. It's likely to be a priority project for Miller, though he has been mulling a 'Sin City' sequel." [The Hollywood Reporter]

HOW WILL THE WOLF SURVIVE?: Director Joe Johnston will be bringing Captain America to the screen but first he has "The Wolf Man" next November. Oscar winner Benicio Del Toro will be handling the hairier parts of the script while Anthony Hopkins and Emily Blunt will be the characters looking for a leash. Del Toro talked to MTV and explained that for his research he went back much further than "Teen Wolf": 'I definitely looked at what Lon Chaney Jr. did in the original ‘Wolf Man’ and the movie,' Del Toro told MTV News. “I also looked at the ‘Werewolf of London,’ the Henry Hull movie, which was made maybe 6 years before in 1935, and looked at ‘Curse of the Werewolf’ with Oliver Reed.”  While they are staying faithful to the aforementioned 1941 Chaney Jr. version (generally accepted as the 'classic' Wolf man movie), he notes that there will be some minor deviations from the story that center around actor Sir Anthony Hopkins, who plays his father in the film. He spills some background details on the characters and notes that he and the legendary thespian won’t be playing very nice together either. 'Anthony Hopkins’ role was [originally] played by Claude Rains and the relationship between Rains and Lon Chaney Jr. was a good father and son [relationship]. In [our version], it's definitely fractured, I’m like the prodigal son, I’ve been gone, he sent me away when I was a child and I haven’t seen him in twenty six years and I come home again to visit my brother who’s missing, but I [also play an] actor too which is also different.' Don’t expect other monsters like Dracula, Frankenstein or the Mummy to walk into the frame either. 'You mean, the guy named Dracula waiting in the taxi outside?, Del Toro cracked. 'No, there’s no other monsters coming into play, that’s maybe down the line.' [MTV Movie News]

HERO COMPLEX, FOR REAL: Reporter Joshuah Bearman and photographer Stefan Ruiz went around the country visiting with people who dress up in costumes and fight crime. The result is a truly loopy look at a cultural curiosity. An excerpt from Bearman's article, which is in the newest issue of Rolling Stone: "Like other real life superheroes, Master Legend is not an orphan from a distant dying sun or the mutated product of a gamma-ray experiment gone awry. He is not an eccentric billionaire moonlighting as a crime fighter. He is, as he puts it, 'just a man hellbent on battling evil.' Although Master Legend was one of the first to call himself a Real Life Superhero, in recent years a growing network of similarly homespun caped crusaders has emerged across the country. Some were inspired by 9/11. if malevolent individuals can threaten the world, the argument goes, why can't other individuals step up to save it? 'What is Osama Bin Laden if not a super villain off in a cave, scheming to destroy us?' asks Green Scorpion, a masked avenger in Arizona. True to comic-book tradition, each superhero has his own aesthetic. Green Scorpion's name is derived from his desert home, from which he recently issued a proclamation to 'the criminals of Arizona and beyond,' warning that to continue illegal activities is to risk the 'Sting of the Green Scorpion!' The Eye takes his cue from the primordial era of Detective Comics, prowling Mountain  View, California, in a trench coat, goggles and black fedora featuring a self-designed logo: the 'all-seeing' eye of Horus. Superhero -- his full name -- is a former wrestler from Clearwater, Florida, who wears red and blue spandex and a burgundy helicopter helmet and drives a 1975 Corvette Stingray customized with the license plates that read SUPRHRO." [Rolling Stone] Want to read the rest? You'll have to buy the magazine now on the stands, the article isn't available online at this time.

ON THIS DATE: Today, Dec. 19, is the 34th birthday of Takashi Sorimachi, the star of "Great Teacher Onizuka" and "Fulltime Killer" and an actor that some call the "Tom Cruise of Japan"... Also, the great Robert B. Sherman is 83 today. He and his brother, Richard Sherman, are a vital part of Disney's history as the songwriters behind charming classics such as "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious," "Chim Chim Cher-ee," "The Wonderful Thing About Tiggers," "It's a Small World (After All)." To celebrate, let's all get a song stuck in our head today.

Majel B. Roddenberry photo courtesy of the Roddenberry Archives. The bat top hat was made by milliner Justin Smith and the image is courtesy of Museum at F.I.T., which has the headwear on display in "Gothic" exhibit. The image from "The Wolf Man" is courtesy of Universal Pictures. Tigger image courtesy of Disney.

'The Crow' remake, Frank Miller, Thor and 'Twilight' all in Everyday Hero headlines

As 'The Crow' flies: The director that drove Sean Connery to retirement and ensured that Alan Moore would never give Hollywood another chance wants to remake "The Crow." Reporter Michael Fleming has the announcement story in the trades: "Stephen Norrington has signed on to write and direct a reinvention of "The Crow," based on the comic created by James O’Barr. Ryan Kavanaugh’s Relativity Media is negotiating with producer Ed Pressman to acquire the film franchise and finance the film. Pressman produced the 1994 Alex Proyas-directed screen transfer, in which rock musician Eric Draven is murdered trying to rescue his girlfriend from thugs, and returns from the dead one year later to exact vengeance. Though the original became a gothic-style hit that grossed nearly $100 million worldwide, it is primarily remembered for a tragic accident in which star Brandon Lee was killed during filming. For Norrington, the "Crow" deal marks the end of a long screen sabbatical. After making his breakthrough with the Marvel Comics hero "Blade," Norrington took on a big-budget comic transfer with "The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen." Neither the director nor his star, Sean Connery, has made a film since. Norrington said he felt demoralized by that experience, and the accomplished sculptor spent the next five years writing and working on his art. He made a deal to direct "Clash of the Titans" for Warner Bros., but left the project, he said, because he was "unable to excite Warner Bros. with my take, or influence the screenplay to any comfortable extent...." "Whereas Proyas’ original was gloriously gothic and stylized, the new movie will be realistic, hard-edged and mysterious, almost documentary-style," Norrington told Daily Variety. [Variety]

'Wolverine' trailer: Well, 2009 is looking pretty fantastic for film-going fanboys.  "Watchmen" and "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince," not to mention "Terminator Salvation." Oh, and just in case you were worried that "X-Men Origins: Wolverine" might be as sluggish and uninvolving as the third "X-Men" film, the trailer above should inspire some major mutant optimism.   

Sinners and Spartans: Comics icon and newly minted filmmaker Frank Miller is getting ready for this Wednesday night's premiere of "The Spirit" in Los Angeles but he answered (kinda) some questions from Edward Douglas about the next step in the cinematic life of "300" and "Sin City." Douglas writes: "With a lot of rumors swirling about a potential sequel or prequel to Zack Snyder's '300,' which was based on a standalone graphic novel, some have wondered how involved Miller would be, and if he might write or draw another graphic novel based on the subject matter as basis for another movie. 'I've written a story that's not a prequel,' he told us. 'It's definitely a further story in the Greco-Persian Wars, and it involves some of the same characters but I'm not sure exactly how far along it'll get and again, until it's on a marquee, I don't believe in it.' And as far as whether Miller might co-direct [a second 'Sin City' film] with Robert Rodriguez again or direct himself, now that he has 'The Spirit' under his belt: 'I hope to work with Robert. We're talking it over and trying to work out the mechanics of actually getting it made. It's always tricky with movies. I believe that a movie's going to come out as soon as I see its name on a marquee.' 'I'll publish something,' he hinted with a smile, when asked whether there might be a 'Sin City' or '300' comic or graphic novel out before either movie." [Superhero Hype]

Spirited debate: Speaking of Miller, one of the early fanboy-press reviews of "The Spirit" is in and says the film has replaced "Battlefield Earth" as the worst movie ever made. [Ain't it Cool News] ... I've seen the film myself and I don't think it's "Battlefield" bad -- it has too many stylish aspirations -- but I can say that in his attempt to make a film into a comic book (as opposed to, say, "300," which vividly turned a comic book into a film) Miller's produced a tone-jarring movie that isn't always sure what it wants to be. I think Miller has an incredible visual flair and his sensibility has made him the most important comic book artist of the past 25 years, but I don't know if mainstream moviegoers are going to know what to make of "The Spirit."

Hammer time: Actor-director Kenneth Branagh has opened up a bit about his plans for a certain Norse god. Here's his conversation with MTV from a junket for "Valkyrie": "I am directing 'Thor,' or 'The Mighty Thor' as you might like to call it," he said with a smile before clarifying what the title of the film will be. 'I think it will be 'Thor.' " ... So what’s the appeal of 'Thor,' Kenneth? "To work on a story about one of the immortals, Gods, extraordinary beings, inter-dimensional creatures," he enthused. He continued excitedly, "There’s science fiction and science fact and fantasy all woven into one. It’s based on Norse legends which Marvel sort of raided in a brilliant way." So who will play Branagh’s hero? Asked about the rumors of Kevin McKidd being up for the role, the director waved it off as premature speculation. "There’s been lots of talk [about casting] — I sound like a politician — but we are too early at this stage. We’re getting the story and the visual effects together and all of that is very exciting. Someone sensational is going to play the part but it is early days." Just because Branagh hasn’t worked on a project of this scale since 'Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein,' fear not. This 'Thor' promises to be as large as the character would seem to call out for. "It’s a chance to tell a big story on a big scale," said Branagh. "It’s a human story right in the center of a big epic scenario." [MTV]

'Twilight' reconsidered: Are too many "Twilight" fans up past their bedtime? Sonja Bolle, who writes a monthly column called Word Play for the Los Angeles Times books pages, says that many of the hot and bothered fans of the books (and the movie) are too young to be, well, hot and bothered. She writes: "When a tide of popularity rises, it erases all boundaries. The first sign that 'Twilight' was a pop-culture phenomenon was that teen girls who hadn't talked to their parents in years were dressing up with their mothers in vampire costumes and attending midnight book parties together. By last summer, when the marketing for the fourth and ostensibly final book in the series reached the proportions of hysteria (and that was a mild dress rehearsal for the movie release), it had become de rigueur for any self-respecting female reader of any age to read the books. Not only to read them, but to swoon over them, to be overwhelmed by them; to find, as 10-year-old Lyla Polon of Santa Monica wrote, 'It's hard for me to face the fact that [the characters] are not real.' Much as I like the novels -- and I devoured all of them happily -- I'm appalled to find that a sizable number of the 25 million copies now in print are going into the hands of 10-year-olds. Why would parents whose children are not yet obsessed with sex encourage their kids to read books that are one long, bodice-ripping romance?" [Word Play, Los Angeles Times]

ON THIS DATE: Kurt Schaffenberger was born on this day in 1920 in Germany and would go on to be one of the enduring comic-book artists of his generation, working on the Captain Marvel titles at Fawcett before jumping over to DC, where he brought his high-clarity style to Superman-related titles, most notably "Superman's Girlfriend Lois Lane." He died in 2002.... Today is also the 45th birthday of Helen Slater, who starred in "Supergirl" on the silver screen.... Comics writer (and television writer and musician) J. M. DeMatteis is 55 today and has tall of stack of funny-book accomplishments, among them "Moonshadow," "Brooklyn Dreams" and memorable runs on Spider-Man, Captain America and  Justice League International.... Julie Taymor, the Tony-winning Broadway director now at work on "Spider-Man: The Musical," is 56 today. To celebrate, let's all think super thoughts and sing a song in public today.

-- Geoff Boucher

Credits: Brandon Lee as "The Crow,"  Miramax Films and the Los Angeles Times archives; Frank Miller's Spartans from "300,"  Dark Horse Comics; "Twilight" image, Summit Pictures.

Frank Miller and 'The Spirit' of Will Eisner

EXCLUSIVE

The big Holiday Sneaks issue of the Los Angeles Times Calendar section hit the street today and it's got amazing stuff in it. (It will probably be selling on EBay for $20 in a few weeks for the "Twilight" coverage alone.) The editor of the special section, Elena Howe, sent me up to the Bay Area a few months ago to get the lowdown on "The Spirit," the Christmas Day release that will mark the solo directorial debut of Frank Miller. Here's the story I came back with (although you can expect to see at least two more articles in The Times and more posts here at Hero Complex; I have a lot left in the notebook). --G.B.

SAN FRANCISCO -- No comic-book creator has seen his work brought to the screen with more reverence than Frank Miller, whose ultra-violent graphic novels "300" and "Sin City" were adapted to film practically panel by panel. "It is very strange," Miller said, "to draw something and then have it come alive in front of you. You start to feel like a low-rent god, but, in my case, one with major feet of clay."

This minor deity, who favors fedoras and Winston cigarettes, is now attempting a new type of Hollywood trick and it starts on Christmas Day, no less; that's the release date of "The Spirit," the superhero film that Miller hopes will complete his unlikely transformation from comic-book artist to successful movie director, a career path that did not seem possible even at the start of this decade. "The Dark Knight" and "Iron Man" may have racked up historic box-office numbers this summer, but if Miller succeeds with this particular pop-culture leap, it will be the most dramatic proof that comics have become hard-wired into the circuitry of Hollywood.

Interestingly, Miller, the most important comic-book artist of the last 25 years, chose to make his solo directorial debut with somebody else's superhero, and a relatively obscure and vintage one at that. The Spirit was created in 1940 by the late, great Will Eisner, a beloved figure in comics who brought a cinematic flair to his drawing board that influenced several generations. No one admired Eisner more than Miller -- in 2005, shortly after Eisner's death, the book "Eisner/Miller" hit shelves with 350 pages of collected conversation between the artists as a sort of comic-book-sector version of the landmark 1967 film book "Hitchcock/Truffaut."

"I adored Will Eisner and took a real 'Don't tread on me' approach when I came to this movie. At the same time, I was willing to tread all over it. I knew Will always wanted to do something fresh and new, not some stodgy old thing that aspires to be revered. I don't want anybody to bow to this movie. I want a ripping good yarn. It is not an antique."

Frank Miller fundraiser for CBLDF

The Spike TV Scream 2008 Awards will transform the Greek Theatre into the Geek Theater this Saturday night with a who's-who of the fanboy universe in attendance. Tim Burton, Wes Craven, Anthony Hopkins, Jon Favreau, Samuel L. Jackson, Stan Lee, Christopher Nolan, Gary Oldman, Ron Perlman, Kevin Smith and Brian K. Vaughn are just some of the big names on hand.

Frank Miller will be there also as an award presenter and to also stir interest in "The Spirit," which opens on Christmas Day and marks his debut as a solo film director. I heard from Miller yesterday that he will also be using the event to help the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund, the nonprofit that began 22 years ago to champion the cause of creators, publishers and retailers in First Amendment cases.

On Saturday night, Kimberly Cox, Miller's partner-in-crime (and cast member in "The Spirit") will join him at the awards show wearing a T-shirt, an original by Miller, which he will autograph while on the red carpet. That shirt will be auctioned off after the event along with cover-signed copies of "All-Star Batman and Robin," the DC Comics title that recently became a sort of unexpected footnote in the history of obscenity-in-comics.

To keep track of this fundraiser and others, bookmark the CBLDF website. Here's a message Miller taped earlier this year to explain the mission of the advocacy group. 

-- Geoff Boucher

'Batman and Robin' drops F-bomb, Frank Miller calls it 'terrible and glorious'

DC Comics has pulled back tens of thousands of copies of "All-Star Batman and Robin" No. 10 due to a printing error that put two R-rated words into word balloons in the story. Which words? Well, one begins with "F" and the other begins with "C" -- and, yes, it's that C word.

The issue was written by Frank Miller who didn't even know about the dustup until we called him. "This is the first I've heard of it. I have no idea how this awful thing happened. It's just one of those terrible and glorious things that happen time to time in publishing."

Miller, of course, prides himself on being provocative (he is the man that brought the world "Sin City" and "300"), so he let out a cynical chuckle as he mulled over the fact that he has the first true R-rated "Batman" comic book in the 69-year publishing history of the iconic DC character.

That doesn't mean he wanted it to happen. "I didn't, of course, it's a mistake. And my first reaction is simple: I want at least three copies."

Get in line, Frank. The issue was already heating up on EBay on Thursday afternoon.

When I got him on the phone, Miller was headed to Los Angeles International Airport (a busy place today) to catch a flight to Germany to promote his upcoming film "The Spirit." He was just about the only person in comics fandom that hadn't heard about the instantly collectible issues with the potty mouth. How exactly did this publishing mistake happen? It was actually all too easy.

Mr. T talks smack to Superman

A few weeks back we brought you an exclusive interview with Ice Cube talking about his admiration for Mr. T and his hope to bring back his character "B.A." Baracus in a proposed "A-Team" remake. And this week we told you about the uncertainty surrounding the 21st century viability of Superman. That got me to thinking about this You Tube golden-oldie (well, 2006 seems like a long time ago) that mashes up dialogue from "Rocky III" with "The Super Friends" and Mr. T's painfully bad Saturday-morning cartoon. You can see it by clicking below, it's about Superman retiring ...

I especially like Wonder Woman as the shocked girlfriend of the champ. Nice. And, hey, great choice for the character to handle the lines of Burgess Meredith -- it's the Penguin as Hawkman!

When I was listening to Sylvester Stallone's voice coming out of a superhero, it reminded me that the last time I talked to Frank Miller he said that he would love to cast the Italian Stallion as the battered and aging Batman in a film adaptation of "The Dark Knight Returns." "Just that mouth of his, the scowl and the way it would look in a mask," Miller said. "I loved 'Rocky Balboa.' This wounded warrior, that's what Batman is in 'Dark Knight Returns.' "

Hmmm. Well, Stallone certainly showed some range in "Cop Land" and raw boldness in "Rocky Balboa," but it might be hard for me to see him in Gotham City without giggling. I was talking about it to righteous comic-book geek Steve Martin (not the comic actor; this Martin is the owner of Nasty Little Man and publicist for Radiohead, Nine Inch Nails and Beck) and he hated the idea. "Put Stallone in a mask and you get 'Judge Dredd' again, and nobody wants that." Yikes. Good point.

What do you think for casting of a movie version of "The Dark Knight Returns"? I would put forth the name of Bruce Willis, who has the jawline and the world-weary gaze. If he can pull off "Pulp Fiction" and "The Sixth Sense," why not Miller's classic graphic novel?

-- Geoff Boucher

RELATED: More random silliness at Hero Complex

'The Spirit' of Comic-Con: The hyper-real Samuel L. Jackson, Frank Miller

Samuel L. Jackson just delivered the best line of the day at Comic-Con:

"Aw c'mon, toilets are always funny!"

That was the payoff line in the wild fight scene from "The Spirit," which for a few minutes at least, appears to meld the physics of Wile E. Coyote with the vivid noir of "Sin City."

The fight scene is in a junk-strewn mud flat between Jackson's character, the villain called The Octopus, and the title hero, portrayed by newcomer Gabriel Macht.

They whack each other with cinder blocks, then a crow bar and then the hero takes a savage blow to the crotch from a giant spanner wrench. Then, in a scene that looks better than it sounds, the Octopus slams a toilet down over the hero's head, pinning his arms to his side.

The movie, by the way, is not based on a true story.   

The Christmas Day release will be watched closely by comic-book purists because it adapts the most beloved and enduring character of the late Will Eisner, an anointed figure in comics (he is so revered as the "grandfather of the graphic novel" that the industry awards are called the Eisners).

His Spirit is coming to the screen in the solo directorial debut of Frank Miller, the graphic novelist behind "Sin City," "300" and "The Dark Knight Returns." The problem might be the Spirit losing his comic and sentimental edges in the gritty hyper-reality that has marked Miller's work when it reaches the screen. (He was co-director of "Sin City" with Robert Rodriguez.)

I was the panel's moderator and, looking out over 6,800 fans, I realized how nerve-wracking it is to be on that stage. Miller brought three clips plus a trailer, which is a LOT (that's why there were no questions from the audience) and the reason was Miller and his people wanted to show that the movie included romance and comedy (like the classic Eisner newspaper inserts and comics). 

Jackson stole the show on the panel, which also included Miller, producer Deborah Del Prete, Macht and starlet Jaime King (Lorelei). He talked about his favorite action figure of himself during his long career in genre films (he loves Mace Windu figures and wonders why he didn't get an action figure of "Jurassic Park" when almost every else in the cast did) and commented on his upcoming portrayal of Nick Fury, originally a white character in the comics, by saying that America gives anyone the chance to "become a black man."

-- Geoff Boucher

Related:
The hair club for Sam (slideshow)

Photos: Top, Samuel L. Jackson hugs "The Spirit" writer/director Frank Miller before the start of the panel with producer Deborah Del Prete and stars Gabriel Macht and Jaime King, who gathered to show an exclusive preview of the new film based on the classic comic by Will Eisner at Comic-Con International in San Diego on July 25, 2008. Right, "The Spirit" panel moderated by Los Angeles Times writer Geoff Boucher, left. Spencer Weiner / Los Angeles Times.

UPDATE: An early version of this post had the name of Robert Rodriguez spelled wrong. Sorry for the mistake, that's what can happen when you write a post on your Blackberry backstage!

Gerard Way's Essential Shelf, Part 3

Gerard Way, the lead singer of My Chemical Romance and the author of "The Umbrella Academy," is our featured contributor on The Essential Shelf, and this is the final installment of his Top 10 all-time graphic novels. You can find the first installment here and the second one here. Below are Nos. 1, 2, 3 and 4 on his list:

"Watchmen" by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons
This is the first graphic novel I tell people to read if they are slightly unfamiliar with comics, and it is the graphic novel that changed the way I thought about superheroes and mainstream comics.  I often refer to 'Watchmen' as a gateway drug because that’s exactly what I think about it. It’s the one graphic novel that leads you to more cerebral, “outside-thinking” works. In suggesting this first to people, I realized that it actually does help to have an understanding or nostalgia for traditional superhero works, because that’s exactly what it deconstructs.

"The Dark Knight Returns" by Frank Miller
The other work that comes to mind from the '80s that pushed what you thought about traditional superhero comics, specifically Batman. A total deconstruction of the character, altering everything you thought about the character, his supporting cast, and even Superman, who is portrayed as a government tool. This is Batman past 50 years old, at his grittiest, his darkest, and it paved the way for a whole generation of “darker heroes.”

"The Doom Patrol: The Painting That Ate Paris” by Grant Morrison
This is the 2nd collection of Doom Patrol stories by Grant Morrison, and you should definitely pick up the first volume before reading this one, but this is the one where it really cements itself as the first “post modern superhero comic.” There are insane concepts and wild ideas on every page, from sleepwalking super-villains to sentient streets. This was the main influence in starting "The Umbrella Academy" and Grant Morrison is my favorite writer of all time for the sheer volume of ideas on every page, and the wit and style in which he presents them. Way more than deconstruction of the hero, Grant actually loves superheroes and writes with a nostalgia for the Silver Age of comics while at the same time creating something entirely new.

"The Sandman: Preludes And Nocturnes" by Neil Gaiman.

I remember this being the first comic where the best way to describe it was "literary." Drawing upon folklore, mythology, mysticism, and Shakespeare, Neil Gaiman created one of the most original comics of our time, using a very simple concept as a vessel for imaginative and thought-provoking stories. This is the kind of idea and storytelling you are jealous of as a creator, because you will always wish you had dreamed it up.

Thanks Again to Gerard for taking the time to share his favorites with Hero Complex. Check back here for more guest commentary in The Essential Shelf feature.

-- Geoff Boucher

Do you have a spirited question for Frank Miller? Or Samuel L. Jackson?

I'm going to moderate the panel on "The Spirit" film down at the International Comic-Con Friday (July 25), and I'd like to open up the Hero Complex comments board to any fans who want to post some suggested questions.

There's a lot of excitement about the panel and I know firsthand that there are some surprises planned by Frank Miller, who makes his solo directorial debut with the film, and his close partner in the project, producer Deborah Del Prete.

The hour-long panel begins at 2:45 p.m. at Hall H. In addition to Miller and Del Prete, attendees at this point include cast members Samuel L. Jackson (who portrays the Octopus), Gabriel Macht (Denny Colt/the Spirit) and Jaime King (Lorelei Rox).

(No, Scarlett Johansson and Eva Mendes are NOT part of the panel, due to scheduling issues. It's just as well, really, I would have a hard time putting coherent sentences together if those two and King were all sitting next to me.)

I was in San Francisco a few weeks ago, and visited with Miller and Del Prete and sat in while they worked on the visual effects post-production process, and the movie, much like urban fever-dream of  "Sin City," has a striking, hyper-reality to it. That's going to make a lot of fans of "Sin City" (which Miller co-directed, of course, adapting his own comics work) happy, but he already knows that fans who adored the late Will Eisner and his grand, often sentimental work on "The Spirit" are already sharpening their knives. "I'm prepared," Miller told me, "and I'm making the right movie, I know that."

-- Geoff Boucher

You can read the Sunday Calendar cover story I wrote about Miller last year after the jump.

photo of Samuel L. Jackson as Octopus via Lionsgate

Welcome to Milwaukie, Ore., Hellboy's hometown

Mike Richardson's Dark Horse Comics empire has put the sleepy town of 21,000 on the map.

MILWAUKIE, ORE. — IT'S A three-block stroll from the leafy banks of the Willamette to Main Street here, but on most lazy afternoons, it's so quiet you can hear the river's lulling drone the whole way. As one local said the other day as he walked toward the malt shop on Main: "It's like this town got to about 1959 and said, 'This seems good, we'll stay here.' "

Unless there's a remake of "Stand by Me" in the works, it's hard to imagine this town grabbing the attention of distant Hollywood and its Bluetooth brigades of executives and agents. But it has managed to do that very thing because mild-mannered Milwaukie has a secret identity. The "Dogwood City of the West," it turns out, is also "Dark Horse, U.S.A."

Dark Horse is a pop-culture content company that has grown so steadily over the last 20 years that it currently occupies six separate storefronts along Main Street, and with 150 employees, it's now one of the top five employers in the town of 21,000. Dark Horse made its mark as an upstart, indie publisher of comic books, but now its ventures go well beyond that, which is why its founder, Mike Richardson, hops a flight to Los Angeles every week to tend to Hollywood pursuits.

"Hellboy 2: The Golden Army," which opened as the No. 1 movie in America last weekend, is the latest Dark Horse property on the screen, joining the florid parade that includes "300," "The Mask," "Sin City," "Time Cop" and "Alien vs. Predator." In May, Universal Pictures and Dark Horse announced a three-year production and distribution deal. That's not especially shocking in this era -- Marvel Studios, born from a comic-book company, delivered its first film that month, the massive hit "Iron Man," followed by "The Incredible Hulk" -- but for Dark Horse, the Universal deal is a validation of its long, quirky odyssey. "This," Richardson said, "is a major moment in our history."

That history reflects the personality of both Richardson and the place where he grew up. Richardson is a big man in this small town (literally: He's 6-foot-9), and the small town is very much in him. In the 1980s, when New York City was still considered the only place to publish big-time comics, Dark Horse shook up its industry by luring star writers and artists with unprecedented deals that gave them ownership of their work and a share of profits. The nimble little company with a fondness for edgy work became the Miramax Films of comics. Eventually, Hollywood types noticed and came dangling option money.

"I told them, 'That's great, but I want to produce it,' " Richardson said. "I got laughed at and I got cussed out and I got called an idiot. They were shocked. One guy told me that if I didn't take his deal I'd never get a chance to work in Hollywood. I said, 'OK, great, I'll stay in Oregon and do comics. That's what I like to do anyway. You go back to your world. I'll stay here in mine.' "

Richardson knows his world and seems to be in tune with his times. Marvel and DC have household-name heroes that yield bigger films, but almost every one of them is based on characters created before 1970. Marvel has long billed itself as the "House of Ideas," but since the Reagan years that title might rightly belong to the Oregon upstarts.

The company is making a big push on MySpace now looking for readers as well as new talent. Dark Horse is "the place I wanted to be and the place where you can find the most sophisticated stuff, but it also has a sense of comics history," says Gerard Way, lead singer of the band My Chemical Romance and writer of "The Umbrella Academy" comics for Dark Horse.