You know, it’s been a while since we’ve talked about the film adaptation of Frank Miller’s seminal graphic novel Ronin. Sorry about that. To be fair, you can’t really blame us though. It’s actually director Sylvain White’s fault. You see, White has been pretty busy working on his current comic book movie, The Losers, which opens on April 19th. That film is now more-or-less wrapped up, so White has begun turning his focus back to bringing Ronin to the big screen.

In an exclusive interview with ComingSoon.net, White talked about his plans for Ronin and how he wants to take as much time as he needs to make sure that the movie is “done right.” No new writer is currently attached to the film, but White says that he is “working along with the studio executives developing the story elements and they’re attaching a writer in the spring to do a new pass on it.”

As far as his approach to Miller’s material (Ronin is considered by many comic fans to be one of the best graphic novels ever written), White had this to say:

“It’s a very complex graphic novel and it needs very careful attention…Of course to make a movie of that scale, you need a lot of money to pay it justice, especially with the incredible visuals that Frank Miller has in it, but at the same time, in order to get a lot of money to make the movie, it has to have enough commercial appeal, so I’m trying to balance those two things together to make the movie accessible but still smart and throw with all the great ideas and grand ideas that it has.”

White went on to explain that he understands the importance of getting this type of graphic novel adaptation just right and that he doesn’t plan on rushing the film into production.

“It’s a whole process to get it right. Some people rush and do it quickly and you end up with bad adaptations, which happens all the time. If they give me the time to do it, I will take it to do it right. There have been drafts that were ready to go supposedly but I want to take my time to make sure that it’s just good. The fanbase out there for this particularly iconic graphic (novel) is scrutinizing the project and I also don’t want to let them down.”

Considering White’s comments, as well as the fact that the producers behind Ronin (led by Gianni Nunnari) are the same people who brought Frank Miller’s 300 to the big screen, I feel confident that this adaptation could be pretty successful.

That being said, Ronin has been kicked around Hollywood for over ten years (director Darren Aronofsky was attached to the film all the way back in 1998), so there’s no reason to get prematurely excited.

What do you think? From his comments, do you think Sylvain White is the right man to helm a film adaptation of Ronin?

Source: ComingSoon.net

For those who haven’t heard, it looks like Sylvain White will be jumping from one graphic-novel-to-film adaptation (The Losers, currently in production) to another. Sylvain recently shared some details of his vision for Ronin, based on the graphic novel written and drawn by Frank Miller, who also wrote the legendary Batman: The Dark Knight Returns graphic novel and was the creator and co-director of the Sin City graphic novel and film, respectively.

White had a lot to say to Steve Weintraub over at Collider, including the following quote, which addresses the ubiqiutous “how are you going to honor the source material” issue:

“So I would pay homage to him more in the production design versus the actual frames. The frames in ‘Ronin’ are some beautiful frames, and some I would go with, but what’s beautiful to me about ‘Ronin’ is the production design and the character design and the colors that are used. I think framing - you can frame things with much more depth and beauty on film than you can in a graphic. Replicating frames…that’s a different language. You want to always stay true to the graphic novel, but you’re watching a different medium. You never want to remind the audience that they’re watching a graphic novel or something from a graphic novel source. You just want them to watch a great movie.”

Sounds good to me.  As far as the style of the film and the approach to it’s marketing, White explained:

“It’s a big-budget, big blockbuster take on it. I’d love to do it in 3D. I think it’d be ridiculous and amazing.”

There is much, much more to this interview, of course – head over to Collider if you’d like to check it out.

Ronin was published by DC Comics between 1983 and 1984 and follows a reincarnated Ronin (a.k.a. a samurai without a master) through a futuristic dystopian New York City that is suffering, unnervingly, from an unspecified catastrophic economic collapse. The Ronin’s quest is to destroy the demon who imprisoned his soul for about 800 years.

Miller is well known for his dark, film-noir style comic book stories and graphic novels.  To avoid confusion, this project has nothing to do with the 1998  espionage thriller in which Robert Deniro subtly pushes full coffee cups off tables to test the reflexes of his paramilitary associates.

White got his break with some some award-winning short films, including The 25th Frame, and then moved on to directing groundbreaking videos in the U.S. and abroad, earning him an MTV Music Video Award nomination in 2001. His ticket to the big time came with the acclaimed (and stylish) 2007 dance flick, Stomp The Yard.

No details yet as to when Ronin is to be released.  SR’s Kofi Outlaw had a lot to say in regards to how much a graphic-novel-to-film adaptation should replicate the source material, but do you think these types of movies should merely use the novels as a jumping off point? Or try to recreate the comic book on the big screen?

Source: Collider

This week:

We see who is top of the box office; Kevin Smith ups his budget and goes into space; Brad Pitt goes on an Odyssey and plays an Unfair Game; Liam Neeson and Christina Ricci do Life and Ronin zooms to the small screen.

Box Office

Marky Mark Wahlberg is the box office champion with Max Payne. The film should manage about $20 million over the weekend giving 20^th Century Fox their first solid hit in months.

Oliver Stone’s W bucked the political movie trend by making a solid bit of cash. Grossing around $12MM for the weekend the film should be a modest hit. Considering the current political overkill going on in the press this is a considerable coup.

The Secret Life of Bees had a modest opening too, and should match the gross of the Bush film.

Meanwhile Sex Drive stiffed it on its opening with around $3.5 million. Could it be the death of the teen sex comedy?

Beverly Hills Chihuahua is showing legs with about another $11 million barked up by Monday morning. Meanwhile Ridley Scott’s costly Body Of Lies should manage another $7 million, the same as Eagle Eye.

Movie News

1. Kevin Smith will write direct and no doubt cameo in a $50 million space comedy. The Weinstein Company has read part of the script and seems interested in forking out the cash.

Smith has this to say:

“The moment someone steps out of the spaceship, it’s going to cost a little more.
All the relationships in the flicks I’ve done have been done before, have been either a guy falling for a girl or two dudes hanging out in a ‘bromantic’ comedy. I wanted to explore a father and son.”

The film won’t be made until after Smith’s Red State.

Expect at least one Uranus joke.

Source: The Hollywood Reporter

2. Speaking of space – Brad Pitt will star in a futuristic retelling of Homer’s The Odyssey which will be directed by George Miller.

Pitt previously starred in an adaptation of Homer’s The Iliad, which became Troy.

Expect no Uranus jokes in this one.

Source: Variety

3. Speaking of Brad Pitt – the star may appear in Steven Zaillian’s adaptation of Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game. The film is set to be directed by David Frankel. According to Variety:

“The Book’s subject is Oakland A’s general manager Billy Beane, who assembled a contending baseball club on a shoestring budget by employing a sophisticated computer-based analysis to draft players.”

Source: Variety

4. Liam Neeson and Christina Ricci will star in After. Life (yes, the “.” supposed to be there).

Neeson will play a funeral director who is contacted by a woman (Ricci) who is caught between life and death (much like her career following Speed Racer).  Agnieszka Vosloo will helm the film.

Source: Variety

5. The 1998 Robert De Niro film Ronin is coming to the small screen. The film which will likely be shot in Europe (like the film) will be co-financed by the BBC. The original film was helmed by John Frankenheimer and it played a bit like a middle-age Mission: Impossible, so a show should (or could) be interesting.

Source: The Hollywood Reporter

That’s it for this week – see you at the movies!