When Robert Rodriguez appeared at Comic-Con this summer, he made several major announcements, but did so to a room that had largely emptied out at the start of his presentation. Part of that was the fact that Rodriguez did not reveal ahead of time what projects he might discuss, and the other part was that people simply don’t believe half of the announcements he makes at this point.
In particular, I saw profound skepticism from people when I wrote up the panel and mentioned that Rodriguez said he was close to moving forward on a “Sin City” sequel. In August, we ran the news that William Monahan was going to be doing the final rewrite on the film, and once again, there was widespread skepticism.
Well, looks like that last draft paid off, because “Sin City: A Dame To Kill For” is finally gearing up for production, with an announcement today from Rodriguez’s new company, Quick Draw Productions, financial partner AR Films, and Dimension, who will distribute. Even though today’s press release says that “details of the film’s story have been kept tightly under wraps,” we did get some clues from Rodriguez at Comic-Con.
Obviously they’re adapting “A Dame To Kill For,” one of the arcs of the original comics, and there’s a second story that Miller wrote directly for the film called “The Long Bad Night.” The third segment is said to also be an original, not adapted from the comics, so this time around, it’s not just going to be a direct lift from the books. Sounds like Miller and Monahan have taken that world and expanded it.
Rodriguez also talked at Comic-Con about how he plans to shoot the film in 3D, since he has a plan for how to use 3D in a way nobody else has so far. Big words, but considering the highly stylized look and feel of the “Sin City” world, I’d believe it if he says he’s going to try something really unusual with this one.
It’s going to shoot in Austin this summer, and it looks like AR Films is going to be doing presales on this and “Machete Kills” this summer at the Cannes Festival. I may have to drop by their booth and see what’s up.
In the meantime, casting starts next week, and I’m sure we’ll start hearing announcements about who’s returning and who’s being added this time around, and we’ll keep you posted. I’m curious to see how they handle Dwight, who appeared in the first film played by Clive Owen, but who had a face lift in the comic version of “A Dame To Kill For.”
No release date has been set.