Lionsgate has acquired North American/UK distribution rights to "The Spirit", a live-action adaptation of creator Will Eisner's 1940's comic strip character.
Frank "Sin City" Miller will direct the film from his own screenplay, for Odd Lot producers Gigi Pritzker and Deborah Del Prete. Other producers include Lionsgate's Mike Paseornek and Batfilm's Michael Uslan. Benjamin Melniker will exec produce with Steve Maier, and Linda McDonough and F.J. DeSanto are co-producers.At the most recent New York Comic-Con, producers Michael Uslan, F.J. DeSanto and publisher Dennis Kitchen, talked about Miller's take.
Miller who could not attend the convention, was reportedly cutting and pasting Eisner's work, creating storyboards on the wall of his home to structure the screenplay.
"Central City comes alive as a true character in this," Uslan said about the adaptation, but stressed the film will not be an origin story. 
"The basis of the film is the very early Eisner work," said DeSanto. 
Uslan said there would be 'heavy emphasis' on the numerous femme fatale characters in the "Spirit" world, with a film rating "more of a hard PG-13." 
