--- In sciencefictiongroup@yahoogroups.com, dizzheart@... wrote:


Frank Miller eyes big-screen 'Buck Rogers'

Odd Lot in talks to option the rights for the project

By Steven Zeitchik and Borys Kit
Dec 19, 2008

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.

One of the first pop-culture vehicles to tackle the issue of space
exploration, the story of Buck Rogers began life as a comic serial
in the late 1920's and early '30's and has seen numerous film and
television versions over the years.

ABC had a TV series in the '50s, and NBC produced a feature film
and TV series in the late '70s and early '80s, which imagined the
space explorer as someone who woke up in the 25th century to find
Earth destroyed and was then consigned to roam distant planets.

The party that controls the underlying rights has the ability to
make any movie or television series off the property. At the moment,
Odd Lot is planning only on a feature film.

Miller is the acclaimed writer and illustrator behind the graphic
novel franchise "Sin City," which became a hit for the Weinstein Co.
in 2004. He also is behind Warners breakout "300." "The Spirit,"
which Lionsgate releases next week, examines the pulpy hero created
by Miller mentor Will Eisner.


I'm hoping they do it justice.

JP