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Sin City (film)
Encyclopedia
Sin City, also known as Frank Miller's Sin City, is a 2005 crime
thriller film written, produced and directed by Frank Miller
and Robert Rodriguez
. It is a neo-noir
based on Miller's graphic novel
series of the same name
.
The film is primarily based on three of Miller's works: The Hard Goodbye
, about a man who embarks on a brutal rampage in search of his one-time sweetheart's killer; The Big Fat Kill
, which focuses on a street war between a group of prostitutes and a group of mercenaries; and That Yellow Bastard
, which follows an aging police officer who protects a young woman from a grotesquely disfigured serial killer
. The film stars Bruce Willis
, Mickey Rourke
, Clive Owen
, Jessica Alba
, Benicio del Toro
, Brittany Murphy
, Elijah Wood
, Rosario Dawson
, Jaime King
, Carla Gugino
, Michael Madsen
and Nick Stahl
, among others.
Sin City opened to wide critical and commercial success, gathering particular recognition for the film's unique color processing, which rendered most of the film in black and white but retained or added coloring for select objects. The film was screened at the 2005 Cannes Film Festival
in-competition and won the Technical Grand Prize for the film's "visual shaping".
) walks onto a penthouse balcony where The Customer (Marley Shelton
) looks out over Basin City. He offers her a cigarette and says that she looks like someone who is tired of running and that he will save her. The two share a kiss and he shoots her; she dies in his arms. He says he’ll never know what she was running from but that he’ll cash her check in the morning.
(Bruce Willis
) tries to stop serial child-killer Roark Junior (Nick Stahl
) from raping
and killing eleven-year-old Nancy Callahan
(Makenzie Vega
). Junior is the son of Senator Roark (Powers Boothe
), who has bribed the police to cover up his son's crimes. Hartigan's partner, Bob (Michael Madsen
) tries to convince Hartigan to walk away. Hartigan knocks him out.
Hartigan heads into the warehouse where Junior is holding Nancy, fighting off the pain caused by his bad heart, as well as several henchmen. Junior shoots Hartigan in the shoulder and tries to escape. Hartigan catches up and shoots off Junior's ear, hand, and genitals. Bob, now recovered, shoots Hartigan in the back; he has been paid off by Roark Sr. As the sirens approach, Bob leaves and Nancy lies down in Hartigan's lap. Hartigan passes out, reasoning his death is a fair trade for the girl's life.
, Marv (Mickey Rourke
) awakens to find Goldie (Jaime King
) has been killed while he slept. He flees the frame-up, vowing to avenge her death. His parole officer, Lucille (Carla Gugino
), warns him to give up on this mission. Marv interrogates several informants, working up to a corrupt priest (Frank Miller
), who reveals that the Roark family was behind the murder. Marv kills the priest
after he insults Goldie but is attacked by a woman who looks like Goldie, which he dismisses as a hallucination.
Marv goes to the Roark family farm and is subdued by the silent stalker
who killed Goldie. He awakens in the basement to find Lucille has been captured after looking into his story. She tells Marv that the killer is a cannibal
and that Goldie was a prostitute
. He learns that the killer's name is Kevin (Elijah Wood
) and escapes. Lucille is gunned down by the leader of an arriving squad of cops, who, after the squad is killed, is interrogated by Marv. Marv finds out that Cardinal Patrick Henry Roark (Rutger Hauer) arranged for Goldie's murder.
Marv goes to Old Town, Sin City's prostitute-run red-light district
, to learn more about Goldie and is captured by her twin sister, Wendy, who had been stalking him and was the attacker Marv previously dismissed as a hallucination. He eventually convinces her that he is not the killer. She and Marv return to the farm where Marv kills Kevin. He confronts Cardinal Roark, who confesses his part in the murders. Kevin was the cardinal's ward; the two men ate the prostitutes to consume their souls. Marv kills the cardinal but is captured by his guards.
Marv is taken to a hospital where cops threaten to kill his mother to get him to confess to killing Roark, Kevin, and their victims. He is sentenced to death
in the electric chair
. Wendy visits him on death row
and thanks him for avenging her sister. Marv is executed the next day.
) is being harassed by her abusive
ex-boyfriend Jackie Boy (Benicio del Toro
). Her current boyfriend, Dwight (Clive Owen
) violently warns him to leave Shellie alone. Jackie Boy flees to Old Town. Dwight follows and sees them harass Becky (Alexis Bledel
), a young prostitute. Gail (Rosario Dawson
), the prostitutes' leader and Dwight's on-and-off lover, also witnesses the scene. When Jackie Boy threatens Becky with a gun
, Miho (Devon Aoki
), a martial arts expert, kills Jackie Boy and his friends. They realize Jackie Boy is actually Detective Lieutenant Jonathan "Iron Jack" Rafferty
of the Basin City police, considered a "hero cop" by the press. If the cops learn how he died, their truce with the prostitutes would end and the mob would be free to wage war on Old Town.
Dwight takes the bodies to a tar pit
, where he is attacked by Irish
mercenaries
hired by mob boss Wallenquist. He nearly drowns in the tar before Miho saves him. The mercenaries run away in the sewer with Jackie Boy's severed head but Dwight and Miho are able to retrieve it and return to Old Town. Meanwhile, the head mercenary, Manute (Michael Clarke Duncan
), kidnaps Gail. Becky has been threatened with the death of her mother by the mob and has betrayed the prostitutes. The mob is moving to invade with Manute leading. Dwight trades Jackie Boy’s head in exchange for Gail, but activates an explosive he placed inside the head, destroying it before it can be taken to the cops for evidence. The other prostitutes gun down the mercenaries while an injured Becky escapes.
and the Roark legacy is in serious jeopardy. Hartigan will be framed for Junior's crimes; if he tells anyone the truth, they will die. A grateful Nancy promises to write letters every week while he is in prison. Hartigan goes to jail, though he refuses to confess. He receives a weekly letter from Nancy, as promised. After eight years, the letters stop and he receives a severed finger instead. Hartigan confesses to all charges leading to his parole and searches for an adult Nancy (Jessica Alba
), not knowing he is being followed by a deformed, yellow man. He eventually finds her at Kadie's Bar, where she has become an erotic dancer
.
He realizes he was set up to lead the yellow man to Nancy and the two escape in Nancy's car. Hiding at a hotel, the deformed man returns, revealing himself as Junior Roark, disfigured by years of surgery to regenerate his body parts. Junior attacks Hartigan and takes Nancy to the Roark farm to finish what he started eight years before. Hartigan follows and fakes a heart attack
, giving him a chance to kill Junior. Knowing that Senator Roark will never stop hunting them, Hartigan commits suicide
to ensure Nancy's safety. Again, he justifies his life for Nancy's as a fair trade.
, Miller did not want to release the film rights, fearing a similar result. Rodriguez, a long-time fan of the graphic novels, was eager to adapt Sin City for the screen. His plan was to make a fully faithful adaptation, follow the source material closely, and make a "translation, not an adaptation". In hopes of convincing Miller to give the project his blessing, Rodriguez shot a "proof of concept
" adaptation of the Sin City story "The Customer is Always Right" (starring Josh Hartnett
and Marley Shelton
). Rodriguez flew Miller into Austin to be present at this test shooting, and Miller was very happy with the results. This footage was later used as the opening scene for the completed project.
, Casshern, and Immortel (Ad Vitam)
—to be shot primarily on a digital backlot
. The film employed the Sony HDC-950
high-definition digital camera
, having the actor
s work in front of a green screen
, that allowed for the artificial backgrounds (as well as some major foreground elements, such as cars) to be added later during the post-production
stage. Three sets were constructed by hand:
While the use of a green screen is standard for special effects filming, the use of high-definition digital cameras is quite noteworthy in the production of this film. The combination of these two techniques made Sin City at the time (along with Sky Captain, which was produced the same way) one of the few fully digital, live-action motion pictures
(since then, digital has grown in popularity). This technique also means that the whole film was initially shot in full color, and was converted to black-and-white
. Colorization
is used on certain subjects in a scene, such as Devon Aoki's red-and-blue clothing; Alexis Bledel's blue eyes and red blood; Michael Clarke Duncan's golden eye; Rutger Hauer's green eyes; Jaime King's red dress and blonde hair; Clive Owen's red Converse shoes and Cadillac; Mickey Rourke's red blood and orange prescription pill container; Marley Shelton's green eyes, red dress, and red lips; Nick Stahl's yellow face and body; and Elijah Wood's white glasses. Much of the blood in the film also has a striking glow to it. The film was color-corrected digitally and, as in film noir
tradition, treated for heightened contrast so as to more clearly separate blacks and whites. This was done not only to give a more film-noir look, but also to make it appear more like the original comic. This technique was used again on another Frank Miller adaptation, 300
, which was shot on film.
's review of the film, he recalled Rodriguez's speech during production of Spy Kids 2: The Island of Lost Dreams
: "This is the future! You don't wait six hours for a scene to be lighted. You want a light over here, you grab a light and put it over here. You want a nuclear submarine, you make one out of thin air and put your characters into it."
The film was noted throughout production for Rodriguez's plan to stay faithful to the source material, unlike most other comic book adaptations. Rodriguez stated that he considered the film to be "less of an adaptation than a translation". As a result, there is no screenwriting in the credits; simply "Based on the graphic novels by Frank Miller". There were several minor changes, such as dialogue trimming, new colorized objects, removal of some nudity, slightly edited violence, and minor deleted scenes. These scenes were later added in the release of the Sin City Collectors DVD, which also split the books into the 4 separate stories.
, the last for directing one scene in the film. Miller and Rodriguez worked as a team directing the rest of the film. Despite having no previous directorial background, Miller was substantially involved in the direction of the film, providing direction to the actors on their motivations and what they needed to bring to each scene. Because of this (and the fact that Miller's original books were used as storyboards), Rodriguez felt that they should both be credited as directors on the film.
When the Directors Guild of America
refused to allow two directors that were not an established team to be credited (especially since Miller had never directed before), Rodriguez first planned to give Miller full credit. Miller would not accept this, as he certainly could not have done it without Rodriguez. Rodriguez, also refusing to take full credit, decided to resign from the Guild so that the joint credit could remain.
.
Roger Ebert
awarded the film four out of four stars, describing it as "a visualization of the pulp noir imagination, uncompromising and extreme. Yes, and brilliant." Online critical reaction was particularly strong: James Berardinelli
placed the film on his list of the ten best films of 2005. Several critics including Ebert compared the film favorably to other comic book adaptations, particularly Batman
and Hulk
. Critic Chauncey Mabe of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel wrote, "Really, there will be no reason for anyone to make a comic-book film ever again. Miller and Rodriguez have pushed the form as far as it can possibly go."
There were several reviews predominantly focused on the film's more graphic content, criticizing it for a lack of "humanity". William Arnold of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer
described it as a celebration of "helpless people being tortured... I kept thinking of those clean-cut young American guards at Abu Ghraib
. That is exactly the mentality Rodriguez is celebrating here. Sin City is their movie." Other critics focused on especially negative elements: "scenes depicting castration, murder, torture, decapitation, rape and misogyny
."
New York Times
critic Manohla Dargis
claimed that the directors' "commitment to absolute unreality and the absence of the human factor" made it "hard to get pulled into the story on any level other than the visceral". Credit is given for Rodriguez's "scrupulous care and obvious love for its genre influences" but Dargis notes "it's a shame the movie is kind of a bore" where the private experience of reading a graphic novel does not translate, stating that "the problem is, this is his private experience, not ours".
In a more lighthearted piece focusing on the progression of movies and the origins of Sin City, fellow Times critic A. O. Scott
, identifying Who Framed Roger Rabbit
as its chief cinematic predecessor, argued that "Something is missing – something human. Don't let the movies fool you: Roger Rabbit was guilty," with regard to the increasing use of digitisation within movies to replace the human elements. He applauds the fact Rodriguez "has rendered a gorgeous world of silvery shadows that updates the expressionist cinematography of postwar noir" but bemoans that several elements of "old film noirs has been digitally broomed away", resulting instead in a movie that "offers sensation without feeling, death without grief, sin without guilt and, ultimately, novelty without surprise".
by more than twice its opening take. The film saw a sharp decline in its second weekend, dropping over fifty percent. Ultimately, the film ended its North American run with a gross of $74.1 million against its $40 million negative cost
. Overseas, the film grossed $84.6 million, for a worldwide total from theater receipts of $158.7 million.
won awards from the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films
, Online Film Critics Society
, Chicago Film Critics Association
, and the Irish Film and Television Awards
for his performance. The film was in competition for the Palme d'Or
at the 2005 Cannes Film Festival
, and Rodriguez won the Technical Grand Prize for the visual shaping of the film.
DVD was released on August 16, 2005. The single-disc edition was released with four different slipcovers to choose from and featured a "Behind-the-Scenes" documentary. Then, on December 13, 2005, the special edition DVD was released, known as the "Recut, Extended, Unrated" edition. On October 21, 2008 a Blu-ray
edition, which is region free, was released by Alliance in Canada. On January 29, 2009 a US Blu-ray Disc
release was confirmed for April 23, 2009. It is a 2-disc edition featuring both the Theatrical and the "Recut, Unrated, Extended" versions of the film.
The Special Edition was a two-disc set, featuring both the 124-minute theatrical release, along with the 147-minute "Recut, Unrated, Extended" edition (this edition restored edited and deleted scene
s that were missing from the theatrical edition). Bonus material included an audio commentary with director Rodriguez and Miller, a commentary with Rodriguez and Tarantino, and a third commentary featuring the recorded "audience reaction" at the Austin, Texas
Premiere. Also included were various behind-the-scenes documentaries and features, as well as a pocket-sized version of the graphic novel "The Hard Goodbye". Shortly after, the same DVD/book package was released in a limited edition giftbox with a set of Sin City playing cards and a small stack of Sin City poker chips not available anywhere else.
The initial Region 2
release only features a 7-minute featurette on the movie. HMV stores had limited quantities of the four slipcases. Amazon.co.uk
released another limited edition which housed the film, and the three books it is based on, in a hard case. In October 2007, the Recut, Extended, and Unrated edition was finally released in the UK. Although it does not feature the reproduction of "The Hard Goodbye" book, it does come in Steelbook packaging. This version of the movie was initially exclusive to HMV
stores, but is now available at most retailers in the UK.
was composed by Rodriguez as well as John Debney
and Graeme Revell
. The three main stories in the film ("The Hard Goodbye", "The Big Fat Kill", and "That Yellow Bastard") were each scored by an individual composer: Revell scored "Goodbye", Debney scored "Kill", and Rodriguez scored "Bastard". Additionally, Rodriguez co-scored with the other two composers on several tracks.
Another notable piece of music used was the instrumental version of the song "Cells" by the London-based alternative group The Servant
. The song was heavily featured in the film's publicity, including the promotional trailers and television spots, as well as being featured on the film's DVD menus.
"Sensemayá" by Silvestre Revueltas
is also used on the end sequence of "That Yellow Bastard". Fluke
's track "Absurd" is also used when Hartigan first enters Kadie's.
. Miller said the film would be a prequel and a sequel with interlinking stories both before and after the first film. Miller, who was writing the screenplay in 2006, had anticipated for production to begin later in the year.
Production did not begin as anticipated and has not begun for several years.
During the 2011 San Diego Comic-Con, Rodriguez stated that the script for Sin City 2 was nearing completion and that it was his hope that shooting could begin before the end of the year. Rodriguez said that the Sin City 2 would comprise "A Dame to Kill For" and two original stories Sin City creator Frank Miller has written for the film, one new story reportedly titled "The Long, Bad Night".
However, Rodriguez has said that official casting won't start until the script is finalized and in studio hands.
In August 2011, Rodriguez stated that the script is almost completely finalized and that he has already received funding for the film, and that production will commence once the script is finalized.
In September 2011, it was revealed that Academy Award winner William Monahan (screenwriter of The Departed
) has been brought in to add the finishing touches to Miller's screenplay.
Crime film
Crime films are films which focus on the lives of criminals. The stylistic approach to a crime film varies from realistic portrayals of real-life criminal figures, to the far-fetched evil doings of imaginary arch-villains. Criminal acts are almost always glorified in these movies.- Plays and films...
thriller film written, produced and directed by Frank Miller
Frank Miller (comics)
Frank Miller is an American comic book artist, writer and film director best known for his dark, film noir-style comic book stories and graphic novels Ronin, Daredevil: Born Again, Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, Sin City and 300...
and Robert Rodriguez
Robert Rodriguez
Robert Anthony Rodríguez is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, cinematographer, editor and musician. He shoots and produces many of his films in his native Texas and Mexico. He has directed such films as Desperado, From Dusk till Dawn, The Faculty, Spy Kids, Sin City, Planet...
. It is a neo-noir
Neo-noir
Neo-noir is a style often seen in modern motion pictures and other forms that prominently utilize elements of film noir, but with updated themes, content, style, visual elements or media that were absent in films noir of the 1940s and 1950s.-History:The term Film Noir was coined by...
based on Miller's graphic novel
Graphic novel
A graphic novel is a narrative work in which the story is conveyed to the reader using sequential art in either an experimental design or in a traditional comics format...
series of the same name
Sin City
Sin City is the title for a series of neo-noir comics by Frank Miller. The first story originally appeared in "Dark Horse Presents Fifth Anniversary Special" , and continued in Dark Horse Presents #51–62 from May 1991 to June 1992, under the title of Sin City, serialized in thirteen parts. Several...
.
The film is primarily based on three of Miller's works: The Hard Goodbye
The Hard Goodbye
"The Hard Goodbye" is the first Sin City story. It was serialised, as "Sin City," in the comics anthology Dark Horse Presents by Dark Horse Comics and named "The Hard Goodbye" in the trade paperbacks...
, about a man who embarks on a brutal rampage in search of his one-time sweetheart's killer; The Big Fat Kill
The Big Fat Kill
The Big Fat Kill is a five-issue comic book limited series published by Dark Horse Comics in November 1994–March 1995.-Plot:The story opens in Shellie's apartment, where a drunken former fling is furiously rapping on her door, demanding to be let in. Shellie is obviously scared, but is...
, which focuses on a street war between a group of prostitutes and a group of mercenaries; and That Yellow Bastard
That Yellow Bastard
That Yellow Bastard is a six-issue comic book limited series, and the sixth in the Sin City series. It was published by Dark Horse Comics in February–July 1996, It follows the usual black and white noir style artistry of previous Sin City novels, with the exception of yellow on Roark Junior...
, which follows an aging police officer who protects a young woman from a grotesquely disfigured serial killer
Serial killer
A serial killer, as typically defined, is an individual who has murdered three or more people over a period of more than a month, with down time between the murders, and whose motivation for killing is usually based on psychological gratification...
. The film stars Bruce Willis
Bruce Willis
Walter Bruce Willis , better known as Bruce Willis, is an American actor, producer, and musician. His career began in television in the 1980s and has continued both in television and film since, including comedic, dramatic, and action roles...
, Mickey Rourke
Mickey Rourke
Philip Andre "Mickey" Rourke, Jr. is an American actor, screenwriter and retired boxer, who has appeared primarily as a leading man in action, drama, and thriller films....
, Clive Owen
Clive Owen
Clive Owen is an English actor, who has worked on television, stage and film. He first gained recognition in the United Kingdom for portraying the lead in the ITV series Chancer from 1990 to 1991...
, Jessica Alba
Jessica Alba
Jessica Marie Alba is an American television and film actress. She began her television and movie appearances at age 13 in Camp Nowhere and The Secret World of Alex Mack . Alba rose to prominence as the lead actress in the television series Dark Angel...
, Benicio del Toro
Benicio del Toro
Benicio Monserrate Rafael del Toro Sánchez is a Puerto Rican and Spanish actor and film producer. He won an Academy Award, a Golden Globe Award, a Screen Actors Guild Award, and a BAFTA Award for his role as Javier Rodríguez in Traffic . He is also known for his roles as Fred Fenster in The Usual...
, Brittany Murphy
Brittany Murphy
Brittany Anne Murphy-Monjack , known professionally as Brittany Murphy, was an American actress and singer. She starred in films such as Clueless, Just Married, Girl Interrupted, Spun, 8 Mile, Uptown Girls, Sin City, Happy Feet, and Riding in Cars with Boys...
, Elijah Wood
Elijah Wood
Elijah Jordan Wood is an American actor. He made his film debut with a minor part in Back to the Future Part II , then landed a succession of larger roles that made him a critically acclaimed child actor by age 9. He is best known for his high-profile role as Frodo Baggins in Peter Jackson's...
, Rosario Dawson
Rosario Dawson
Rosario Isabel Dawson is an American actress, singer, and writer. She has appeared in films such as Kids, Men in Black II, 25th Hour, Sin City, Clerks II, Rent, Death Proof, The Rundown, Eagle Eye, Alexander, Seven Pounds, Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief and Unstoppable.-Early...
, Jaime King
Jaime King
Jaime King is an American actress and model. In her modeling career and early film roles, she used the names Jamie King and James King, which was a childhood nickname given to King by her parents, because her agency already represented another Jaime — the older, then more famous model Jaime...
, Carla Gugino
Carla Gugino
Carla Gugino is an American actress known for her roles of Sally Jupiter in Watchmen, Dr. Vera Gorski in Sucker Punch, Lucille in Sin City, Amanda Daniels in seasons 3, 5 and 7 of Entourage, Ingrid Cortez in the Spy Kids film trilogy, and as the lead characters of the television series Karen Sisco...
, Michael Madsen
Michael Madsen
Michael Søren Madsen is an American actor, poet, and photographer. He has appeared in more than 150 films, most of them small independent films, though he has starred in central roles in such films as Reservoir Dogs, Free Willy, Donnie Brasco, and Kill Bill, in addition to a supporting role in Sin...
and Nick Stahl
Nick Stahl
Nicolas Kent "Nick" Stahl is an American actor. Starting out as a child actor, he gained recognition for his performance in the 1993 film The Man Without a Face and then embarked on a successful career as a child actor...
, among others.
Sin City opened to wide critical and commercial success, gathering particular recognition for the film's unique color processing, which rendered most of the film in black and white but retained or added coloring for select objects. The film was screened at the 2005 Cannes Film Festival
2005 Cannes Film Festival
The 2005 Cannes Film Festival started on May 11 and ran until May 22. Twenty movies from 13 countries were selected to compete. The awards were announced on May 21...
in-competition and won the Technical Grand Prize for the film's "visual shaping".
The Customer Is Always Right (Part 1)
The Salesman (Josh HartnettJosh Hartnett
Joshua Daniel "Josh" Hartnett is an American actor and aspiring producer. He first came to audiences' attention in 1997 as "Michael Fitzgerald" in the television series Cracker. He made his feature film debut in 1998, co-starring with Jamie Lee Curtis in Halloween H20: 20 Years Later for Miramax...
) walks onto a penthouse balcony where The Customer (Marley Shelton
Marley Shelton
Marley Eve Shelton is an American film and television actress.Shelton began her acting career in her late teens, and appeared in several 1990s' television movies and shows. She made her film debut in the critically acclaimed drama Grand Canyon , and was cast in the films The Sandlot , Nixon , and...
) looks out over Basin City. He offers her a cigarette and says that she looks like someone who is tired of running and that he will save her. The two share a kiss and he shoots her; she dies in his arms. He says he’ll never know what she was running from but that he’ll cash her check in the morning.
That Yellow Bastard (Part 1)
On the docks of Sin City, aging police officer John HartiganJohn Hartigan
Detective John Hartigan is a major protagonist in the Sin City series of graphic novels, written by Frank Miller. He is the central character in That Yellow Bastard, and has a small cameo in Just Another Saturday Night...
(Bruce Willis
Bruce Willis
Walter Bruce Willis , better known as Bruce Willis, is an American actor, producer, and musician. His career began in television in the 1980s and has continued both in television and film since, including comedic, dramatic, and action roles...
) tries to stop serial child-killer Roark Junior (Nick Stahl
Nick Stahl
Nicolas Kent "Nick" Stahl is an American actor. Starting out as a child actor, he gained recognition for his performance in the 1993 film The Man Without a Face and then embarked on a successful career as a child actor...
) from raping
Rape
Rape is a type of sexual assault usually involving sexual intercourse, which is initiated by one or more persons against another person without that person's consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority or with a person who is incapable of valid consent. The...
and killing eleven-year-old Nancy Callahan
Nancy Callahan
Nancy Callahan is a fictional character from the graphic novel series Sin City, created by Frank Miller. She first appeared in The Hard Goodbye before becoming a more prominent character in later stories, most notably That Yellow Bastard....
(Makenzie Vega
Makenzie Vega
-Personal life:Vega was born in Los Angeles, California to a Colombian father and an American mother. She is the younger sister of actress Alexa Vega. Vega currently lives in New York with her mother Gina Rue , and three siblings...
). Junior is the son of Senator Roark (Powers Boothe
Powers Boothe
Powers Allen Boothe is an American television and film actor. Some of his most notable roles include his Emmy-winning 1980 portrayal of Jim Jones and his turn as Cy Tolliver on Deadwood, as well as Vice-President Noah Daniels on 24....
), who has bribed the police to cover up his son's crimes. Hartigan's partner, Bob (Michael Madsen
Michael Madsen
Michael Søren Madsen is an American actor, poet, and photographer. He has appeared in more than 150 films, most of them small independent films, though he has starred in central roles in such films as Reservoir Dogs, Free Willy, Donnie Brasco, and Kill Bill, in addition to a supporting role in Sin...
) tries to convince Hartigan to walk away. Hartigan knocks him out.
Hartigan heads into the warehouse where Junior is holding Nancy, fighting off the pain caused by his bad heart, as well as several henchmen. Junior shoots Hartigan in the shoulder and tries to escape. Hartigan catches up and shoots off Junior's ear, hand, and genitals. Bob, now recovered, shoots Hartigan in the back; he has been paid off by Roark Sr. As the sirens approach, Bob leaves and Nancy lies down in Hartigan's lap. Hartigan passes out, reasoning his death is a fair trade for the girl's life.
The Hard Goodbye
After a one-night standOne-night stand
Originally, a one-night stand was a single theatre performance, usually by a guest performer on tour, as opposed to an ongoing engagement. Today, however, the term is more commonly defined as a single sexual encounter, in which neither participant has any intention or expectation of a relationship...
, Marv (Mickey Rourke
Mickey Rourke
Philip Andre "Mickey" Rourke, Jr. is an American actor, screenwriter and retired boxer, who has appeared primarily as a leading man in action, drama, and thriller films....
) awakens to find Goldie (Jaime King
Jaime King
Jaime King is an American actress and model. In her modeling career and early film roles, she used the names Jamie King and James King, which was a childhood nickname given to King by her parents, because her agency already represented another Jaime — the older, then more famous model Jaime...
) has been killed while he slept. He flees the frame-up, vowing to avenge her death. His parole officer, Lucille (Carla Gugino
Carla Gugino
Carla Gugino is an American actress known for her roles of Sally Jupiter in Watchmen, Dr. Vera Gorski in Sucker Punch, Lucille in Sin City, Amanda Daniels in seasons 3, 5 and 7 of Entourage, Ingrid Cortez in the Spy Kids film trilogy, and as the lead characters of the television series Karen Sisco...
), warns him to give up on this mission. Marv interrogates several informants, working up to a corrupt priest (Frank Miller
Frank Miller (comics)
Frank Miller is an American comic book artist, writer and film director best known for his dark, film noir-style comic book stories and graphic novels Ronin, Daredevil: Born Again, Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, Sin City and 300...
), who reveals that the Roark family was behind the murder. Marv kills the priest
Priest
A priest is a person authorized to perform the sacred rites of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in particular, rites of sacrifice to, and propitiation of, a deity or deities...
after he insults Goldie but is attacked by a woman who looks like Goldie, which he dismisses as a hallucination.
Marv goes to the Roark family farm and is subdued by the silent stalker
Stalking
Stalking is a term commonly used to refer to unwanted and obsessive attention by an individual or group to another person. Stalking behaviors are related to harassment and intimidation and may include following the victim in person and/or monitoring them via the internet...
who killed Goldie. He awakens in the basement to find Lucille has been captured after looking into his story. She tells Marv that the killer is a cannibal
Cannibalism
Cannibalism is the act or practice of humans eating the flesh of other human beings. It is also called anthropophagy...
and that Goldie was a prostitute
Prostitution
Prostitution is the act or practice of providing sexual services to another person in return for payment. The person who receives payment for sexual services is called a prostitute and the person who receives such services is known by a multitude of terms, including a "john". Prostitution is one of...
. He learns that the killer's name is Kevin (Elijah Wood
Elijah Wood
Elijah Jordan Wood is an American actor. He made his film debut with a minor part in Back to the Future Part II , then landed a succession of larger roles that made him a critically acclaimed child actor by age 9. He is best known for his high-profile role as Frodo Baggins in Peter Jackson's...
) and escapes. Lucille is gunned down by the leader of an arriving squad of cops, who, after the squad is killed, is interrogated by Marv. Marv finds out that Cardinal Patrick Henry Roark (Rutger Hauer) arranged for Goldie's murder.
Marv goes to Old Town, Sin City's prostitute-run red-light district
Red-light district
A red-light district is a part of an urban area where there is a concentration of prostitution and sex-oriented businesses, such as sex shops, strip clubs, adult theaters, etc...
, to learn more about Goldie and is captured by her twin sister, Wendy, who had been stalking him and was the attacker Marv previously dismissed as a hallucination. He eventually convinces her that he is not the killer. She and Marv return to the farm where Marv kills Kevin. He confronts Cardinal Roark, who confesses his part in the murders. Kevin was the cardinal's ward; the two men ate the prostitutes to consume their souls. Marv kills the cardinal but is captured by his guards.
Marv is taken to a hospital where cops threaten to kill his mother to get him to confess to killing Roark, Kevin, and their victims. He is sentenced to death
Capital punishment
Capital punishment, the death penalty, or execution is the sentence of death upon a person by the state as a punishment for an offence. Crimes that can result in a death penalty are known as capital crimes or capital offences. The term capital originates from the Latin capitalis, literally...
in the electric chair
Electric chair
Execution by electrocution, usually performed using an electric chair, is an execution method originating in the United States in which the condemned person is strapped to a specially built wooden chair and electrocuted through electrodes placed on the body...
. Wendy visits him on death row
Death row
Death row signifies the place, often a section of a prison, that houses individuals awaiting execution. The term is also used figuratively to describe the state of awaiting execution , even in places where no special facility or separate unit for condemned inmates exists.After individuals are found...
and thanks him for avenging her sister. Marv is executed the next day.
The Big Fat Kill
Shellie (Brittany MurphyBrittany Murphy
Brittany Anne Murphy-Monjack , known professionally as Brittany Murphy, was an American actress and singer. She starred in films such as Clueless, Just Married, Girl Interrupted, Spun, 8 Mile, Uptown Girls, Sin City, Happy Feet, and Riding in Cars with Boys...
) is being harassed by her abusive
Domestic violence
Domestic violence, also known as domestic abuse, spousal abuse, battering, family violence, and intimate partner violence , is broadly defined as a pattern of abusive behaviors by one or both partners in an intimate relationship such as marriage, dating, family, or cohabitation...
ex-boyfriend Jackie Boy (Benicio del Toro
Benicio del Toro
Benicio Monserrate Rafael del Toro Sánchez is a Puerto Rican and Spanish actor and film producer. He won an Academy Award, a Golden Globe Award, a Screen Actors Guild Award, and a BAFTA Award for his role as Javier Rodríguez in Traffic . He is also known for his roles as Fred Fenster in The Usual...
). Her current boyfriend, Dwight (Clive Owen
Clive Owen
Clive Owen is an English actor, who has worked on television, stage and film. He first gained recognition in the United Kingdom for portraying the lead in the ITV series Chancer from 1990 to 1991...
) violently warns him to leave Shellie alone. Jackie Boy flees to Old Town. Dwight follows and sees them harass Becky (Alexis Bledel
Alexis Bledel
Alexis Bledel is an American actress. She is known for her roles as Rory Gilmore in the television series Gilmore Girls and Lena Kaligaris in The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants and The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2.-Early life:Bledel was born Kimberly Alexis Bledel in Houston, Texas...
), a young prostitute. Gail (Rosario Dawson
Rosario Dawson
Rosario Isabel Dawson is an American actress, singer, and writer. She has appeared in films such as Kids, Men in Black II, 25th Hour, Sin City, Clerks II, Rent, Death Proof, The Rundown, Eagle Eye, Alexander, Seven Pounds, Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief and Unstoppable.-Early...
), the prostitutes' leader and Dwight's on-and-off lover, also witnesses the scene. When Jackie Boy threatens Becky with a gun
Gun
A gun is a muzzle or breech-loaded projectile-firing weapon. There are various definitions depending on the nation and branch of service. A "gun" may be distinguished from other firearms in being a crew-served weapon such as a howitzer or mortar, as opposed to a small arm like a rifle or pistol,...
, Miho (Devon Aoki
Devon Aoki
Devon Edwenna Aoki is an American model and actress.-Early life:Aoki was born in New York City, New York, and grew up in California and London, attending high school at The American School in London...
), a martial arts expert, kills Jackie Boy and his friends. They realize Jackie Boy is actually Detective Lieutenant Jonathan "Iron Jack" Rafferty
Jack Rafferty
Jack Rafferty is a fictional character in Frank Miller's Sin City, and a main antagonist of The Big Fat Kill. He is mainly referred to by his nickname Jackie Boy...
of the Basin City police, considered a "hero cop" by the press. If the cops learn how he died, their truce with the prostitutes would end and the mob would be free to wage war on Old Town.
Dwight takes the bodies to a tar pit
Tar pit
A tar pit, or more accurately known as an asphalt pit or asphalt lake, is a geological occurrence where subterranean bitumen leaks to the surface, creating a large area of natural asphalt.-Known tar pits:...
, where he is attacked by Irish
Irish people
The Irish people are an ethnic group who originate in Ireland, an island in northwestern Europe. Ireland has been populated for around 9,000 years , with the Irish people's earliest ancestors recorded having legends of being descended from groups such as the Nemedians, Fomorians, Fir Bolg, Tuatha...
mercenaries
Mercenary
A mercenary, is a person who takes part in an armed conflict based on the promise of material compensation rather than having a direct interest in, or a legal obligation to, the conflict itself. A non-conscript professional member of a regular army is not considered to be a mercenary although he...
hired by mob boss Wallenquist. He nearly drowns in the tar before Miho saves him. The mercenaries run away in the sewer with Jackie Boy's severed head but Dwight and Miho are able to retrieve it and return to Old Town. Meanwhile, the head mercenary, Manute (Michael Clarke Duncan
Michael Clarke Duncan
Michael Clarke Duncan is an American actor, best known for his breakout role as John Coffey in The Green Mile, for which he was nominated for an Academy Award and a Golden Globe.- Early life :...
), kidnaps Gail. Becky has been threatened with the death of her mother by the mob and has betrayed the prostitutes. The mob is moving to invade with Manute leading. Dwight trades Jackie Boy’s head in exchange for Gail, but activates an explosive he placed inside the head, destroying it before it can be taken to the cops for evidence. The other prostitutes gun down the mercenaries while an injured Becky escapes.
That Yellow Bastard (Part 2)
Hartigan is recovering in a hospital when Senator Roark informs him that Junior is in a comaComa
In medicine, a coma is a state of unconsciousness, lasting more than 6 hours in which a person cannot be awakened, fails to respond normally to painful stimuli, light or sound, lacks a normal sleep-wake cycle and does not initiate voluntary actions. A person in a state of coma is described as...
and the Roark legacy is in serious jeopardy. Hartigan will be framed for Junior's crimes; if he tells anyone the truth, they will die. A grateful Nancy promises to write letters every week while he is in prison. Hartigan goes to jail, though he refuses to confess. He receives a weekly letter from Nancy, as promised. After eight years, the letters stop and he receives a severed finger instead. Hartigan confesses to all charges leading to his parole and searches for an adult Nancy (Jessica Alba
Jessica Alba
Jessica Marie Alba is an American television and film actress. She began her television and movie appearances at age 13 in Camp Nowhere and The Secret World of Alex Mack . Alba rose to prominence as the lead actress in the television series Dark Angel...
), not knowing he is being followed by a deformed, yellow man. He eventually finds her at Kadie's Bar, where she has become an erotic dancer
Erotic dancing
Erotic dance is a major category or classification of dance forms or dance styles, where the purpose is the stimulation or arousal of erotic or sexual thoughts or actions....
.
He realizes he was set up to lead the yellow man to Nancy and the two escape in Nancy's car. Hiding at a hotel, the deformed man returns, revealing himself as Junior Roark, disfigured by years of surgery to regenerate his body parts. Junior attacks Hartigan and takes Nancy to the Roark farm to finish what he started eight years before. Hartigan follows and fakes a heart attack
Myocardial infarction
Myocardial infarction or acute myocardial infarction , commonly known as a heart attack, results from the interruption of blood supply to a part of the heart, causing heart cells to die...
, giving him a chance to kill Junior. Knowing that Senator Roark will never stop hunting them, Hartigan commits suicide
Suicide
Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Suicide is often committed out of despair or attributed to some underlying mental disorder, such as depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, alcoholism, or drug abuse...
to ensure Nancy's safety. Again, he justifies his life for Nancy's as a fair trade.
The Customer Is Always Right (Part 2)
An injured Becky departs from a hospital, talking on a cell phone with her mother. In the elevator she encounters The Salesman, dressed as a doctor. He offers her a cigarette, calling her by name, as she abruptly ends the call with her mother. Her fate is never revealed.Cast
- Josh HartnettJosh HartnettJoshua Daniel "Josh" Hartnett is an American actor and aspiring producer. He first came to audiences' attention in 1997 as "Michael Fitzgerald" in the television series Cracker. He made his feature film debut in 1998, co-starring with Jamie Lee Curtis in Halloween H20: 20 Years Later for Miramax...
as The Salesman, known in the screenplay as "The Man". - Marley SheltonMarley SheltonMarley Eve Shelton is an American film and television actress.Shelton began her acting career in her late teens, and appeared in several 1990s' television movies and shows. She made her film debut in the critically acclaimed drama Grand Canyon , and was cast in the films The Sandlot , Nixon , and...
as The Customer - Mickey RourkeMickey RourkePhilip Andre "Mickey" Rourke, Jr. is an American actor, screenwriter and retired boxer, who has appeared primarily as a leading man in action, drama, and thriller films....
as Marv - Jaime KingJaime KingJaime King is an American actress and model. In her modeling career and early film roles, she used the names Jamie King and James King, which was a childhood nickname given to King by her parents, because her agency already represented another Jaime — the older, then more famous model Jaime...
as Goldie/Wendy - Carla GuginoCarla GuginoCarla Gugino is an American actress known for her roles of Sally Jupiter in Watchmen, Dr. Vera Gorski in Sucker Punch, Lucille in Sin City, Amanda Daniels in seasons 3, 5 and 7 of Entourage, Ingrid Cortez in the Spy Kids film trilogy, and as the lead characters of the television series Karen Sisco...
as Lucille - Elijah WoodElijah WoodElijah Jordan Wood is an American actor. He made his film debut with a minor part in Back to the Future Part II , then landed a succession of larger roles that made him a critically acclaimed child actor by age 9. He is best known for his high-profile role as Frodo Baggins in Peter Jackson's...
as Kevin - Rutger Hauer as Cardinal Patrick Henry Roark
- Jason DouglasJason DouglasJason Douglas is an American stage and film actor who is gaining increasing visibility of late by breaking into mainstream film and television work. He is also a known anime voice actor who works for Funimation Entertainment, ADV Films, Seraphim Digital, and OkraTron 5000.-Anime Voices:* A.D...
as Hitman - Frank MillerFrank Miller (comics)Frank Miller is an American comic book artist, writer and film director best known for his dark, film noir-style comic book stories and graphic novels Ronin, Daredevil: Born Again, Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, Sin City and 300...
as Priest - Clive OwenClive OwenClive Owen is an English actor, who has worked on television, stage and film. He first gained recognition in the United Kingdom for portraying the lead in the ITV series Chancer from 1990 to 1991...
as Dwight McCarthyDwight McCarthyDwight McCarthy is a main protagonist in Frank Miller's Sin City universe. He appears in A Dame to Kill For, The Big Fat Kill, Family Values, The Babe Wore Red and That Yellow Bastard. In the 2005 film adaptation, he was portrayed by Clive Owen.-Appearance:In Dwight's first appearance in A Dame To... - Brittany MurphyBrittany MurphyBrittany Anne Murphy-Monjack , known professionally as Brittany Murphy, was an American actress and singer. She starred in films such as Clueless, Just Married, Girl Interrupted, Spun, 8 Mile, Uptown Girls, Sin City, Happy Feet, and Riding in Cars with Boys...
as Shellie - Jessica AlbaJessica AlbaJessica Marie Alba is an American television and film actress. She began her television and movie appearances at age 13 in Camp Nowhere and The Secret World of Alex Mack . Alba rose to prominence as the lead actress in the television series Dark Angel...
as Nancy CallahanNancy CallahanNancy Callahan is a fictional character from the graphic novel series Sin City, created by Frank Miller. She first appeared in The Hard Goodbye before becoming a more prominent character in later stories, most notably That Yellow Bastard.... - Rosario DawsonRosario DawsonRosario Isabel Dawson is an American actress, singer, and writer. She has appeared in films such as Kids, Men in Black II, 25th Hour, Sin City, Clerks II, Rent, Death Proof, The Rundown, Eagle Eye, Alexander, Seven Pounds, Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief and Unstoppable.-Early...
as Gail - Alexis BledelAlexis BledelAlexis Bledel is an American actress. She is known for her roles as Rory Gilmore in the television series Gilmore Girls and Lena Kaligaris in The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants and The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2.-Early life:Bledel was born Kimberly Alexis Bledel in Houston, Texas...
as Becky - Clive OwenClive OwenClive Owen is an English actor, who has worked on television, stage and film. He first gained recognition in the United Kingdom for portraying the lead in the ITV series Chancer from 1990 to 1991...
as Dwight McCarthyDwight McCarthyDwight McCarthy is a main protagonist in Frank Miller's Sin City universe. He appears in A Dame to Kill For, The Big Fat Kill, Family Values, The Babe Wore Red and That Yellow Bastard. In the 2005 film adaptation, he was portrayed by Clive Owen.-Appearance:In Dwight's first appearance in A Dame To... - Benicio del ToroBenicio del ToroBenicio Monserrate Rafael del Toro Sánchez is a Puerto Rican and Spanish actor and film producer. He won an Academy Award, a Golden Globe Award, a Screen Actors Guild Award, and a BAFTA Award for his role as Javier Rodríguez in Traffic . He is also known for his roles as Fred Fenster in The Usual...
as Det. Lt. Jack "Jackie Boy" RaffertyJack RaffertyJack Rafferty is a fictional character in Frank Miller's Sin City, and a main antagonist of The Big Fat Kill. He is mainly referred to by his nickname Jackie Boy... - Rosario DawsonRosario DawsonRosario Isabel Dawson is an American actress, singer, and writer. She has appeared in films such as Kids, Men in Black II, 25th Hour, Sin City, Clerks II, Rent, Death Proof, The Rundown, Eagle Eye, Alexander, Seven Pounds, Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief and Unstoppable.-Early...
as Gail - Michael Clarke DuncanMichael Clarke DuncanMichael Clarke Duncan is an American actor, best known for his breakout role as John Coffey in The Green Mile, for which he was nominated for an Academy Award and a Golden Globe.- Early life :...
as Manute - Alexis BledelAlexis BledelAlexis Bledel is an American actress. She is known for her roles as Rory Gilmore in the television series Gilmore Girls and Lena Kaligaris in The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants and The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2.-Early life:Bledel was born Kimberly Alexis Bledel in Houston, Texas...
as Becky - Devon AokiDevon AokiDevon Edwenna Aoki is an American model and actress.-Early life:Aoki was born in New York City, New York, and grew up in California and London, attending high school at The American School in London...
as MihoMiho (Sin City)is a character in Frank Miller's Sin City graphic novel series. In the film adaptation of Sin City, she is portrayed by Devon Aoki.-Character:... - Brittany MurphyBrittany MurphyBrittany Anne Murphy-Monjack , known professionally as Brittany Murphy, was an American actress and singer. She starred in films such as Clueless, Just Married, Girl Interrupted, Spun, 8 Mile, Uptown Girls, Sin City, Happy Feet, and Riding in Cars with Boys...
as Shellie - Patricia VonnePatricia VonnePatricia Vonne is an American singer and actress.A native of San Antonio, Texas, Vonne moved to New York City in 1990-2001 to pursue her artistic ambitions. She worked extensively in Europe and America and was featured in national/international commercials, and film work...
as Dallas - Nicky KattNicky KattNicholas Lea "Nicky" Katt is an American actor known for his role as unorthodox teacher Harry Senate on David E. Kelley's Fox drama Boston Public.-Career:...
as Stuka - Bruce WillisBruce WillisWalter Bruce Willis , better known as Bruce Willis, is an American actor, producer, and musician. His career began in television in the 1980s and has continued both in television and film since, including comedic, dramatic, and action roles...
as Det. John HartiganJohn HartiganDetective John Hartigan is a major protagonist in the Sin City series of graphic novels, written by Frank Miller. He is the central character in That Yellow Bastard, and has a small cameo in Just Another Saturday Night... - Jessica AlbaJessica AlbaJessica Marie Alba is an American television and film actress. She began her television and movie appearances at age 13 in Camp Nowhere and The Secret World of Alex Mack . Alba rose to prominence as the lead actress in the television series Dark Angel...
as Nancy CallahanNancy CallahanNancy Callahan is a fictional character from the graphic novel series Sin City, created by Frank Miller. She first appeared in The Hard Goodbye before becoming a more prominent character in later stories, most notably That Yellow Bastard.... - Nick StahlNick StahlNicolas Kent "Nick" Stahl is an American actor. Starting out as a child actor, he gained recognition for his performance in the 1993 film The Man Without a Face and then embarked on a successful career as a child actor...
as Roark Junior/Yellow Bastard - Powers BoothePowers BoothePowers Allen Boothe is an American television and film actor. Some of his most notable roles include his Emmy-winning 1980 portrayal of Jim Jones and his turn as Cy Tolliver on Deadwood, as well as Vice-President Noah Daniels on 24....
as Senator Roark - Michael MadsenMichael MadsenMichael Søren Madsen is an American actor, poet, and photographer. He has appeared in more than 150 films, most of them small independent films, though he has starred in central roles in such films as Reservoir Dogs, Free Willy, Donnie Brasco, and Kill Bill, in addition to a supporting role in Sin...
as Bob - Makenzie VegaMakenzie Vega-Personal life:Vega was born in Los Angeles, California to a Colombian father and an American mother. She is the younger sister of actress Alexa Vega. Vega currently lives in New York with her mother Gina Rue , and three siblings...
as Young Nancy CallahanNancy CallahanNancy Callahan is a fictional character from the graphic novel series Sin City, created by Frank Miller. She first appeared in The Hard Goodbye before becoming a more prominent character in later stories, most notably That Yellow Bastard.... - Jude CiccolellaJude CiccolellaRichard Jude Ciccolella , better known as Jude Ciccolella, is an American character actor.-Biography:Ciccolella graduated from Brown University, class of 1969 where he acted in student productions. He studied at Temple University with a Master of Fine Arts degree in theatre...
as Liebowitz - Rick GomezRick GomezRichard Harper "Rick" Gomez is an American actor. He is known for portraying T-4. George Luz, in the HBO television miniseries Band of Brothers, and as "Endless Mike" Hellstrom in the cult hit Nickelodeon TV series The Adventures of Pete and Pete.-Movies:*Love Ranch - Tom Macy*Another Cinderella...
as Klump - Nick OffermanNick OffermanNick Offerman is an American actor best known for his role as Ron Swanson in the NBC sitcom Parks and Recreation. He is also a skilled woodworker.-Early life and career:...
as Shlubb - Tommy FlanaganTommy Flanagan (actor)Tommy Flanagan is a Scottish film and television actor.Flanagan was born in Glasgow, Scotland, the 3rd of five children. Flanagan's first television roles were in Screen One, 1992 and Taggart in 1993. Flanagan worked in Robert Carlyle's Raindog Theatre for three years before being cast in Braveheart...
as Brian - Mickey RourkeMickey RourkePhilip Andre "Mickey" Rourke, Jr. is an American actor, screenwriter and retired boxer, who has appeared primarily as a leading man in action, drama, and thriller films....
as Marv - Elijah WoodElijah WoodElijah Jordan Wood is an American actor. He made his film debut with a minor part in Back to the Future Part II , then landed a succession of larger roles that made him a critically acclaimed child actor by age 9. He is best known for his high-profile role as Frodo Baggins in Peter Jackson's...
as KevinKevin (Sin City)Kevin=Kevin is a character from Frank Miller's Sin City. He is a cannibalistic serial killer under the wing of Patrick Henry Roark.-Background:Kevin came to Roark for religious counsel, having already given into his cannibalism and being wracked with guilt... - Brittany MurphyBrittany MurphyBrittany Anne Murphy-Monjack , known professionally as Brittany Murphy, was an American actress and singer. She starred in films such as Clueless, Just Married, Girl Interrupted, Spun, 8 Mile, Uptown Girls, Sin City, Happy Feet, and Riding in Cars with Boys...
as Shellie - Carla GuginoCarla GuginoCarla Gugino is an American actress known for her roles of Sally Jupiter in Watchmen, Dr. Vera Gorski in Sucker Punch, Lucille in Sin City, Amanda Daniels in seasons 3, 5 and 7 of Entourage, Ingrid Cortez in the Spy Kids film trilogy, and as the lead characters of the television series Karen Sisco...
as Lucille
Proof of concept
After his experience with Hollywood on the third RoboCop filmRoboCop 3
RoboCop 3 is a science fiction action film, released in 1993, set in the near future in a dystopian metropolitan Detroit, Michigan, and filmed in Atlanta, Georgia. Most of the buildings seen in the film were slated for demolition to make way for facilities for the 1996 Olympics. Nancy Allen as...
, Miller did not want to release the film rights, fearing a similar result. Rodriguez, a long-time fan of the graphic novels, was eager to adapt Sin City for the screen. His plan was to make a fully faithful adaptation, follow the source material closely, and make a "translation, not an adaptation". In hopes of convincing Miller to give the project his blessing, Rodriguez shot a "proof of concept
Proof of concept
A proof of concept or a proof of principle is a realization of a certain method or idea to demonstrate its feasibility, or a demonstration in principle, whose purpose is to verify that some concept or theory that has the potential of being used...
" adaptation of the Sin City story "The Customer is Always Right" (starring Josh Hartnett
Josh Hartnett
Joshua Daniel "Josh" Hartnett is an American actor and aspiring producer. He first came to audiences' attention in 1997 as "Michael Fitzgerald" in the television series Cracker. He made his feature film debut in 1998, co-starring with Jamie Lee Curtis in Halloween H20: 20 Years Later for Miramax...
and Marley Shelton
Marley Shelton
Marley Eve Shelton is an American film and television actress.Shelton began her acting career in her late teens, and appeared in several 1990s' television movies and shows. She made her film debut in the critically acclaimed drama Grand Canyon , and was cast in the films The Sandlot , Nixon , and...
). Rodriguez flew Miller into Austin to be present at this test shooting, and Miller was very happy with the results. This footage was later used as the opening scene for the completed project.
Digital backlot
This is one of the first films—along with Sky Captain and the World of TomorrowSky Captain and the World of Tomorrow
Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow is a 2004 American pulp adventure science-fiction film written and directed by Kerry Conran in his directorial debut. The film is set in an alternative 1939 and follows the adventures of Polly Perkins , a newspaper reporter, and Harry Joseph "Joe" Sullivan ,...
, Casshern, and Immortel (Ad Vitam)
Immortel (Ad Vitam)
Immortal is a 2004 English language, French-produced live-action/animated science fiction film, directed by Enki Bilal and loosely based upon his comic book La Foire aux immortels...
—to be shot primarily on a digital backlot
Digital backlot
Digital backlot is a term used to describe motion picture sets that have neither genuine location shoots nor practical sets on the soundstages; the shooting takes place entirely on a stage with a blank background that will have an artificial environment put in during post-production...
. The film employed the Sony HDC-950
CineAlta
Sony's CineAlta 24P HD Cameras are a series of professional digital video cameras that offer many of the same features of a 35mm motion picture film camera.- Concept :...
high-definition digital camera
Digital camera
A digital camera is a camera that takes video or still photographs, or both, digitally by recording images via an electronic image sensor. It is the main device used in the field of digital photography...
, having the actor
Actor
An actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...
s work in front of a green screen
Chroma key
Chroma key compositing is a technique for compositing two images together. A color range in the top layer is made transparent, revealing another image behind. The chroma keying technique is commonly used in video production and post-production...
, that allowed for the artificial backgrounds (as well as some major foreground elements, such as cars) to be added later during the post-production
Post-production
Post-production is part of filmmaking and the video production process. It occurs in the making of motion pictures, television programs, radio programs, advertising, audio recordings, photography, and digital art...
stage. Three sets were constructed by hand:
- Kadie's Bar, where all of the major characters make an appearance at least once and also the only location in which all objects are in color.
- Shellie's apartment. The front door and kitchen are real, while bathroom and corridors are artificial.
- The hospital corridor in the epilogueEpilogueAn epilogue, epilog or afterword is a piece of writing at the end of a work of literature or drama, usually used to bring closure to the work...
. Although the first shot of walking feet was done on greenscreen, the corridor in the next shot is real. The background becomes artificial again when the interior of the elevator is shown.
While the use of a green screen is standard for special effects filming, the use of high-definition digital cameras is quite noteworthy in the production of this film. The combination of these two techniques made Sin City at the time (along with Sky Captain, which was produced the same way) one of the few fully digital, live-action motion pictures
Digital cinematography
Digital cinematography is the process of capturing motion pictures as digital images, rather than on film. Digital capture may occur on video tape, hard disks, flash memory, or other media which can record digital data. As digital technology has improved, this practice has become increasingly common...
(since then, digital has grown in popularity). This technique also means that the whole film was initially shot in full color, and was converted to black-and-white
Black-and-white
Black-and-white, often abbreviated B/W or B&W, is a term referring to a number of monochrome forms in visual arts.Black-and-white as a description is also something of a misnomer, for in addition to black and white, most of these media included varying shades of gray...
. Colorization
Film colorization
Film colorization is any process that adds color to black-and-white, sepia or monochrome moving-picture images. It may be done as a special effect, or to modernize black-and-white films, or to restore color films...
is used on certain subjects in a scene, such as Devon Aoki's red-and-blue clothing; Alexis Bledel's blue eyes and red blood; Michael Clarke Duncan's golden eye; Rutger Hauer's green eyes; Jaime King's red dress and blonde hair; Clive Owen's red Converse shoes and Cadillac; Mickey Rourke's red blood and orange prescription pill container; Marley Shelton's green eyes, red dress, and red lips; Nick Stahl's yellow face and body; and Elijah Wood's white glasses. Much of the blood in the film also has a striking glow to it. The film was color-corrected digitally and, as in film noir
Film noir
Film noir is a cinematic term used primarily to describe stylish Hollywood crime dramas, particularly those that emphasize cynical attitudes and sexual motivations. Hollywood's classic film noir period is generally regarded as extending from the early 1940s to the late 1950s...
tradition, treated for heightened contrast so as to more clearly separate blacks and whites. This was done not only to give a more film-noir look, but also to make it appear more like the original comic. This technique was used again on another Frank Miller adaptation, 300
300 (film)
300 is a 2007 American fantasy action film based on the 1998 comic series of the same name by Frank Miller. It is a fictionalized retelling of the Battle of Thermopylae. The film was directed by Zack Snyder, while Miller served as executive producer and consultant...
, which was shot on film.
Principal shooting
Principal photography began on March 29, 2004. Several of the scenes were shot before every actor was currently signed-on; as a result, several stand-ins were used before the actual actors were digitally added into the film during post-production. Rodriguez, an aficionado of cinematic technology, has used similar techniques in the past. In critic Roger EbertRoger Ebert
Roger Joseph Ebert is an American film critic and screenwriter. He is the first film critic to win a Pulitzer Prize for Criticism.Ebert is known for his film review column and for the television programs Sneak Previews, At the Movies with Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert, and Siskel and Ebert and The...
's review of the film, he recalled Rodriguez's speech during production of Spy Kids 2: The Island of Lost Dreams
Spy Kids 2: The Island of Lost Dreams
Spy Kids 2: The Island of Lost Dreams is a 2002 American family film, featuring spies and science fantasy elements. It was written and directed by Robert Rodriguez, and is the second film in the Spy Kids film series, which began with 2001's Spy Kids. Its plot is loosely based on Dr...
: "This is the future! You don't wait six hours for a scene to be lighted. You want a light over here, you grab a light and put it over here. You want a nuclear submarine, you make one out of thin air and put your characters into it."
The film was noted throughout production for Rodriguez's plan to stay faithful to the source material, unlike most other comic book adaptations. Rodriguez stated that he considered the film to be "less of an adaptation than a translation". As a result, there is no screenwriting in the credits; simply "Based on the graphic novels by Frank Miller". There were several minor changes, such as dialogue trimming, new colorized objects, removal of some nudity, slightly edited violence, and minor deleted scenes. These scenes were later added in the release of the Sin City Collectors DVD, which also split the books into the 4 separate stories.
Credits
Three directors received credit for Sin City: Miller, Rodriguez, and Quentin TarantinoQuentin Tarantino
Quentin Jerome Tarantino is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, cinematographer and actor. In the early 1990s, he began his career as an independent filmmaker with films employing nonlinear storylines and the aestheticization of violence...
, the last for directing one scene in the film. Miller and Rodriguez worked as a team directing the rest of the film. Despite having no previous directorial background, Miller was substantially involved in the direction of the film, providing direction to the actors on their motivations and what they needed to bring to each scene. Because of this (and the fact that Miller's original books were used as storyboards), Rodriguez felt that they should both be credited as directors on the film.
When the Directors Guild of America
Directors Guild of America
Directors Guild of America is an entertainment labor union which represents the interests of film and television directors in the United States motion picture industry...
refused to allow two directors that were not an established team to be credited (especially since Miller had never directed before), Rodriguez first planned to give Miller full credit. Miller would not accept this, as he certainly could not have done it without Rodriguez. Rodriguez, also refusing to take full credit, decided to resign from the Guild so that the joint credit could remain.
Critical response
The film opened on April 1, 2005 to largely positive reviews, receiving a 78% "Certified Fresh" rating at Rotten TomatoesRotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...
.
Roger Ebert
Roger Ebert
Roger Joseph Ebert is an American film critic and screenwriter. He is the first film critic to win a Pulitzer Prize for Criticism.Ebert is known for his film review column and for the television programs Sneak Previews, At the Movies with Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert, and Siskel and Ebert and The...
awarded the film four out of four stars, describing it as "a visualization of the pulp noir imagination, uncompromising and extreme. Yes, and brilliant." Online critical reaction was particularly strong: James Berardinelli
James Berardinelli
James Berardinelli is an American online film critic.-Personal life:Berardinelli was born in New Brunswick, New Jersey and spent his early childhood in Morristown, New Jersey. At the age of nine years, he relocated to the township of Cherry Hill, New Jersey...
placed the film on his list of the ten best films of 2005. Several critics including Ebert compared the film favorably to other comic book adaptations, particularly Batman
Batman (1989 film)
Batman is a 1989 superhero film based on the DC Comics character of the same name, directed by Tim Burton. The film stars Michael Keaton in the title role, as well as Jack Nicholson, Kim Basinger, Robert Wuhl and Jack Palance...
and Hulk
Hulk (film)
Hulk is a 2003 American superhero film based on the fictional Marvel Comics character of the same name. Ang Lee directed the film, which stars Eric Bana as Dr. Bruce Banner, as well as Jennifer Connelly, Sam Elliott, Josh Lucas, and Nick Nolte...
. Critic Chauncey Mabe of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel wrote, "Really, there will be no reason for anyone to make a comic-book film ever again. Miller and Rodriguez have pushed the form as far as it can possibly go."
There were several reviews predominantly focused on the film's more graphic content, criticizing it for a lack of "humanity". William Arnold of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
The Seattle Post-Intelligencer is an online newspaper and former print newspaper covering Seattle, Washington, United States, and the surrounding metropolitan area...
described it as a celebration of "helpless people being tortured... I kept thinking of those clean-cut young American guards at Abu Ghraib
Abu Ghraib
The city of Abu Ghraib in the Baghdad Governorate of Iraq is located just west of Baghdad's city center, or northwest of Baghdad International Airport. It has a population of 189,000. The old road to Jordan passes through Abu Ghraib...
. That is exactly the mentality Rodriguez is celebrating here. Sin City is their movie." Other critics focused on especially negative elements: "scenes depicting castration, murder, torture, decapitation, rape and misogyny
Misogyny
Misogyny is the hatred or dislike of women or girls. Philogyny, meaning fondness, love or admiration towards women, is the antonym of misogyny. The term misandry is the term for men that is parallel to misogyny...
."
New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
critic Manohla Dargis
Manohla Dargis
Manohla Dargis is a chief film critic for The New York Times, along with A.O. Scott. She was formerly a chief film critic for the Los Angeles Times, the film editor at the LA Weekly, and a film critic at The Village Voice. She has written for a variety of publications, including Film Comment and...
claimed that the directors' "commitment to absolute unreality and the absence of the human factor" made it "hard to get pulled into the story on any level other than the visceral". Credit is given for Rodriguez's "scrupulous care and obvious love for its genre influences" but Dargis notes "it's a shame the movie is kind of a bore" where the private experience of reading a graphic novel does not translate, stating that "the problem is, this is his private experience, not ours".
In a more lighthearted piece focusing on the progression of movies and the origins of Sin City, fellow Times critic A. O. Scott
A. O. Scott
Anthony Oliver Scott, known as A. O. Scott , is an American journalist and critic. He is a chief film critic for The New York Times, along with Manohla Dargis.-Background and education:...
, identifying Who Framed Roger Rabbit
Who Framed Roger Rabbit
Who Framed Roger Rabbit is a 1988 American fantasy-comedy-noir film directed by Robert Zemeckis and released by Touchstone Pictures. The film combines live action and animation, and is based on Gary K. Wolf's novel Who Censored Roger Rabbit?, which depicts a world in which cartoon characters...
as its chief cinematic predecessor, argued that "Something is missing – something human. Don't let the movies fool you: Roger Rabbit was guilty," with regard to the increasing use of digitisation within movies to replace the human elements. He applauds the fact Rodriguez "has rendered a gorgeous world of silvery shadows that updates the expressionist cinematography of postwar noir" but bemoans that several elements of "old film noirs has been digitally broomed away", resulting instead in a movie that "offers sensation without feeling, death without grief, sin without guilt and, ultimately, novelty without surprise".
Box office
Sin City grossed $29.1 million on its opening weekend, defeating fellow opener Beauty ShopBeauty Shop
Beauty Shop is a 2005 American comedy film, directed by Bille Woodruff. The film is a spin-off of the Barbershop film franchise, and stars Queen Latifah as Gina, a character which was first introduced in the 2004 film Barbershop 2: Back in Business...
by more than twice its opening take. The film saw a sharp decline in its second weekend, dropping over fifty percent. Ultimately, the film ended its North American run with a gross of $74.1 million against its $40 million negative cost
Negative cost
Negative cost is the cost of actually producing and shooting a film. It does not include such costs as distribution and promotion.Low-budget movies, for example The Blair Witch Project, can have promotional expenses that are much larger than the negative cost.The term comes from the costs up to the...
. Overseas, the film grossed $84.6 million, for a worldwide total from theater receipts of $158.7 million.
Awards and honors
Mickey RourkeMickey Rourke
Philip Andre "Mickey" Rourke, Jr. is an American actor, screenwriter and retired boxer, who has appeared primarily as a leading man in action, drama, and thriller films....
won awards from the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films
Saturn Award
The Saturn Award is an award presented annually by the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films to honor the top works in science fiction, fantasy, and horror in film, television, and home video. The Saturn Awards were devised by Dr. Donald A. Reed in 1972, who felt that films within...
, Online Film Critics Society
Online Film Critics Society
The Online Film Critics Society is a professional association for film critics who publish their reviews, interviews, and essays on the Internet.The OFCS was founded in 1997...
, Chicago Film Critics Association
Chicago Film Critics Association
The Chicago Film Critics Association is an American film critic association.-Members:Current members include:*Sarah Knight Adamson*Zbigniew Banas*Shelley Cameron*Dave Canfield*Vittorio Carli*Erik Childress*Camerin Courtney*Bonnie DeShong...
, and the Irish Film and Television Awards
Irish Film and Television Awards
The Irish Film and Television Awards were first awarded in 2003. Its sole aim is to celebrate Ireland's notably talented film and television community...
for his performance. The film was in competition for the Palme d'Or
Palme d'Or
The Palme d'Or is the highest prize awarded at the Cannes Film Festival and is presented to the director of the best feature film of the official competition. It was introduced in 1955 by the organising committee. From 1939 to 1954, the highest prize was the Grand Prix du Festival International du...
at the 2005 Cannes Film Festival
2005 Cannes Film Festival
The 2005 Cannes Film Festival started on May 11 and ran until May 22. Twenty movies from 13 countries were selected to compete. The awards were announced on May 21...
, and Rodriguez won the Technical Grand Prize for the visual shaping of the film.
Home media
The Region 1DVD region code
DVD region codes are a digital-rights management technique designed to allow film distributors to control aspects of a release, including content, release date, and price, according to the region...
DVD was released on August 16, 2005. The single-disc edition was released with four different slipcovers to choose from and featured a "Behind-the-Scenes" documentary. Then, on December 13, 2005, the special edition DVD was released, known as the "Recut, Extended, Unrated" edition. On October 21, 2008 a Blu-ray
Blu-ray Disc
Blu-ray Disc is an optical disc storage medium designed to supersede the DVD format. The plastic disc is 120 mm in diameter and 1.2 mm thick, the same size as DVDs and CDs. Blu-ray Discs contain 25 GB per layer, with dual layer discs being the norm for feature-length video discs...
edition, which is region free, was released by Alliance in Canada. On January 29, 2009 a US Blu-ray Disc
Blu-ray Disc
Blu-ray Disc is an optical disc storage medium designed to supersede the DVD format. The plastic disc is 120 mm in diameter and 1.2 mm thick, the same size as DVDs and CDs. Blu-ray Discs contain 25 GB per layer, with dual layer discs being the norm for feature-length video discs...
release was confirmed for April 23, 2009. It is a 2-disc edition featuring both the Theatrical and the "Recut, Unrated, Extended" versions of the film.
The Special Edition was a two-disc set, featuring both the 124-minute theatrical release, along with the 147-minute "Recut, Unrated, Extended" edition (this edition restored edited and deleted scene
Deleted scene
In Entertainment, especially the film and television industry, Deleted scenes are parts of a film removed or censored from or replaced by another scene in the final "cut", or version, of a film...
s that were missing from the theatrical edition). Bonus material included an audio commentary with director Rodriguez and Miller, a commentary with Rodriguez and Tarantino, and a third commentary featuring the recorded "audience reaction" at the Austin, Texas
Austin, Texas
Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of :Texas and the seat of Travis County. Located in Central Texas on the eastern edge of the American Southwest, it is the fourth-largest city in Texas and the 14th most populous city in the United States. It was the third-fastest-growing large city in...
Premiere. Also included were various behind-the-scenes documentaries and features, as well as a pocket-sized version of the graphic novel "The Hard Goodbye". Shortly after, the same DVD/book package was released in a limited edition giftbox with a set of Sin City playing cards and a small stack of Sin City poker chips not available anywhere else.
The initial Region 2
DVD region code
DVD region codes are a digital-rights management technique designed to allow film distributors to control aspects of a release, including content, release date, and price, according to the region...
release only features a 7-minute featurette on the movie. HMV stores had limited quantities of the four slipcases. Amazon.co.uk
Amazon.com
Amazon.com, Inc. is a multinational electronic commerce company headquartered in Seattle, Washington, United States. It is the world's largest online retailer. Amazon has separate websites for the following countries: United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Japan, and...
released another limited edition which housed the film, and the three books it is based on, in a hard case. In October 2007, the Recut, Extended, and Unrated edition was finally released in the UK. Although it does not feature the reproduction of "The Hard Goodbye" book, it does come in Steelbook packaging. This version of the movie was initially exclusive to HMV
HMV Group
HMV is a British global entertainment retail chain and is the largest of its kind in the United Kingdom and Ireland. The company also operates in Hong Kong and Singapore. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE Fledgling Index...
stores, but is now available at most retailers in the UK.
Soundtrack
Original musicFilm score
A film score is original music written specifically to accompany a film, forming part of the film's soundtrack, which also usually includes dialogue and sound effects...
was composed by Rodriguez as well as John Debney
John Debney
John C. Debney is an American film composer. He received an Academy Award nomination for his score for Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ...
and Graeme Revell
Graeme Revell
Graeme Revell is a New Zealand film score composer.Revell attended Auckland Grammar School, where he finished his final year in 7A...
. The three main stories in the film ("The Hard Goodbye", "The Big Fat Kill", and "That Yellow Bastard") were each scored by an individual composer: Revell scored "Goodbye", Debney scored "Kill", and Rodriguez scored "Bastard". Additionally, Rodriguez co-scored with the other two composers on several tracks.
Another notable piece of music used was the instrumental version of the song "Cells" by the London-based alternative group The Servant
The Servant (band)
The Servant were an English alternative band, formed in London in 1998. They are popular in Britain, France, Italy, as well as other European countries and western Canada....
. The song was heavily featured in the film's publicity, including the promotional trailers and television spots, as well as being featured on the film's DVD menus.
"Sensemayá" by Silvestre Revueltas
Silvestre Revueltas
Silvestre Revueltas Sánchez was a Mexican composer of classical music, a violinist and a conductor.-Life:...
is also used on the end sequence of "That Yellow Bastard". Fluke
Fluke (band)
Fluke are an English electronic music group formed in the late 1980s by Mike Bryant, Jon Fugler and Mike Tournier with Julian Nugent as the band's manager...
's track "Absurd" is also used when Hartigan first enters Kadie's.
Possible sequel
In 2005, after Sin City was released, Rodriguez announced plans for a follow-up film that would feature many of the same characters. He planned for the film to be based on A Dame to Kill ForA Dame to Kill For
A Dame to Kill For is a comic book limited series first published by Dark Horse Comics in 1993. It is the second story in Frank Miller's Sin City series, and the first to be published in miniseries format. It was written and drawn entirely by Frank Miller...
. Miller said the film would be a prequel and a sequel with interlinking stories both before and after the first film. Miller, who was writing the screenplay in 2006, had anticipated for production to begin later in the year.
Production did not begin as anticipated and has not begun for several years.
During the 2011 San Diego Comic-Con, Rodriguez stated that the script for Sin City 2 was nearing completion and that it was his hope that shooting could begin before the end of the year. Rodriguez said that the Sin City 2 would comprise "A Dame to Kill For" and two original stories Sin City creator Frank Miller has written for the film, one new story reportedly titled "The Long, Bad Night".
However, Rodriguez has said that official casting won't start until the script is finalized and in studio hands.
In August 2011, Rodriguez stated that the script is almost completely finalized and that he has already received funding for the film, and that production will commence once the script is finalized.
In September 2011, it was revealed that Academy Award winner William Monahan (screenwriter of The Departed
The Departed
The Departed is a 2006 American crime thriller film, fashioned as a remake of the 2002 Hong Kong film Infernal Affairs. The film was directed by Martin Scorsese and written by William Monahan...
) has been brought in to add the finishing touches to Miller's screenplay.