For some time now we’ve been hearing that Robert Rodriguez and Frank Miller have been working on a sequel to their 2005 adaption of Miller’s noir graphic novel series Sin City. Earlier this month, Rodriguez stated that “Sin City 2 is going good, we’re just finishing the script for that… We’ve already got the budget, just waiting for the script.”
It looks like the next step in getting that script locked has been taken. The Hollywood Reporter‘s Heat Vision Blog is reporting that the pair have hired Academy Award-winner William Monahan to do some work on the screenplay. Monahan won an Oscar for his work adapting the gritty Hong Kong crime drama Infernal Affairs into the 2006’s The Departed. Monahan will be working from the most recent script draft from Miller.
After years of talk about the film, I’m taking the involvement of someone that isn’t Rodriguez or Miller as a positive sign that things are finally inching forward. At San Diego ComicCon last month, Rodriguez stated that they could be in production on the film by as early as the end of this year. And depending on how fast Monahan turns his draft around, I don’t see too much of a reason to doubt that, if everything else is in place. Since the first film, and presumably this one as well, was shot on a green screen stage to achieve its unique look, there wouldn’t need to be much physical pre-production work to be done. In the first film Rodriguez filmed some of the actors’ performances separately, depending on their availability, and then stitched scenes together in post-production. Presumably he would do the same thing here and thus not be dependent on a number of schedule’s lining up to get his cast all available at once.
