FILM: Sylvain White to Direct Frank Miller's Ronin

Director of the straight-to-video I'll Always Know What You Did Last Summer and the piss-poor Stomp the Yard is to adapt one of Frank Miller's graphic novel masterpieces.

Lately it seems as if the new trend for comic adaptations is to just take a Frank Miller graphic novel and simply carbon-copy it onto the silver screen. It worked wonders with Sin City, which was a huge hit in 2005 and has two sequels on the way. It also appears as if the adaptation of Miller's 300, due out on March 9th, is also quite a superb film as all the feedback I've heard from test screenings have been nothing but praise. Both of these films are helmed by strong directors with Robert Rodriguez (El Mariachi series, Spy Kids) taking on Sin City and Zack Snyder (Dawn of the Dead) working on 300. The adaptation of Frank Miller's graphic novel Ronin though, seems to be taking a different route.

Recently it was announced that director Sylvain White would direct the sci-fi samurai picture. White is the director responsible for stinkers such as I Will Always Know What You Did Last Summer and the recent Stomp the Yard. Now, before you throw up, this is just an initial announcement. The project hasn't even gotten the green light yet and, if it does, White could prove to be quite a surprise. While he does have quite a poor track record so far, I don't think he's done enough films to be labelled as a "bad director." We'll see what happens.



Before White was announced for Ronin, director Darren Aronofsky (Requiem for a Dream, The Fountain) had ties to the project. Now, I'm a fairly big Aronofsky fan and I'd love to see him attempt something large-scale like Ronin, but I guess it just wasn't in the cards.

We'll see where White and Warner Bros. take the film. I hope all turns out well but I sure have my doubts about this one.

Cheers.

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