Variety is reporting that director Robert Rodriguez is set to direct a feature for Dimension Films based on Frank Miller's series of Sin City graphic novels published by Dark Horse.  Though several other Frank Miller projects are in development, including Elektra at Fox and Hard Boiled at Warner Bros., Miller had resisted offers to option Sin City until, according to Ain't It Cool News, Rodriguez brought Miller to Austin and shot the opening ten minutes of the movie with actors Josh Hartnett and Marley Shelton.  The 10-minute sequence was enough to sell Miller. Rodriguez told Variety: 'After doing the Spy Kids movies, I was looking to do something that would offer lighting and special effects challenges.  I decided I didn't want to adapt Frank's book, but rather translate it to the screen with the same visual flourishes that Frank used so well.'

Miller, who will have major input and a co-director credit for the film, told Variety: 'He (Rodriguez) came to me with a bold coherent plan to bring my baby to the screen.  This is going to be a whole new kind of crime movie.'  Rodriguez, who burst on to the film scene in 1992 with El Mariachi and directed Once Upon a Time in Mexico in 2003, is perfectly suited to direct a Sin City film.  A skilled cameraman and special effects whiz, he, alone among modern directors, has the ability to perform all the behind-the-camera chores by himself, including writing, photographing, editing, directing, and even scoring his films.  He also works very, very fast, which means we could see a Sin City film released within a year.  For retailers a Sin City movie should translate into excellent sales of the best series of hardboiled graphic novels of the modern era.