[ Will Eisner's THE SPIRIT ]

Adapted from the legendary comic book series created by Will Eisner, The Spirit is a classic action-adventure-romance written for the screen and directed by genre-twister Frank Miller (creator of "300" and "Sin City"). It is the story of a former rookie cop who returns mysteriously from the dead as the Spirit (Gabriel Macht) to fight crime from the shadows of Central City. His arch-enemy, the Octopus (Samuel L. Jackson) has a different mission: he's going to wipe out Spirit's beloved city as he pursues his own version of immortality. The Spirit tracks this cold-hearted killer from Central City's rundown warehouses, to the damp catacombs, to the windswept waterfront... all the while facing a bevy of beautiful women who either want to seduce, love or kill our masked crusader. Surrounding him at every turn are Ellen Dolan (Sarah Paulson), the whip-smart girl-next-door; Silken Floss (Scarlett Johansson), a punk secretary and frigid vixen; Plaster of Paris (Paz Vega), a murderous French nightclub dancer; Lorelei (Jaime King), a phantom siren; and Morgenstern (Stana Katic), a sexy young cop. Then of course, there's Sand Saref (Eva Mendes), the jewel thief with dangerous curves. She's the love of his life turned bad. Will he save her or will she kill him? In the vein of Batman Begins and Sin City, The Spirit takes us on a sinister, gut-wrenching ride with a hero who is born, murdered and born again.

[b]Writer-director Frank Miller has signed Gabriel Macht to star in Will Eisner's The Spirit, the Miller-scripted adaptation of the classic Eisner comic book series, reports Variety[/b].

Shooting on the film co-financed by Lionsgate and Odd Lot Entertainment begins in October for release in 2009. Odd Lot partners Gigi Pritzker and Deborah Del Prete produce.

The Bronx-born Macht was most recently seen in The Good Shepherd and just wrapped the Dominic Sena-directed Whiteout, in which he stars opposite Kate Beckinsale.

Macht will play the title character, a man who has faked his own death so he can battle crime from the shadows of Central City. He runs up against the Octopus, a villain who's bent on wiping out the entire city and kills anyone unlucky enough to see his face.

Miller insisted that actors who wanted the starring role audition, and Macht won the job in the room.

"We think Gabriel has a devilishly charming quality, and the dry wit that embodies the Spirit, and we wanted to do this with someone who can embody this character for the next few years, because we anticipate we'll be making more than one Spirit movie," said Lionsgate prexy of film production Mike Paseornek.