Vega gets into 'The Spirit'

If Writer-Director Frank Miller puts any more fetching females into his new picture, there'll be no room for the title character.

Variety's Dave McNary reports that Spanish screen star Paz Vega has signed on to Will Eisner’s The Spirit, the Lionsgate/Odd Lot Entertainment co-production which serves as the first solo directorial outing for comic book legend Miller (Sin City), who has adapted the classic comic strip created by his friend, the late Will Eisner.

The action-adventure stars Gabriel Macht as rookie cop Denny Colt, who fakes his own death and returns to fight crime from the shadows of Central City as the fedora- and domino-mask-wearing Spirit.

Vega (Lucía y el sexo) will play the knife-wielding Plaster of Paris. She joins an impressive cast that includes Scarlett Johansson as Silk N. Floss, Eva Mendes as Sand Saref, Sarah Paulson as Ellen Dolan, Dan Lauria as Commissioner Dolan, Jaime King as Lorelei Rox, and Samuel L. Jackson as The Octopus.

Principal photography now has begun in Albuquerque.

Lionsgate plans to release the film on Jan. 16, 2009.