FILM · 2005 · USA
Sin City
- Directed by
- Robert Rodriguez, Frank Miller
- Runtime
- 124 min
- Studio
- Dimension Films, Troublemaker Studios, Miramax
79 archived facts 7 topics 1 source Last reviewed Sep 2026
Welcome to Sin City. This town beckons to the tough, the corrupt, the brokenhearted. Some call it dark… Hard-boiled. Then there are those who call it home — Crooked cops, sexy dames, desperate vigilantes. Some are seeking revenge, others lust after redemption, and then there are those hoping for a little of both. A universe of unlikely and reluctant heroes still trying to do the right thing in a city that refuses…
Summary: TMDB
All facts (79)
- #001
Because of the way the film was shot, Mickey Rourke (Marv) and Elijah Wood (Kevin) never met until the film was released.
- #002
Guest director Quentin Tarantino directed the scene in which Dwight (Clive Owen) and Jackie Boy (Benicio Del Toro) are in front of the car, before Dwight is pulled over by a police officer.
- #003
The swords Miho (Devon Aoki) uses in this film are from Kill Bill: Vol. 1 (2003). The film's director, Quentin Tarantino, kept them at the back of his garage.
- #004
Contains a major spoiler — show
It was Benicio Del Toro's idea to have Jackie Boy use his teeth to pull the gun from his severed hand.
- #005
Initially Robert Rodriguez did not plan for Benicio Del Toro to wear makeup, but Del Toro insisted on it. Tarantino later praised the makeup so much that he said "people actually forget that's not what Benicio looks like."
- #006
Brittany Murphy shot all of her scenes in a single day.
- #007
The scene in which Marv comes out of the manhole and staggers against the wall was played in reverse, then shown forward to give Marv an otherworldly look.
- #008
According to an interview with "Latino Review," Michael Madsen got the role of Bob by approaching Robert Rodriguez at the "Kill Bill" wrap party and asking why he was not in the film. Rodriguez agreed and gave Madsen the only role not yet cast: Bob.
- #009
The "The Customer is Always Right" sequence at the start of this film was actually shot before Frank Miller allowed Robert Rodriguez to make the film. Josh Hartnett and Marley Shelton came in and shot their scenes in front of a green screen in one day to show Miller that it could be done in a way that would complement the graphic novels.
- #010
Achieving the signature white blood on screen turned out to be difficult. Normal film blood could not provide the sharp look. The crew had to use fluorescent red liquid and wash it with black light. In post-production the liquid was turned white.
- #011
According to Robert Rodriguez's commentary, the whipping scene between the Yellow Bastard and Nancy was actually shot faithfully to the graphic novel: much longer and more graphic than what appears in the final cut or the extended edition. Rodriguez stated that even for Sin City, the torture section crossed the line of bad taste.
- #012
Robert Rodriguez made Kill Bill: Vol. 2 (2004) for one dollar. Quentin Tarantino said he would repay the debt by directing a segment of this film for a dollar. Tarantino, a champion of the film on digital, said he was curious to gain hands-on experience with the high-resolution cameras Rodriguez praised. Asked about the experience, Tarantino gave only this answer: "Mission Accomplished."
- #013
One night between shooting days, Robert Rodriguez played a rock concert at a local nightclub. His band was the opening act, and Bruce Willis and his band The Accelerators headlined. The concert was attended by the cast and crew of this film as well as the cast and crew of A Scanner Darkly (2006), which was shooting nearby at the same time. All proceeds from the series were donated to charities.
- #014
Most of this film's effects and music were made in Robert Rodriguez's studio directly across from his house, because he refuses to work anywhere else and avoids other Hollywood conventions.
- #015
The shape of Elijah Wood's chin was subtly altered in post-production to give him a more disturbing look.
- #016
Contains a major spoiler — show
The scene Quentin Tarantino directed is the drive to the pit, in which Dwight (Clive Owen) talks with a very dead Jackie Boy (Benicio Del Toro). When Tarantino insisted on building a real car for the shoot, Robert Rodriguez told him everything would be easier without the car. After a few takes with the real car, Tarantino realized his friend was right. Tarantino also raised the idea that Jackie Boy's throat being cut would affect his speech and that Dwight should speak his internal monologue himself rather than dubbing it later.
- #017
When Marv (Mickey Rourke) visits Lucille's (Carla Gugino's) apartment for his medication, he says: "this isn't some creep with a gas can trying to torch some wino!" This is a reference to the Sin City story "Just Another Saturday Night," in which Marv harms a group of tiki boys who burn winos alive. The sequel Sin City: A Dame to Kill For (2014) would later adapt the "Just Another Saturday Night" story, which takes place before this film and shows Marv dealing with several rich kids trying to burn a bum.
- #018
As part of her research for the role, Jessica Alba visited strip clubs, but she said it was of no use because all the professional strippers were "is trying to get tips."
- #019
Robert Rodriguez initially envisioned Johnny Depp for the role of Jackie Boy, but Depp could not take it due to prior commitments. Rodriguez saw Benicio Del Toro at the Oscars with long hair (in his words, "Wolfman" hair). Coincidentally, Del Toro went on to play the title character in The Wolfman (2010) and said he "was looking at Jackie Boy." Rodriguez told him not to cut his hair and mailed him a copy of the comic and the short film "The Customer is Always Right." Del Toro signed on immediately.
- #020
The strategy Dwight uses to take back Old Town by drawing the gangsters into a narrow alley (so they cannot spread out and take up more space) is based on the strategy Spartan King Leonidas used to trap the Persian army at the Battle of Thermopylae. 300 (2006), released a year after Sin City, was based on a comic about that battle, also written by Frank Miller. In addition, the line "No escape, no surrender, no mercy," spoken in Dwight's inner monologue, is delivered by the narrator in 300.
- #021
Leonardo DiCaprio was initially considered for the role of Roark Jr., but he ultimately turned it down and the role went to Nick Stahl.
- #022
The matchbook Hartigan finds contains a racy pun: "Liquor in the front, poker in the rear."
- #023
Robert Rodriguez initially asked Hans Zimmer to compose the score, but Zimmer could not accept because he was in England preparing Batman Begins (2005). Zimmer recommended his two friends John Debney and Graeme Revell.
- #024
The co-director and creator of the original comic series appears in the role of a priest. (This is not considered a cameo. That applies only to actors not listed in the titles and to Frank Miller being credited as the Priest in the cast list.)
- #025
Robert Rodriguez, saying that Frank Miller's visual style in the comic was as meaningful in this film as his own, insisted that Miller receive a "co-director" credit. The Directors Guild of America would not allow it. As a result, Rodriguez resigned from the DGA, saying, "It was easier for me to quietly resign before shooting because otherwise I'd be forced to make compromises I was unwilling to make or set a precedent that might hurt the guild later on." Unfortunately, by resigning from the DGA, Rodriguez also had to give up the director's chair on John Carter (2012) for Paramount Pictures (at the time titled "A Princess of Mars," after the book it is based on). Rodriguez had already signed on and been announced as the film's director when the DGA situation arose, and he planned to begin shooting shortly after finishing this film.
- #026
Directors Robert Rodriguez and Frank Miller planned every shot in the film using the panels of the original book as storyboards.
- #027
Rosario Dawson, Mickey Rourke, Bruce Willis, Jessica Alba, Jaime King, Jude Ciccolella and Powers Boothe were the only actors to return for Sin City: A Dame to Kill For (2014).
- #028
Because each sequence of this film was shot separately, new actors were added and worked into the stories throughout production. In most cases, separate footage was combined in post-production so it would look as if it had all been shot on the same day. For example: Marv (Mickey Rourke) takes Wendy (Jaime King) to Nancy's (Jessica Alba's) apartment. When Rourke and King shot the scene, Alba had not yet been cast; her footage was added later. The same goes for the scenes between Marv, Cardinal Roark (Rutger Hauer) and Kevin (Elijah Wood); Hauer and Wood were cast after Rourke had shot his scenes.
- #029
WILHELM SCREAM: When Marv throws a police officer out of a stolen police car.
- #030
Nancy (Jessica Alba) and Wendy (Jaime King) drive a car with the license plate "LEV 311." Frank Miller often includes this in his various stories for the "favorite girl" character in that story. The number is a nod to his wife Lynn Varley, whose birthday is March 11 and with whom he frequently collaborates.
- #031
Although many of the actors already resembled their characters, some of them, including Bruce Willis, Mickey Rourke, Benicio Del Toro and Nick Stahl, were given makeup and prosthetics to resemble Frank Miller's drawings more strongly.
- #032
Initially this film was to include the story "Hell And Back," from the "Sin City" maxi-series, with Johnny Depp playing Wallace. This was scrapped before production began, but a sequel was most likely planned, since at one point Robert Rodriguez intended to film all of Frank Miller's stories. However, the box-office failure of Sin City: A Dame to Kill For (2014) put those plans on hold indefinitely.
- #033
It is adapted from Frank Miller's comics "The Hard Goodbye," "The Big Fat Kill" and "That Yellow Bastard." The opening footage featuring Josh Hartnett and Marley Shelton came from the Sin City short story "The Customer is Always Right" in the "Babe Wore Red" collection. However, the epilogue featuring Hartnett and Alexis Bledel was an original scene written specifically for this film.
- #034
Counting only the blows he takes to the head or face, Marv (Mickey Rourke) is hit twenty-one times over the course of this film.
- #035
The cool detective Nancy Callahan refers to when she says she will sign her letters as "Cordelia" is Cordelia Gray from P. D. James's novels. Clive Owen (Dwight) starred in the film adaptation of P. D. James's Children of Men (2006).
- #036
The opening title sequence and some of Robert Rodriguez's character choices were made before anyone had been cast.
- #037
Christopher Walken, Willem Dafoe, Steve Buscemi and Michael Douglas were initially offered roles. Douglas was offered the role of Hartigan, Buscemi was offered the role of Roark Jr. when it was Yellow Bastard, and Dafoe and Walken were offered the role of Senator Roark.
- #038
At one point Hartigan resists Nancy's advances by telling her, "I'm old enough to be your grandfather." Although Hartigan (sixty-eight years old) is old enough to be the grandfather of Nancy (nineteen years old), in real life there are only twenty-six years between the ages of Bruce Willis and Jessica Alba.
- #039
Although Bruce Willis is left-handed, his character uses his right hand, so the shots in the film look even closer to the scenes in the comics where Hartigan uses his right hand.
- #040
According to Rutger Hauer, the entire set for his scene was a green screen, and the only physical elements in it were the bed, the nightstand and the book Hauer was reading at the time.
- #041
This was one of the few films shot entirely on a "digital back-lot" worldwide (all the acting was filmed in front of a green screen and the backgrounds were added during post-production). While the other films (Immortal (2004), Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow (2004) and Casshern (2004), both of which were filmed) were shot first, Sin City was the first to be released. In addition to the "back-lot" method, the use of high-definition digital cameras in this film (like Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow) makes it one of the world's first "fully-digital" live-action films.
- #042
Except for "The Customer is Always Right," at one point in every segment the narrator says the name of the story as part of the dialogue.
- #043
When Jackie Boy (Benicio Del Toro) and his "troops" enter Shellie's (Brittany Murphy) apartment, one of them is wearing a T-shirt with a peace sign featuring a star and a flag (the symbol also appears as one of Becky's (Alexis Bledel's) earrings). This is the symbol of the paramilitary peacekeeping force "P. A. X." from Frank Miller's Martha Washington comic book series, which begins with "Give Me Liberty."
- #044
Although the action takes place in the fictional Basin City, a copy of the Chrysler Building in New York City can be seen in the background as Marv runs past the rooftops.
- #045
One of the prostitutes in Old Town is dressed like Wonder Woman. Seen from behind, she wears a star-spangled hot pants outfit with a golden lasso at her side. She also appeared in almost the same shot in the original comic book (when Marv asks about Goldie, just before Wendy knocks him down).
- #046
In the comic book, the Yellow Bastard's (Nick Stahl's) car is an Atlantic '57C Bugatti. However, for this film it was replaced with a 1936 model Cadillac limousine because using the Bugatti for four days of shooting would have cost more than $230,000. Also, the Yellow Bastard's license plate is "TYB 069." The first half is the initials of the "That Yellow Bastard." story.
- #047
In the Sin City comic book, Marv is a two-meter giant, while Cardinal Roark is a dwarf. In this film, Marv (Mickey Rourke) at 5'11" is five inches shorter than Cardinal Roark (Rutger Hauer) at 6'1".
- #048
Contains a major spoiler — show
Body count: 41 (including the Extended Version). This does not include deaths that occur off-screen but result in bodies seen on-screen.
- #049
Due to scheduling conflicts, Rutger Hauer and Mickey Rourke did not perform together in person in their shared scenes. Rourke filmed his part of the scene eight months before Hauer shot his own role, and Hauer dubbed his lines to match Rourke's recorded voice.
- #050
The cover of the Sin City book "Booze, Broads, and Bullets" can be seen periodically throughout this film. Its most notable appearance is on the cover of the matchbox Hartigan takes to find Nancy; it is also visible in the next scene in the background of the strip club when Hartigan first enters (as a poster on the right).
- #051
Before the footage was released, fans liked it so much that when a 27-second behind-the-scenes clip appeared on Entertainment Tonight (1981) (May 19, 2004), it was quickly put online (though not officially by the show) and downloaded more than a million times. The raw footage contained only brief shots of Bruce Willis and a scantily clad Jessica Alba performing in front of the green screen.
- #052
Frank Miller's "Sin City" comic book series ran from 1991 to 2000.
- #053
The text of the newspaper shown during "The Hard Goodbye" contains a written transcript of the opening scene, and "The Hard Goodbye." The author of the article is F. Miller, that is, Frank Miller. The date on the paper appears as 1993 or 1999, indicating that the story takes place on that date.
- #054
Adrien Brody auditioned for the role of Jackie Boy.
- #055
The "razor-wire handling" gloves are actually a brand of lacrosse gloves called Gladiators manufactured by STX.
- #056
Director Robert Rodriguez later added the music to which Jessica Alba dances; during the shoot she was listening to different music.
- #057
One of the guns Hartigan uses is a Beretta M93R, a weapon that was modified and used in the RoboCop film series. Frank Miller co-wrote the screenplays for RoboCop 2 (1990) and RoboCop 3 (1993).
- #058
Before Carla Gugino was cast, Uma Thurman, Sarah Jessica Parker, Ashley Judd, Carrie-Anne Moss and Naomi Watts were considered to play Lucille.
- #059
Late in the film, when Hartigan (Bruce Willis) attacks the Yellow Bastard's farm, he is shot in the arm by one of the police officers guarding the farm. When the officers reach his body, they say they should run him over and not leave the job to chance, but Hartigan rolls over and kills them both first, remarking "good advice." This echoes a scene from Die Hard (1988), in which Willis plays John McClane, who is pinned under a table by a henchman who walks toward him and shoots at him; the henchman then tells him that the next time he has the chance to kill someone he should not hesitate, whereupon McClane shoots the henchman over the table and remarks "thanks for the advice."
- #060
Kate Bosworth was the first choice for the role of Gail.
- #061
Jessica Simpson auditioned for the role of Nancy Callahan.
- #062
Anthony Michael Hall was considered for the role of Dwight.
- #063
The cast includes an Oscar winner, Benicio Del Toro, and three Oscar nominees: Michael Clarke Duncan, Clive Owen and Mickey Rourke.
- #064
In one scene, Gail (Rosario Dawson) refers to Dwight (Clive Owen) as "Lancelot," the knight of King Arthur's Round Table. Owen starred in King Arthur (2004).
- #065
Matt Dillon was considered for the role of Hartigan.
- #066
Marley Shelton appeared in Pleasantville (1998), which, much like this film, used the visual technique of showing everything in black and white and only occasionally showing a person, object or scene in color.
- #067
Bruce Willis and Michael Clarke Duncan appeared in Armageddon (1998), Breakfast of Champions (1999) and The Whole Nine Yards (2000). Willis and Elijah Wood appeared in North (1994). Willis and Josh Hartnett appeared in Lucky Number Slevin (2006).
- #068
Contains a major spoiler — show
Rutger Hauer's head is crushed at the end of Marv's story, just as at the end of Blade Runner (1982) he crushes his creator's head with his hands. In Blade Runner (1982), before crushing his head, he had called his victim Dr. Tyrell "father." In this film he is a "father" (a priest).
- #069
As Dwight and Jackie Boy drive toward the tar pits, there is a faint color in the background. The colors rotate one by one throughout the scene, in the order blue, yellow, red and green. The only exception is when the police car is behind them; then only blue and red rotate.
- #070
Marv's 1911 .45 ACP pistol is named Gladys.
- #071
The film made the shortlist for the Best Visual Effects Oscar but was not nominated.
- #072
Both Klump and Hartigan use RoboCop's Auto 9 (specifically the RoboCop 3 version). This is a nod to director Frank Miller, who also wrote RoboCop 2 (1992) and RoboCop 3 (1993).
- #073
Although their characters never meet, this is the first film to feature both Brittany Murphy and Elijah Wood. The second was Happy Feet (2006), in which they played a couple. Their first collaboration, however, was the series King of the Hill (1997), in which Murphy was a regular and Wood and Michael Clarke Duncan were guest stars.
- #074
Benicio Del Toro and Josh Hartnett played werewolves: Del Toro in The Wolfman (2010) and Hartnett in Penny Dreadful (2014).
- #075
The scene in which Dwight talks (in his mind) to Jackie Boy's half-severed head in the car recalls the scene in Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia (1974) in which Warren Oates talks to the severed head sitting in the passenger seat beside him in his car.
- #076
Devon Aoki (Miho) and Jessica Alba (Nancy) both appeared in films alongside Paul Walker: 2 Fast 2 Furious (2003) and Into the Blue (2005), respectively.
- #077
The song featured in Carla Gugino's previous film, Snake Eyes (1998), was Meredith Brooks' "Sin City."
- #078
Elijah Wood and Rutger Hauer both appeared in the film Wilfred (2011).
- #079
Rosario Dawson and Nick Stahl had previously been directed by Larry Clark, in Kids (1995) and Bully (2001), respectively.
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