Sin City Movie Begins and Ends with Harnett

The reason I got into it is because [director] Robert Rodriguez needed to get the rights from Frank Miller.  Frank had felt like he had been duped before, and he didn't want to give the rights away to his baby, Sin City. I had worked with Robert before, and he was like, 'Well, just come down here for a couple days. We'll shoot a scene and show Frank that we're going to do this right.'

Hartnett’s role in the film is actually relatively small.  The character he portrays, however, is much more prominent and fleshed out in the graphic novel.

I'm only in it [the movie] for two scenes.  He's a much bigger character [in the graphic novel], but not in this story.

Along with Hartnett the movie includes Mickey Rourke, Bruce Willis, Benicio Del Toro, Michael Douglas, Jaime King, Clive Owen and Kate Bosworth as some of the many eccentric characters who call the title town home.

Hartnett finally adds that, while he was brought on board to help pitch the film to Frank Miller, only plays parts in the beginning and the end of the movie.

I went down there, and then Frank gave him the rights after that.  Robert called me back after I got done with [another project called Mozart and the Whale] and said, 'Can you come down and just do one more scene for the end of the movie?' So I'm just in the beginning and the end.

‘Sin City’ is due to be released on Apr. 1, 2005.

Source: Sci-Fi Wire