Frank Miller opens up about his battle with alcoholism in the documentary "Frank Miller: American Genius". The legendary comic book artist shares his struggles with addiction, particularly around the time of the 2014 premiere of "Sin City: A Dame to Kill For". The documentary, premiering for one night only in Cinemark theaters on Monday, June 10, reveals Miller's candid reflections on his addiction.
"My addiction was a dance with death, but it was a very boring dance because it was the same moves over and over again," says Miller, 67, in the film. "They knew me at the local saloons. I went through the same ritual every morning. I had a watch on my wrist and the main purpose it served me was to tell me when the bars were open."
Miller, known for his influential work on graphic novels like "Daredevil: Born Again", "The Dark Knight Returns", "Sin City", and "300", and his screenwriting for "RoboCop 2" and "RoboCop 3", discusses how alcohol abuse impacted his artistic abilities. He explains that his addiction drew him away from drawing and towards writing, as his motor skills deteriorated.
"I realized I could make a good living just writing, and writing somehow flows much more easily in a drunken state," Miller says. However, he soon found that the depressant effects of alcohol hindered his creativity. "Pretty soon, the writing doesn’t happen, or you continue to do it but it's not very good. There was a fragmentation that happens, much like the fragmentation of the mind, where the lines don't hold together as well and the images aren't as simple or as coherent."
Miller describes living in a "constant state of fear" and feeling "out of control." He admits, "From time to time, I'd know I was killing myself, and I wanted to obliterate that feeling the only way I knew how, which was to take the voice that I was killing myself with. It's not rational. I was not rational. It was with me, the way the disease works. I was committing slow suicide. In fact, it turned into fast suicide."
Reflecting on his recovery, Miller appreciates the clarity sobriety has brought him. "Clarity is quite beautiful. It is quite useful. The control of one's faculties is nothing but beautiful. My biggest feeling about addiction is it is a rather sickening sense of wasted time."
Throughout his career, Miller has collaborated with notable figures like Robert Rodriguez, Jessica Alba, and Zack Snyder, all of whom appear in the documentary.
The synopsis for "Frank Miller: American Genius" states, "The film explores the near half-century career of the legendary comic book artist and writer. Made for his fans following a near-death experience, the documentary delves into Miller’s radical and defining influence on art, storytelling, and culture. Following his small-town beginnings in Vermont, to New York City, Hollywood, and beyond; this intimate documentary delves into his failures, successes, self-destruction, and re-discovery."
The Quran - Chapter Ar-Rahman : 13
Then which of your Lord’s favours will you ˹humans and jinn˺ both deny?
Mankind and Jinn are surrounded by Divine Bounties
فَبِأَيِّ آلَاءِ رَبِّكُمَا تُكَذِّبَانِ (So, [ 0 mankind and Jinn,] which of the bounties of your Lord will you deny?...55:13).
The word آلَاءِ 'al a' is the plural and it means 'benefits, benefaction, favour, boon, blessing or bounty'. The address is to the two species of Jinn and men referred to in verse 33 below and many other verses of Surah Ar-Rahman where Jinn are specifically mentioned.', 'lentil' and so on.
