The Spirit interview

That degree of trust is presumably even more important in a film such as The Spirit where, like Sin City, most of the backgrounds will be drawn in later?

“The last thing you think about is what it all looks like,” points out Samuel. “We knew what we wanted to do, we knew what we looked like when we put our clothes on, in that space, and how we interacted with one another. Everything else was someone else’s responsibility. We just wanted to be sure that we gave Frank everything that he needed to go out and do what he needed to do.”

Scarlett smiles sweetly. “Basically, if it’s not a success it’s Frank’s fault, if it’s great we’ll take the credit…”

Perhaps inevitably for a film that features men being heroic and villainous and women in sexy clothes, The Spirit has come under fire for being pitched towards a teenage male market. The stars, however, disagree.

Eva, whose character is seen briefly naked from behind – “and yes it is my bum” she announces – is especially defensive. ‘I love comic book films but I find a lot of the problem I have with them is that the female character is always a version of a damsel in distress and there is no such thing in this film. It’s a ton of empowered females who use everything they have to get what they want. I think they’re really the backbone of the story.”

“The boys in this film are pretty much in competition and the women in this film manipulate the guys,” announces Sam. “Gabriel does his stuff but the women hypnotise him, he loves women, and it’s one of those things where he gets drawn into their wiles and their guiles and everything else. And this one,“ says Sam, pointing at Scarlett, “pretty much controls me. She’s the one telling me off for talking about taking over the world when there are bills that need to be paid.”

As for the look of the costumes, Scarlett points out that dressing sexily can make an enjoyable change.

“It’s fun for us to spend time with wardrobe, costume, hair and make-up and make the character. A lot of the time you’re playing a character that’s just, say, a journalist and you don’t have the opportunity to be all costumed and glamorous.

“It’s always fun,” she explains of dressing up. “Especially when you come on set and the director says you look fantastic and you think ‘yeah, that four hours in hair and make-up was worth it!’”

The Spirit is on general release from 1st January.