Eva Mendes will play the key role of Sand Saref, a beauty with dangerous curves in the Frank Miller-directed "Will Eisner's The Spirit" reports the trades.

Scarlett Johansson, Samuel L. Jackson and Gabriel Macht star the fantasy thriller about a rookie cop (Macht) who returns from the dead to fight crime as the Spirit from the shadows of Central City.

Sand Saref is described as the only woman who could break the Spirit's heart. As teenage lovers, the two were torn apart when Sand's father was accidentally killed by the Spirit's uncle.

Production will begin in October in New Mexico and will be shot entirely at Albuquerque Studios. Lionsgate will release the film in 2009.