The cult movie of the Nineties, The Crow, was scarred by the death of its leading actor, Brandon Lee, who died in 1993 due to a shooting injury which occurred on the set. Ever since, fans over the world have desired for the story of Eric Draven to apply in the case of Bruce Lee’s son and hoped ‘’that when someone dies, a crow carries their souls to the land of the dead and that sometimes, just sometimes, the crow could bring that soul back to put the wrong things right’’.
Publications have been discussing on the matter for several weeks and fans are divided among believers and non-believers. Although the numbering of both parties is debatable, some of those pertaining to the latter category seem not to understand one thing: the revival of The Crow is not intended to be a remake of the 1994 Alex Proyas movie. It is a fortune that James O’Barr, creator of The Crow, answered to Korsgaard’s questions on the matter.
James O’Barr himself seemed to be suspicious at first and restrained at the idea of a remake of the original movie, starring Brandon Lee. The possible director of the upcoming movie, Javier Gutierrez, insisted to personally convince O’Barr that he did not intend to recreate the movie: ‘’I don’t want to remake that film, that film is perfect as it is. I want to do your book, literally page-for-page adaptation’’. Assured with the intentions of By the Fall director, the creator of The Crow agreed that ‘’while the movie has the right feel and the right flavor of the book, probably only 40% of the book made it into the movie.’’
Another point which definitely differs the main character of the original graphic novel from the character in the movie adaptation of Alex Proyas is that ‘’Eric and Shelley never have their last names revealed (in the original). Hopefully, this is one area the new movie being more faithful to the comic will come into play, and Eric won’t be going by Eric Draven in the new film’’. In this way, the memory of the regretted Brandon Lee will not be stained with a non-professional replica or an unequally devoted performance. The late actor and martial artist is grounded in the memory of O’Barr: ‘’The level of physicality and charisma he brought to the role was amazing to witness (…) he brought the right mix of humor, pain and menace to the role.’’
According to The Hollywood Reporter, the favorite actor for Eric’s part is Luke Evans (as reported by James O’Barr himself). Producer Ed Pressman, who dealt with the classical 1994 movie as well, hopes that the filming of the movie will start next spring.