The Hollywood machine has been trying its hardest to reboot "The Crow" for the better
part of a decade now.
"Suddenly, I heard a tapping, as of someone gently rapping...rapping at my chamber door."
The trick is that so much of the 1994 film rested on the shoulders of its lead, Brandon
Lee, who was tragically killed in an on-set accident that involved a malfunctioning prop
gun.
"Everybody waits for him to get up, and he didn't get up.
He just stayed there."
In the wake of that, a lot of the mystique around "The Crow" has been tied to that eerie
coincidence that Lee died playing a character who was killed in the prime of his life.
But it would seem that after many failed attempts and truly terrible direct-to-video sequels,
a full-on, big budgeted reboot of "The Crow" is finally happening.
“We killed you man!
You’re dead!”
“Sorry to disappoint you.”
The Hollywood Reporter says that none other than Pennywise himself, "It" and "It: Chapter
2" star Mr. Bill Skarsgård, is set to play Eric Draven in this reboot.
It’ll be directed by Rupert Sanders — who you may remember as the director of “Snow
White and the Huntsman” — and written by Oscar-nominated "King Richard" screenwriter
Zach Baylin.
The film is supposedly set to shoot this summer in Prague and Munich with a budget in the
$50 million range.
The series needed a little time to rest after a string of edgelord sequels that starred
folks like Vincent Perez, Eric Mabius, and Edward Furlong.
Nonetheless, in recent years there have been many rumblings of a resurrection.
In 2014, Corin Hardy signed on as director with Luke Evans locked in to star.
Evans bowed out shortly thereafter and was replaced by Jack Huston — who you may know
from "Boardwalk Empire".
This version of the movie got far enough to cast the great Andrea Riseborough as its villain
before it, too, fell apart in early 2016.
"Try harder.
Try again."
Hardy was pulled back in by Jason Momoa, who signed on for what they promised would be
an R-rated adaptation that would honor the original source material.
By 2018, "The Crow" reboot was once again dead as both Momoa and Hardy departed the
project, which stalled out while seeking its $40 million budget — not to mention the
glut of creative differences between the filmmaker and producer, the late Samuel Hadida.
Those are just the notable close calls!
Over the last 10 years, everybody from Rob Zombie and Bradley Cooper to Tom Hiddleston
and Channing Tatum has been rumored to be involved in a reboot.
Honestly, can you really say you've been a noteworthy leading man in the past decade
of Hollywood history unless you have been rumored to star in "The Crow"?
The answer is no.
So the real question is whether or not this iteration will actually make it in front of
cameras.
We’re inclined to think it has a fighting chance.
To put it in frank commercial terms, "The Crow" is known enough that a reboot makes
sense in this day and age where there are so many content providers desperate for recognizable
movies and TV shows.
Here at Slash Film, we’re most intrigued by Bill Skarsgård in the Eric Draven role.
Skarsgård can obviously be quite intimidating.
Heck, he's famous for playing a creepy clown!
"And...action…"
"Yeah, that's beautiful."
That quality is very much in line with the Eric Draven from the comics and original film.
Momoa would have been a more intimidating version of the character in life than in death,
which makes us think he was the wrong choice for the part despite being undeniably charismatic.
Skarsgård as a spirit hellbent on revenge is way more off-putting, more horror-driven,
and that’s very interesting to us.
Plus, Skarsgård has been looking for a project that can truly showcase his leading man potential.
Sure, an entire generation of people know him — and were traumatized by him — as
Pennywise from the "It" movies, but that's a hard role to turn into a movie star career.
"Tasty, tasty, beautiful fear!"
Hundreds of millions of dollars worth of moviegoers being terrified of you doesn't automatically
mean you're in the position to headline a Marvel movie!
However, "The Crow" may be the perfect solution.
After all, this is a comic book movie, but it's dripping with horror potential, including
monsters and creepy imagery.
This could be the role that bridges the gap for Skarsgård.
"What are you supposed to be, a clown or something?"
"Sometimes."
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