Ever since it was announced that Blade director, Stephen Norrington, was going to be writing and directing a reboot of The Crow franchise, there’s been speculation as to what shape his take on the classic comic and film character would be. At the time Norrington’s attachment was announced, it was revealed that the new version wouldn’t be, “gloriously gothic or stylized,” and this upset quite a few people who consider stylized goth to be the essence of The Crow story.
Norrington’s version is said to be, “realistic, hard-edged and mysterious,” which sounds like they’re trying to emulate the reboot success of Batman Begins with more brutality. That’s what I hope, anyway, although maybe that’s just wishful thinking on my part.
It was recently announced that the latest draft of Norrington’s Crow has been well received by studio Relativity Media, so much so that the project is reportedly going to fly into production. One of the big questions hovering over the film is who will step in and fill The Crow’s shoes, which is a tall order considering the great job the late Brandon Lee did in 1994 with Alex Proyas cult film, before Lee was tragically killed during filming (we’ll try and forget about subsequent portrayals of the character, shall we?).
We recently did a speculation post on who should play The Crow, and posed that question to you, our loyal Screen Rant readers. And today we learn, thanks to io9, that casting is already firmly being thought about: at a press conference for the drama Brothers, producer Ryan Kavanaugh spoke about casting for The Crow.
Although he obviously couldn’t talk specifics about The Crow casting, Kavanaugh did say that they’ve got good ideas about it. When asked whether they’re looking for actors for the titular role, Kavanaugh said:
“We’re looking. We’re in discussions… I think it’s something cool, we’re approaching it differently. It’s really a whole relaunch of the franchise, much more of a dark superhero type.
It will be an actor you’ve heard of, yes. We’re not ruling anything out. We’re looking at both, with the very well known and the “very talented but they may not be quite there yet.”
Kavanaugh also went on to reveal that this version of The Crow will still have the black-and-white make-up, but it will be different to what we’ve seen before. He confirmed my suspicions of trying to be like Batman Begins, by saying it’s the best way to think of this new Crow relaunch, “in terms of the look and feel of the character.” He said overall they’re sticking to the flavor of the dark and gritty world we know, but are, “relaunching it and making it with a much more present day character, someone more relatable to everybody.”
Will anyone be able to top Brandon Lee’s portrayal of The Crow?
Lastly, Kavanaugh assured us that the script is finished (minor tweaks aside) and that it is definitely a reboot and NOT a remake of the cult ’90s film. I’m willing to take him at his word on that last part, although it’s going to be a tough job for Norrington to keep the gritty and dark atmosphere without it just seeming like a rip-off of Alex Proyas’ film. I just hope the side of Norrington we see shining through in his direction of The Crow is reminiscent of Blade and not of The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen…
Who would you like to see play the iconic character of The Crow in this “reinvention” of the franchise/character? Do you think it should be someone really famous, a complete unknown or someone in-between? Do you like that this version apparently isn’t going to be gothic or stylized as the 1994 one was?
There’s no official word on when The Crow reboot will hit theaters, but it’s estimated to be sometime in 2011.
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