As we know, yet another film adaptation of James O’Barr’s graphic novel The Crow is in the works, this time by director Rupert Sanders. Starring Bill Skarsgård and FKA Twigs, the Lionsgate film will debut in theaters on August 23.
Several other adaptations had been made over the years, including Alex Proyas’s 1994 version starring the late Brandon Lee. It quickly became a cult classic, and three other sequels were made between 1996 and 2005. The storyline of The Crow involves a Goth rocker named Eric Draven who comes back from the dead to avenge his death and that of his fiancée, Shelley, both of whom had been murdered.
Brandon Lee, the sun of martial artist Bruce Lee, died during the production of the 1994 film when a prop gun misfired on the set. Sanders was recently quoted as saying that Brandon’s “soul is very much alive in this [new] film. There’s a real fragility and beauty to his version of The Crow, and I think Bill [Skarsgård] feels like he is a successor to that.”
In a recent interview with Empire, Sanders emphasized that his upcoming adaptation has “nothing to do with Hollywood…it’s a very scrappy indie movie. The only reason we could to that is because it’s not a studio movie.” He added that he wanted to “remain close to the center and the darkness and the violence that’s in the graphic novel.”
Bill Skarsgård said that he was “a huge fan of the original film growing up as a kid and was so honored to take on the role of Eric Draven. But really what drew me to it was what Rupert Sanders wanted to do with it. He wanted to completely reimagine the story and the character and tailor it towards a modern audience. It’s a character that I know many revere and have a strong connection to — he is unlike any I’ve ever taken on before.”
Despite a production budget of only $50 million, the director was quoted as saying “You have to be more adept at making things more efficiently, that are emotionally resonant, and not just spectacle.”
Sanders added that he hoped his adaptation would inspire others to follow suit, declaring “I really hope we’re in for another kind of Easy Riders, Raging Bulls period of having to make these more down-and-dirty films that still feel like big epic movies [but that] are weirder and stranger.”