©Courtesy of Lionsgate.
The Crow may finally be getting its wings, haunting first-look images of Bill Skarsgård and FKA Twigs in the upcoming remake of the 1994 noir thriller The Crow were released on Wednesday
After several false starts, it now appears that Rupert Sanders’s remake of the 1994 supernatural thriller will take flight on June 7, starring Bill Skarsgård as Erik Draven, who seeks otherworldly revenge on those who murdered him and his fiancée.
Jason Momoa had originally been expected to play the role, but he’d flown the coop some time ago. Other cast members include FKA Twigs as Erik’s girlfriend Shelly Webster, joined by Danny Huston, Laura Birn, Isabella Wei, Sami Bouajila, and Jordan Bolger. The script is being co-written by Zach Baylin and Will Schneider based on the graphic novel by James O’Barr.
©Courtesy of Lionsgate.
The official synopsis for the film reads: “Soulmates Eric Draven (Skarsgård) and Shelly Webster (FKA Twigs) are brutally murdered when the demons of her dark past catch up with them. Given the chance to save his true love by sacrificing himself, Eric sets out to seek merciless revenge on their killers, traversing the worlds of the living and the dead to put the wrong things right.”
Speaking to Vanity Fair, Sanders waxed poetic in explaining his fascination with the project. “What drew me to this was the opportunity to make a dark romance, something that dealt with loss, grief, and the ethereal veil between life and death and reaching through that,” he said, adding, “Look, I grew up listening to Joy Division and the Cure, and this movie is a bit like a Cure song—the beauty of melancholy.”
Brandon Lee, the son of Bruce Lee, played Erik Draven in the original 1994 version of The Crow. Tragically, he died during production when a firearms stunt went terribly wrong. Referring to Lee’s death, Sanders was quoted as saying: “Obviously, it was a terrible tragedy, and it’s definitely something that we’ve always had in mind through the making of the film. Brandon was an original voice and I think he will always be synonymous with The Crow and I hope he’s proud of what we’ve done and how we’ve brought the story back again.”
Sanders added: “[Lee’s] soul is very much alive in this 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 the upcoming film, Skarsgård will be sporting tattoos on his face and chest instead of the whiteface paint Lee had worn. This will be the third major role recently for the 33-year-old Swedish-born actor, who is appearing in Boy Kills World and in the upcoming Nosferatu. He’d earlier been seen in It Chapter Two, Deadpool 2, and John Wick: Chapter 4. Sanders is known for directing Snow White and the Huntsman and Ghost in the Shell.
©Courtesy of Lionsgate.