The Crow Remake Plummets as it Loses Yet Another Director and Star

Welcome back to another edition of Comic Relief! where we talk about all the goings on in the World of Nerd!

In the genre of cult classics there are quite a few names that stand out from the 90s era of film, however, none come close to the legendary adaptation of James O'barr's acclaimed comic: The Crow. The film found a similar stigma as Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight due to the death of its star, Brandon Lee (28 year old son of martial arts legend Bruce Lee) on set due to an accident involving a prop revolver. Despite the tragedy of his death, Brandon's performance in The Crow was his most defining one as he brought such intensity and charm to the character of Eric Draven. Since it's release, there have been several sequels (all of which have failed utterly) that have tried to carry on the legacy of what Brandon Lee established so long ago. Most recently however, a reboot of that cult classic has been in production limbo, and yesterday it took a crippling blow when both their second director and star of the film walked from the project.



While, to many fans, this is being hailed as cherished news, as the announcement of a reboot of The Crow has been met with some very mixed feedback, it is honestly a shame that we are getting to miss out on this project. Not only was the actor who departed the role of Eric Draven none other than the great Jason Momoa (who took to social media announcing his departure by revealing some stunning concept art as him in the iconic Crow make up with him hiding in the back corner done up in it as well), but most importantly the screenplay was going to be done, in a great deal, by Jame O'barr himself which means that sadly we have missed out on an opportunity to see a closer vision to his actual vision (this is not to say that the Brandon Lee film butchered source material, so much as that it took some artistic liberties with O'barr's narrative that I would like to see corrected). This is the second time both a director AND a star have walked from this project (the first star being Luke Evans from the recent Dracula Untold), so even though there has been no announcement regarding a full on cancellation here, it's safe to say that best case scenario, it's not happening ANYTIME soon. For those interested and unfamiliar with The Crow, I have included a personal synopsis below:

It's true what they say you know, Love never dies. Shelly Webster and her rock and roll fiance, Eric Draven, were just a young couple madly in love, struggling to make their way in the world. To make matters worse they were living in the absolute wrong neighborhood. Devils Night, a holiday for the low life scum to raise hell across the city, erupts as a group of thugs break into their apartment, rape Shelly, and murder both her and her fiance. A year has passed since the horrific deed, but the suffering they endured has allowed for Eric Draven to come back from the dead. You see there was an ancient belief that the Crow carries the spirits of the dead to the afterlife, but in some special cases, if their death was bad enough, the spirit would be given a second chance in life to come back and exact revenge and gain closure in the land of the living before returning to rest. Bound to this world of the living by the Crow, Draven does just this and hunts down all those responsible for his murder and the murder of his beloved. 

You can check out either James O'barr's beautiful book or Brandon Lee's defining film, either way you can't go wrong. Unfortunately, it appears that you won't be able to see a new adaptation of it here in the near future.

This has been another edition of Comic Relief! I hope you have enjoyed and we will see you again soon!