‘Blade’ director to remake ‘Crow’

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News | Film News | by Mark Pollard

Tired of remakes? Hollywood isn’t. Variety reports that Stephen Norrington, director of BLADE (1998) is coming out of a five-year exile following the disaster that was LEAGUE OF EXTRAORDINARY GENTLEMEN to write and direct a remake of THE CROW (1994), the comic-to-film revenger originally starring Brandon Lee.

Relativity Media, the producers of THE FORBIDDEN KINGDOM are presently negotiating for rights to produce the film.

The original CROW was directed by Alex Proyas and starred Brandon Lee, Bruce Lee’s son. Based on a comic book series by James O’Barr, the film was a gothic and highly stylized revenger about a musician named Eric Draven who is murdered and comes back to life for payback. It was a surprise hit that would have been Lee’s breakthrough role had he not tragically died during filming as a result of a prop gun accidentally being loaded with live rounds and fired at the actor causing fatal injuries.

Proyas’ 1994 film was followed with three lesser sequels from other filmmakers and a short-lived TV series starring Mark Dacascos

Speaking to Variety, Norrington said his version will be different. “It will be realistic, hard-edged and mysterious, almost documentary-style.”

Source: Variety

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  • Anonymous
    A quote from James O'Barr

    On the death of Brandon Lee, and referring to Brandon's fiancé, Eliza (Lisa Hutton);
    "I relived the same pain and anger as before. I wished I had never written the thing, though if I hadn't, I probably wouldn't be here, having been consumed by my very self-destructive behaviour. I was fueled by rage and fury for years and years. My soul felt like a hurrcane. I was raised in orphanages and foster homes, and I felt, like, "When is God gonna give me a break?" When Brandon died, I felt like, "Is God trying to test my limits or what?" Why let me become best friends with the guy and take him senselessly from me? God is a bastard, if there is one."

    "Brandon and Eliza helped me make something positive finally come out of this. The helped me a great deal. And I had a lot of guilt associated with the money I made from this movie. It felt like blood money to me, so I've kept nothing for myself. I used the money to help a lot of people; international children's organisations, and hip replacement surgery for a 10 year old Brazilian girl who thinks I'm some big rock star or something over here - some money to my family."
  • Anonymous
    The Crow is based on a personal tragedy that occurred in James O'Barr's own life that was mirrored in the movie. Brandon Lee was about to marry Eliza "Lisa" Hutton 18 days before he died. The film was finished in his memory supported by his fiancee, his mother, and Proyas.
    James O'Barr supposedly donated his take of the movie's proceeds(via Wikipedia)

    How can a remake of The Crow ever approach the original??

    In memory of Brando Lee:
    "Because we don't know when we will die, we get to think of life as an inexhaustible well. And yet everything happens only a certain number of times, and a very small number really. How many more times will you remember a certain afternoon of your childhood, an afternoon that is so deeply a part of your being that you can't even conceive of your life without it? Perhaps four, or five times more? Perhaps not even that. How many more times will you watch the full moon rise? Perhaps twenty. And yet it all seems limitless..."
  • Brandon Lee
    Leave my motha fuqin movie alone. Go remake Van Damme Movies or Steven Segal Movies. Hollywood needs a Makeover or a remake. Hollywood is Bankrupt of Ideas! I have an idea for you... Go make a movie about a Gay Man fighting for his right to marry his lover and then he gets beat up and left for dead. Then he learns to fight karate and wins the right to marry. Oh!!! Now thats a good one for you.
  • BruisedLo
    what's with you donnie yen fans? he would make a good eric draven? are you serious or kidding me??? its nice to see you support yen but for some characters he could never bring them to life. a lot of it has to do with specifically the face, and the acting. i can picture yen as that character and try to visualize him pulling off those brilliant scenes that brandon lee did. its not be the same effect, brandon is a better actor. image him with the face paint... you want a good laugh or to take him seriously? think about it for a sec.

    why moan and groan about the crow? -1. bruce lee's son is the star. -2. the film would of boosted brandon's career, because he did such a fantastic job. -3. its still sad that he wasn't able to see how the film did. -4. brandon died during the filming. -5. the movie is a classic, its really good, and lee's performance is more memorable than those other actors who did the crow sequels.
  • Anonymous
    Truth be told, I didn't care that much for the original, Brandon Lee or not...does anyone else not care one iota if this gets made or not? I sure don't. Let them cash in on the Crow, it's been going on for the last, oh I don't know, 14 years or so...why moan and groan about it now? That being said, why gripe about an action movie being made when we get so few these days? Be happy, people. It could be Circle of Friends 2 or another Sex in City: Redux.
  • Benzaiten
    Do not mess with the CLASSIC CROW by Brandon Lee you Hollywood morons! Idiots only seeking a profit without thinking about how to improve the franchise or take it into a new direction, pathetic.

    DONNIE YEN would definitely make a good CROW, but we all know hollywood doesn't like to cast Asian male into a lead roles. With the exception of Jet, Jackie and Chow all playing typecast roles.
  • Mike Leeder
    I am a big fan of the original "Crow", its the best of the series, while "City of Angels' was good and took some interesting turns, the less said about the subsequent movies the better...
    I did like "Stairway to Heaven", just picked up the boxed set a few months back and Mark d really got to breath some life into the character...just I think the pilot wasnt as strong as it could have been, and a lot of people didnt really get into the show for a number of reasons..also big thumbs up to Kadeem Hardison's take on the Skull Cowboy....

    I think remaking the tale of Eric Draven might not be the best idea, just yet...what I do remember was when they were first talking about "The Crow" series, was that one of the original ideas was to do it as an anthology, some episodes set in the past, the present, the future....showing the many different Crows...and always thought that could have been cool

    I think the tragedy that surrounded the first film has made Brandon the definitive Eric Draven in so many peoples minds that the mere thought of a new version is offputting to a lot of people.....the same way that if someone were to suggest bringing back "The Joker" played by another actor for the next "Batman" movie
  • Anonymous
    are diong new film the crow make it a history about a native american story with action martail atrs in it aswas , great story.
  • Anonymous
    new film about the crow make the story better like a action martail arts film with stoey and action and some romance for the woman in the world,get a martial arts star like gary daniels or mark dacscos or a new actor.
  • Anonymous
    if do a new crow film set it in the post
  • dac1138
    I'm just saying, you know they are going to pull stuff like this, at least this time someone who has a chance of making it interesting is involved instead of some music video director and the cast of some CW show. just like the ROBOCOP remake, I'm the last person that thinks ROBOCOP needs remaking, but at least Darren Aronofsky is going to do something interesting, it could be Brett Ratner or worse, same thing here Norrington has the action and nenre chops to pull something cool off, LXG might not have worked out but BLADE and Death Machine are both solid well shot genre pieces
  • Monk Sante
    LEAVE THE CROW ALONE!!!
  • Steve-O
    Much like the Batman movies from '89-'97, The Crow could use a reinvention. But one things for sure, you can touch the first Crow, that movie stands alone on its pedestal. All the inferior sequels were just attempts to cash in. But seeing how they're making "Awaken the Dragon", Hollywood is running out of ideas.
  • No need to remake this classic-Leave it alone!
  • daisho2004
    I again remakes should atleast span 20yrs. I really enjoyed the 1st. Crow movie with Brandan Lee. I don't see the need for a remake of this movie.
    Hollywood Have You Lost Your Damn Mind!
  • 107
    Again,

    A remake should only occur after 20 years has passed. In that span of time, a good deal of thinking could occur instead of some cat sitting back and creating his version of the original. I wish I had a job that allowed such antics.
  • Lionclaw
    i agree with the last poster ^
  • Hervey
    Hollywood is completely out of control. They have lost "class" and they only care about making a quick buck. They need to stop their money hungry antics
  • dac1138
    this might actually be a good fit. BLADE was one of the first films I saw that successfully integrated HK style action into an american film. BLADE predates the MATRIX by a whole year and the opening fight scene/shoot out in the blood disco is a fantastic piece of choreography and editing. but I thought Norrington had given up filmmaking after LXG?
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