Fans of the franchise may not be holding their breath just yet, but new word on the long-gestating reboot of The Crow is that a new director and lead star are now on board. Deadline reports that Rupert Sanders (Snow White and the Huntsman, Ghost in the Shell) is set to direct a new reimagining of The Crow with a script from Oscar nominee Zach Baylin (King Richard). Bill Skarsgard (It: Part One & Two, Castle Rock) is also set to star as Eric Draven, the role originally played by Brandon Lee, with Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter FKA twigs co-starring.
“The Crow is beautiful, dark, poetic and sometimes disturbing,” Sanders said in a statement. “It is a story of love, loss, grief, and revenge. It is a great honor to revisit James O’Barr’s iconic comic and reimagine The Crow as a foreboding voice of today.”
The Crow is based on the original graphic novel by James O’Barr. This new take will be produced by Victor Hadida, Molly Hassell, John Jencks, and Edward R. Pressman. The project is a collaboration between production companies Hassell Free Productions, Electric Shadow Company, Davis Films, and Edward R. Pressman Film Corporation, in association with 30WEST.
The Crow was previously developed into a feature film that was released in 1994. Directed by Alex Proyas and penned by David J. Schow and John Shirley, the film features the late Brandon Lee as Eric Draven, a murdered musician who is resurrected to avenge the deaths of himself and his fiancée. Tragically, Lee was killed due to an on-set accident shortly before wrapping his work on the movie. The film has become iconic and spawned several sequels.
The Crow Reboot Nearly Happened with Jason Momoa Starring
There have been attempts for years to get a new reboot of The Crow off the ground. Different names have been floating around as possible contenders to play Eric Draven, including Luke Evans, Jack Huston, and Norman Reedus. By 2016, the project appeared to be making traction with director Corin Hardy, who planned to cast Aquaman star Jason Momoa as the titular vigilante. Though both seemed very excited about the project, that iteration of the reboot fizzled with both announcing their exit in 2018.
While the Jason Momoa version died in development hell, there have since been images and footage released of the actor test screening for the role. It’s an interesting peek at what could have been, with Hardy noting last year that he still hadn’t completely given up on his hopes that their version of The Crow might someday get made after all.
“It’s a story that I’m just in love with and wedded towards and I put three and a half, four years of life into and love and blood and sweat and tears, and I have a ton of materials, so I don’t know whether one day … I suppose I’m not really wanting to show them because I still believe there will be a Crow sometime, but we’ll see,” he said, per ComicBook.com. “I do think both James O’Barr’s original Crow graphic novel and the subsequent other iterations of that character in the comic books, there’s no reason not to do a lot more with that character, the concept of The Crow, the mythology of The Crow, and the tone and what that represents is still unique within the world we’re in at the moment.”
There’s no word yet on when this new take on The Crow with Bill Skarsgard is planned to be released.
