After a turbulent production marked by director and script changes, a new interpretation of The Crow is finally ready to take flight. Ahead of the film‘s June 7 release, Vanity Fair gave us our first-look images at Lionsgate‘s much-anticipated The Crow reboot, teasing Bill Skarsgård’s unsettling metamorphosis into the titular goth avenger. Rupert Sanders takes the helm, with Zach Baylin and Will Schneider penning the script for the remake of the iconic 1994 cult classic.
Drawing inspiration from James O’Barr’s 1989 limited comic book series, this film marks the fifth instalment in the series. A modern reboot of the franchise, the new film follows Skarsgård’s Eric Draven as he traverses “the worlds of the living and the dead to put the wrong things right”.
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Skarsgård, who many will might remember as Pennywise from the recent It movies, now takes on a new challenge as the undead hero Eric Draven, aka The Crow, while the talented British singer FKA Twigs is playing his lover, Shelly Webster. The cast of ‘The Crow‘ also features Danny Huston, Isabella Wei, Laura Birn, Sami Bouajila, and Jordan Bolger.
“Soulmates Eric Draven (Skarsgård) and Shelly Webster (FKA twigs) are brutally murdered when the demons of her dark past catch up with them,” the full synopsis for The Crow reboot reads. “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.”
When asked about the project, director Rupert Sanders expressed his attraction to it, stating to Vanity Fair, “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,” later 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.”
The original The Crow film, which was released back in 1994, was a sleeper hit, pulling in a staggering USD$50.6 million domestically, all against a modest USD$23 million budget. Fronted by Brandon Lee, son of the martial arts legend Bruce Lee, the film’s success was overshadowed by tragedy. Lee, aged 28, lost his life in a devastating accident on set when he was struck by a bullet from a malfunctioning prop gun during the filming of a scene for The Crow.
While the 1994 film has gained a cult classic status and even led to several sequels, Sanders’ take on the story will offer a fresh, bold, and modern twist that strays from O’Barr’s original vision. However, the director expressed to Vanity Fair that his rendition also serves as a heartfelt homage to the enduring memory of Brandon Lee and his indelible imprint on the Crow legacy. “Obviously, it was a terrible tragedy, and it’s definitely something that we’ve always had in mind through the making of the film,” Sanders told Vanity Fair.
“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. His 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 feels like he is a successor to that.”
Alongside him, singer FKA Twigs breathes fresh life into Draven’s beloved Shelly, bringing a modern twist to the original character. Director Sanders says he drew inspiration for Skarsgård’s look in the movie from his own “squat-raving” days in ’90s London. He told Vanity Fair, “That look was me in the ’90s when we were squat-raving in London, (mixed with some modern influences) like Post Malone and Lil Peep. I hope people who are 19 today look at him and go, ‘That guy is us.’” The Crow hits theatres on June 7.
