‘The Crow’ Reboot Names A New Director
Deadline has reported that Relativity Studios have chosen Corin Hardy as the new director for their reboot of The Crow. He replaces F. Javier Gutiérrez, who has chosen to work instead on the next installment of The Ring.
Ever heard of Corin Hardy? Don’t worry, a lot of people haven’t. Except for Edgar Wright, who recommended Hardy to producer Edward R. Pressman. Corin Hardy’s first feature film, The Hallow, will be released next year by Occuprant Films, so more people will know him eventually. Before that, Hardy directed various music videos for the likes of Ed Sheeran, Keane, and The Prodigy. Yet, the most startling thing about Hardy is a 30-minute animated short he directed entitled The Butterfly. I’m in the middle of watching it. You can check it out at the bottom of the page.
If you didn’t know, the movie is speculated to be a remake of the 1994 movie based on the graphic novel series of the same name. The Crow is about a murdered man who comes back to life to exact revenge on those who killed him and his family. The original film was directed by Alex Proyas and starred the late Brandon Lee.
Personally, I am not entirely sure what to think of a Crow remake. On one hand, the first film was lightning in a bottle. Proyas’ film could only have been made in the early ’90s, and was practically defined by the grunginess of that era. It was still a studio film, sure, but it captured that corner of dark pop so well.
On the other hand, I wouldn’t mind seeing a story like The Crow reach higher than it has in the cultural consciousness. A lot of tears and pain were involved in creating the series. The original comic book series was written by James O’Barr, who created it in the aftermath of his fiancée’s death by a drunk driver. O’Barr hoped that writing it would be cathartic and alleviate him of his heartache. It didn’t.
From TheCrow.info:
Writing The Crow didn’t help at all. I thought it would be cathartic, but as I drew each page, it made me more self-destructive, if anything. There is pure anger on each page … I was more messed up by the time I was done with the book.
Things got worse when the star of the original 1994 film, Brandon Lee, tragically died on-set.
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.
The Crow went on to become a critical and commercial success, and was one of the first comic books to make it big as a movie. But as a common plague to many great genre successes, several sequels followed to lesser acclaim (the second film, The Crow: City of Angels, starred Thuy Trang, of Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers, several years before her own tragic passing) and the series was relegated to direct-to-video status. It was a depressing end to a very tragic beginning, until talks of the current reboot began. While it is difficult to imagine, I do hope this new Crow succeeds, if anything to finally relieve O’Barr.
Although I think he eventually got better.
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.
The Crow is expected to start production in the spring with a script by Cliff Dorman.
What do you guys think about a remake of The Crow?
Meanwhile, you can watch Hardy’s critically-acclaimed short, Butterfly on YouTube. I think I can see what Edgar Wright sees in him.
