‘The Crow’ Reboot’s Painstakingly Long, Messy Journey to the Silver Screen

The big picture

• The Raven
  The reboot faced a tumultuous journey with several changes of directors, actors and studios.
• The original director envisioned a realistic and dark tone, contrasting the gothic style of the original film.
• Despite criticism and constant changes, the new version of
  The Raven
  will be released on August 23, 2024.

The long-gestating reboot of The Raven it is finally scheduled to debut this August, with Bill Skarsgård putting on Eric Draven's black leather coat. Some would consider the timing lucky, especially with the original crow celebrating its 30th anniversary. Others consider the entire project a mistake, citing that the first official trailer The Raven it felt at odds with the tone of the original. No matter which side you may fall on, it's a miracle there's a new version out there The Raven. It took approximately 16 years to assemble a cast and crew for the film, from the announcement of the reboot in 2008 to the present. Many actors and directors up and left The Raven over the years, combined with some seismic changes in studio ownership. This is a recipe for a long and rocky road to the silver screen.

'Crow' Reboot Almost Directed by 'Blade' and 'Damsel' Directors

The first director to approach The Raven it was the reset Stephen Norrington. Norrington is no stranger to comic book adaptations – he directed the first one leaf movie, which is considered one of the comic book movies that sparked a comeback in the superhero movie. He also steered League of Extraordinary Gentlemenwhich is known to serve as the end of Sean Connerythe acting career. Norrington also had a specific vision for the filmwhat did he say variety on when he was first tapped to direct: “Instead Alex Proyas“The original was gloriously gothic and stylized, the new film will be realistic, gritty and mysterious, almost documentary-style.” Soon after, Mark Wahlberg it was announced that he was in the running to play Draven. It wouldn't be the first time Wahlberg has been linked to a reboot of a popular franchise; was also attached to a version of The six million dollar man this is still languishing in the dreaded “development hell”.

Norrington eventually left The Raven, which led Juan Carlos Fresnadillo to board in 2011. bradley cooper He was now in the running to play Draven, but ultimately had to drop out due to a scheduling conflict. Meanwhile, another group of actors… James McAvoy, Channing Tatum i Ryan Gosling — Everyone was rumored for the main role. But none of them ever slipped out of that leather trench coat because of Relativity's demand Harvey Weinstein. Weinstein had launched a lawsuit against Relativity Mediadue to distribution rights over The Raven remake. According to Weinstein's lawyer Bert FieldsHead of relativity Ryan Kavanaugh refused to honor the settlement reached with Weinstein. “Mr. Kavanaugh was not going to honor that contract. Apparently he will sell those rights to others. He made a bunch of threats … Some people can put up with that kind of arrogant behavior, but we're not going to do that,” Fields said when the lawsuit was first announced.

'The Crow' rebooted the studios and even involved the creator of the comic

Relativity and Weinstein eventually settled out of courtbut Fresnadillo ended up leaving The Raven. F. Javier Gutiérrez went into production soon after, and even landed a new lead actor for the role of Draven: Luke Evans. Rumors also made it spin Alexander Skarsgård i Tom Hiddleston would star in the film. In a somewhat ironic twist, Skarsgård's brother Bill would end up landing the role. The writer of The Raven comics, James O'Barr, eventually came on board Gutiérrez's film as a creative consultant. O'Barr said he changed his mind after a conversation with Gutierrez, that he wanted to adapt more closely to the original comic. “That intrigued me: the idea of ​​adapting it from page 1 and going from there, including a lot of the darker or weirder elements of the comic that were left out of the original movie,” said O'Barr .Unfortunately, Gutierrez ended up leaving the film in 2017, which is a shame, as leaning more into the darker elements of the comics would do. The Raven reboot stand out from its predecessor. Gutierrez would later release concept art featuring Hiddleston and Evans wearing Draven's iconic makeup, courtesy of the makeup artist. Bill Corso (deadpool, species). “We tried to make it as faithful as possible to the graphic novel. Grounded, and with attention to detail (wanted to show the scar). Bill is great and he did an amazing job,” Gutierrez said bloody disgusting.

Jason Momoa almost starred in 'The Crow'

Relativity made one last attempt at adaptation The Raven, tapping Corin Hardy to direct. This decision came after Relativity filed for bankruptcy, which put a damper on production (again). Hardy also joined Jason Momoawith the goal of production in 2017. But Hardy and Momoa left the project soon after the rights to The Raven it passed through the hands of Davis Film. Hardy later went into detail about the factors that led him to leave The Raven, citing problems with head of Davis Film Samuel Hadida. In an Instagram post, Hardy explained all the details of the passion he had The Raven. “I poured everything I had into the last 3.5 years of work, to try and create something that honored what the crow stood for, from the James O'Barr graphic novel, to the movie original by Alex Proyas, with great respect for Brandon Lee and a desire to do something bold and new that I, as an obsessive fan myself, could be proud of.” He wrote “But sometimes when you love something so much, you have to make hard decisions. And yesterday, deciding it was time to let go of this dark and emotional dream project was the hardest decision of all. Buildings burn, people dies, but true love is forever.”

Although The Raven now has a star and director with Bill Skarsgård and Rupert Sanders, The Raven reset has earned the scorn of Alex Proyaswho directed the original crow adaptation Proyas criticized the idea of ​​a 2019 rebootciting the performance of the deceased Brandon Lee as an important factor. “I've personally tried to squash it every time I hear about it, not that I think I could have done that … it's not just a film that can be remade. It's a man's legacy. And s 'has to deal with that level of respect.'

Like Eric Draven, The Raven he's been through hell and is trying to make it to the big screen again. Only time will tell if Sanders and Skarsgård manage to deliver a film that stands on its own, or if the original crow still reigns supreme.

The Raven flies into theaters on August 23, 2024. The 1994 original The Raven is available to stream on Prime Video in the US

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