Pages

Thursday, February 12, 2015

The Crow Redux: Who Will Replace Luke Evans?

Last December it was announced that music video director Corin Hardy ("The Hallow") will replace F. Javier Gutierrez at the helm of the-long in development reboot of The Crow,


 While attending the Sundance Film Festival last month to promote his feature film debut "The Hallow" and spoke to Fangoria about his goals for the reboot:

"I...want to open the story up in such a way that the Crow is now part of a world where there are the Marvel movies and The Dark Knight movies  I intend it to be incredibly emotional and brutal, and all the things you'd want from a Crow film. I want to make a movie that I would have wanted to see, as a huge fan of The Crow... I'm very much going back to the graphic novel, particularly looking into the illustrations themselves as much as the story, and picking out all those beautiful ideas and details that haven't really been used yet."

Welsh actor Luke Evans has been set to take on the lead role of Eric Draven since 2013 with the original plan to start production in early 2014. That never happened..He had indicated that he may have to drop out of the film due to scheduling conflicts caused by the delayed production. It's now official.. The Wrap reports that the actor has officially left the project and Hardy is currently looking for a replacement.

The actor revealed to HitFix that he's already booked for several films in 2015 and so won't have the time to do it:

"Right now I'm not sure where it is, I don't know what's happening with it.  I think it's a question probably to ask [distributor] Relativity...they're the ones who are really holding the strings to this story and this character. But yeah, I don't think it's gonna be something I'm gonna be doing for a while. I've got about four or five different projects which I'm lining up for this year, which will take up the majority of my twelve months. So not in the near future, unfortunately."

Of course, his departure has led to the inevitable question about who may be hired to replace him. No actor has been signed yet

The Crow creator James O'Barr made an showed up at Wizard World Madison over the weekend and came up with a great suggestion.


Blastr says that  O'Barr has reportedly had had contact with former "Smallville" and "Being Human" actor Sam Witwer for some time about the role and believes the actor has "the look and ability" to portray Eric Draven. However O'Barr still needs to convince director Hardy of the choice:

"O'Barr said he still needs to convince Hardy of the choice, but when Evans exited, he phoned Witwer and told him he was now at the top of the list. He said Witwer's reply was that he'd mow the creator's lawn for the rest of their lives for the chance."

Evans was the original choice for the role but scheduling issues kept him from being able to take the job. Thus The Avengers and Thor baddie Tom Hiddleston expressed interest in the part by even going so far as to send video of a makeup test that he did on his own in London to the production. Alexander Skarsgård was also rumored in contention for the role.

"The Walking Dead" star Norman Reedus would play the role of 'James' No other details have been given regarding the character. role. Kristen Stewart was eyed for the role of 'Shelley,' at one time but producers have decided to move on.

Writer Jesse Wigutow was hired to pen the latest script

Ed Pressman, Jeff Most, Ryan Kavanaugh, Enrique López Lavigne and Belén Atienza will produce the film.

This film certainly has had a strange journey...

Director Stephen Norrington was slated to helm the reboot at first from a script by Nick Cave At that point Mark Wahlberg was rumored to be interested in taking the lead role. Both Norrington and Cave left, replaced by Juan Carlos Fresnadillo and Alex Tse respectively.

Actor Bradley Cooper actually signed on to play the title character. Then Cooper left due to scheduling conflicts with the now defunct "Paradise Lost" and Oscar contender The Silver Linings Playbook Wahlberg was linked a 2nd time but had 2 Guns and Broken City in his sights; Channing Tatum (who seems all wrong for the role IMHO) was also mentioned at one point recently and then came the legal tussel. James McAvoy ("Atonement," "X-Men: First Class") was rumored to be circling the lead--a notion that the actor denied.

O'Barr's Gothic comic book series and the 1994 film from Alex Proyas-which became more known for the on set death of its star Brandon Lee, follows rock musician Eric Draven who is murdered while trying to save his fiancee from thugs. He is resurrected by supernatural forces and seeks revenge. That film spawned three sequels, The Crow: City of Angels, The Crow: Salvation, and The Crow: Wicked Prayer, as well as a short-lived TV series The Crow: Stairway to Heaven starring Mark Dacascos.

At last report, O'Barr will serve as a creative consultant on the reboot which aims to be faithful to the original comics. He also apparently confirmed that several scenes from the graphic novel that never made it into the 1994 adaptation will be included, and the film will be shot with 1970s-era film stock to give the it a "Taxi Driver" style look.

No comments:

Post a Comment