IT star Bill Skarsgård is starring in the reboot of the cult-classic The Crow – a movie with a dark history and the death of a star.
The highly-anticipated reboot is heading to the Cannes market with FilmNation Entertainment Deadline confirmed today, Wednesday May 11.
A Cult Classic
The Crow started life as a graphic novel, by James O’Barr, which was first released back in 1989. It centred around the story of a brutally murdered man who comes back to life as an undead avenger of his and his fiancée’s murder. The novel was an ‘underground’ success and eventually translated into almost a dozen languages. It has sold around 750,000 copies worldwide.
Director Alex Proyas brought the story to the screen in 1994’s The Crow, and with a budget of $23 million became a success in the box office grossing $94 million.
The movie starred Bruce Lee’s son, Brandon Lee, and became an instant cult classic and even launched multiple sequels; just not with the young Lee, after tragedy struck on set.
A Dark History
In 1993 Lee starred as the movie’s leading and titular character Eric Draven aka The Crow, but this would be his last role. In March that year, Lee was filming a scene where his character, Eric, is shot after witnessing the beating and rape of his fiancée.
For the scene,, dummy cartridges were fitted with bullets, but no powder or primer, to be loaded in the revolver. For close-up scenes that use a revolver, where the bullets are clearly visible from the front, and do not require the gun to actually be fired, dummy cartridges provide a more realistic appearance than blank rounds, which have no bullet.
Things went wrong when the film’s prop crew were tied down with time constraints and, instead of buying the dummy cartridges, they made their own by pulling the bullets from live rounds, dumping the powder charge, then reinserting the bullets.
However, when the the prop crew took the decision they emptied the gun powder but, unbeknown to them, left the primer still inside the cartridge.
So, during the filming the revolver was then discharged with an improperly-deactivated cartridge in the chamber of the gun. This meant the primer was set off with enough force to drive the bullet into the barrel, where it become stuck – known as a squib load. Then when the gun was later fired at Lee, the bullet which had been trapped in the barrel was fired as if it were a live round, according to research by The Scotsman and a verdict given the a North Carolina DA.
The 28-year-old was shot in the stomach and it proved fatal. The rest of his scenes were completed with a stunt double and the movie was ultimately dedicated to him. The Crow (1994) is now specifically known for its dark history.
The Crow Reboot
It’s assumed the basic story of the movie will stay the same as the graphic novel and the 1994 film. However, this time around it has IT and Eternals star Bill Skarsgård alongside with singer-actress FKA twigs (Honeyboy) billed.
Rupert Sanders (Snow White And The Huntsman) will direct from a script by Zach Baylin (King Richard) and the film’s producers are Molly Hassell (Terminal), Victor Hadida (Resident Evil), John Jencks (Honest Thief), and Edward R. Pressman, producer of American Psycho, Wall Street and the 1994 Crow.
Filming is due to start this summer in various locations including Czech Republic and Germany.
