It can often feel waring to wade through the countless remakes and reboots that are cropping up at the moment, and bemoan the lack of originality plaguing our cultural landscape. But every so often comes news of a remake that sounds genuinely exciting – as is the case with the planned reboot of The Crow.
Bill Skarsgård – who played Pennywise the Clown in the It franchise – is set to star as Eric Draven in a reimagining of James O’Barr’s comic book story. The film sees Eric, a murder victim resurrected by a crow, seek vengeance for his untimely death. Famously, in the original 1994 movie the role was played by Brandon Lee, who died after being shot by a prop gun on set. Lee was posthumously praised for his performance and the movie has since become a cult classic.
Singer-songwriter FKA twigs is expected to star alongside Skarsgård, although it’s not yet been confirmed which role twigs will be playing. It’s possible she’ll be portraying Shelly Webster – Eric’s fiancée – or Sarah, a friend of the couple.
The reboot will be directed by Rupert Sanders, the brains behind Snow White and the Huntsman and Ghost in the Shell, and filming is set to commence in June. “The Crow is beautiful, dark, poetic and sometimes disturbing,” Sanders said in a statement. “It is a story of love, loss, grief and revenge. It is a great honor to revisit James O’Barr’s iconic comic and reimagine The Crow as a foreboding voice of today.”
The script has been written by Oscar-nominated screenwriter Zach Baylin, the brains behind 2021 film King Richard, while Edward R Pressman (who also produced the original) and Malcolm Gray are signed up to act as producers. All in all, it appears as though the reboot is set to be just as dark and captivating as the original.
