Stephen Norrington directed the first Blade film and his next big film after that was The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, a film that all but ended Sean Connery’s acting career. Norrington hasn’t made a film since, and after a couple of stalled projects that fell into the hands of other directors (Mutant Chronicles, Clash of the Titans) it appears he is ready to get back into the director’s chair with a reinvention of James O’Barr’s “The Crow” which served as the source material for Alex Proyas’ 1995 film of the same name.
Norrington seems confident his version will be a large enough departure from the Proyas film telling Variety, “Whereas Proyas’ original was gloriously gothic and stylized, the new movie will be realistic, hard-edged and mysterious, almost documentary-style.”
For those that have not seen the original (first off… shame on you) it centers on a rock musician named Eric Draven who is murdered trying to rescue his girlfriend from thugs, and returns from the dead one year later to exact vengeance.
A couple of sequels to the original were made, but neither were any good as the star of the original feature, Brandon Lee, died in a tragic accident while filming the first feature.
Should this proposed new film be as much a departure from the Proyas original as Norrington seems to think it is I am all for it, but as an avid fan of The Crow and assuming there are more in the same category I think this film will be held to the utmost scrutiny.
