Bill Skarsgård is bringing “The Crow” back to life, literally. The breakout “It” star leads the new reimagining of the graphic novel that was infamously brought to the big screen in 1994. Bruce Lee’s son Brandon Lee originally played the lead role of Eric Draven, a man who comes back from the dead to take revenge on the man who murdered him and his fiancée. Lee was killed on set during the final days of production when a prop gun fired.
“The Crow” has been set for various remakes over the past 30 years, with Mark Wahlberg, Jason Momoa, Bradley Cooper, James McAvoy, Tom Hiddleston, and Skarsgård’s own brother Alexander Skarsgård all previously attached to different iterations.
Now, with director Rupert Sanders at the helm, Skarsgård is taking on playing rockstar Draven who is killed alongside his lover Shelly (FKA Twigs) by her ex (Danny Huston). Draven sets out to avenge both of their deaths as he is stuck between the underworld and reality.
The official synopsis reads: “Soulmates Eric Draven (Skarsgård) and Shelly Webster (FKA twigs) are brutally murdered when the demons of her dark past catch up with them. Given the chance to save his true love by sacrificing himself, Eric sets out to seek merciless revenge on their killers, traversing the worlds of the living and the dead to put the wrong things right.”
Director Sanders told Vanity Fair that the reimagining has the aesthetic of a Cure song come to life. “I think the beauty of Bill is that he has a disturbing beauty, and as he transforms through his loss he becomes this thing that even he can’t control,” he said. “It’s that famous line, ‘Whoever fights monsters must be careful that they don’t become one,’” Sanders said. “That look was me in the ’90s when we were squat-raving in London, [mixed with some modern influences] like Post Malone and Lil Peep. I hope people who are 19 today look at him and go, ‘That guy is us.’”
As for Sanders’ mission to honor the original “The Crow” legacy, he added of late actor Lee, “Brandon was an original voice and I think he will always be synonymous with ‘The Crow’ and I hope he’s proud of what we’ve done and how we’ve brought the story back again. His soul is very much alive in this film. There’s a real fragility and beauty to his version of the Crow, and I think Bill feels like he is a successor to that.”
Sanders directs from a script penned by Zach Baylin and William Schneider. The feature is produced by Edward R. Pressman, Samuel Hadida, Victor Hadida, John Jencks, and Molly Hassell.
“The Crow” production wrapped in October 2022. The Lionsgate film recently swapped release dates with the “John Wick” spin-off action movie “Ballerina” starring Ana de Armas, and will now be in theaters one year earlier than originally slated.
Meanwhile, Skarsgård is continuing his antihero streak with Robert Eggers’ “Nosferatu,” out December 25. Skarsgård plays the titular monster, with auteur Eggers teasing the actor’s full “transformation” into the vampire role.
“The Crow” premieres June 7 in theaters. Check out the first look images below.
