While attending the Abu Dhabi Film Festival to collect a lifetime achievement award, veteran producer Edward R. Pressman told The Hollywood Reporter that production on his long-awaited remake of The Crow will begin production “in the spring” and boldly referred to it as “the anti-Spider-Man.”
“It still has a big fan base even though it was so long ago,” Pressman said. “But the generation today doesn’t even know ‘The Crow.'”
In addition to Alex Proyas’s original Crow and its many sequels, Pressman is also responsible for bringing pop culture properties like Conan the Barbarian, Masters of the Universe, Street Fighter and Judge Dredd to the screen.
As for who will fill the shoes of original star Brandon Lee, who was tragically killed during shooting of the 1994 movie, Dracula Untold star Luke Evans is currently attached to wear the iconic makeup, having talked about the part and its fidelity to James O’Barr’s original source material back in January.
“We just want to be as authentic and loyal to the original comic as possible,” Evans stated, “and that means the story will be different. It’s not about us ripping off the Brandon Lee movie, that stands alone as a brilliant piece of cult film and a great performance, but we’re going back to the book, the original book. And that’s exciting because we’re bringing to the screen a lot of parts of the story that were never really told. I’m just prepping, it’s all very physical at the moment.”
Evans will star in the lead role of Eric, who will become The Crow after meeting an untimely demise. Set to be directed by F. Javier Gutierrez, the film features a script by Cliff Dorfman. Series creator James O’Barr will also work as a creative consultant on the film. No release date is currently set.
