James O’Barr’s gothic revenge fantasy comic book, ‘The Crow,” has been on its way toward a big screen reboot for a while. And yes, that’s a full reboot, not another direct to video sequel of Alex Proyas’ original film adaptation of the material. Said reboot will feature the original character, Eric Draven, and it will retell the original story.
That, of course, begs the question, “Who are they going to get to replace Brandon Lee?” Given Lee’s taken-too-soon life story, his legendary father, and all of the mythologizing that’s gone on surrounding the fact that he was killed in an accident on the set of The Crow, the Eric Draven role has become seen as being pretty iconically his, especially among film fans who were coming of age around the time of the film’s release. So who could possibly step in and play the same character without being rejected by the public?
Over the years a couple of big names, including Mark Wahlberg and Bradley Cooper, have circled the role without anything concrete coming of it, but now Bloody Disgusting is reporting that the man who will allow this movie to move forward might have been found, as another A-list actor has been in talks to come on board and try to fill Lee’s shoes. Apparently X-Men: First Class actor James McAvoy is fairly close to taking the role, with possible scheduling issues due to X-Men: Days of Future Past being the only mentioned stumbling block in front of his signing.
While it’s still not likely that anyone taking this role will be able to overcome being overshadowed by the Lee legacy, McAvoy is a really talented actor, and is certainly more respected in a general way than movie stars like Wahlberg and Cooper, so his casting would probably be a good decision for a Crow reboot to make,if it’s inevitable that a Crow remake is going to happen.
As of now, Before the Fall helmer F. Javier Gutiérrez is still on board to direct, so it’s possible that we could hear something official and work on the project could get underway soon. Or it’s possible that this may just be one of those doomed projects that people keep hacking away at but that never actually comes together. We shall see.