Stephen Norrington is something of a favourite director among our readers. Whenever a new franchise comes available for a potential new director, there’s usually at least one commenter who suggests him for the gig.
So I know this news from today’s Variety will please many of you but may piss off fans of a mid 90’s cult favourite.
The word is he has been hired to reinvent THE CROW, a new direction for the series which will be based on James O’Barr’s original comic creation and not the 1994 Alex Proyas film which is remembered for it’s dark visual style and the tragic death of lead actor Brandon Lee when a stunt went fatally wrong.
Ed Pressman, the producer of the original film is expected to find financing for the film and will work closely with Relativity Media.
The original film followed anti-hero Eric Draven who rises from the dead to exact revenge on the thugs that attacked his girlfriend and let him to die one year prior.
Norrington says…
“Whereas Proyas’ original was gloriously gothic and stylized, the new movie will be realistic, hard-edged and mysterious, almost documentary-style,”
Did he really just say he is intending to drop the gothic style of the original movie?
Norrington has been absent from film since THE LEAGUE OF EXTRAORDINARY GENTLEMEN over five years ago now, an experience that left him “demoralised” with the film industry. The director of the original BLADE movie was expected to make a return in a big way with CLASH OF THE TITANS until Warner Bros. balked at financing his take on the movie and went with THE INCREDIBLE HULK helmer Louis Letterier instead.
You know Hollywood’s running out of ideas when it’s remaking movies from the mid 9o’s.
2 Comments
Norrington made a fantastic debut with the fun and underrated (if derivative) Death Machine, and he did a fine job with the first Blade (still my favourite of the series, though I wish the original ending had been completed).
LXG was a big misfire, though I’m not totally convinced he was the one to blame for that. It will be nice to see what he can do with the Crow franchise, but I can’t help thinking this will be a mistake. The original movie’s had several crappy sequels, all of which have essentially been spins on the same plot. I don’t even think the original is that fantastic, its cult status mostly due to resonance with the burgeoning goth scene of the time and Lee’s tragic death.
Getting rid of the goth is an interesting idea, but then all you’re left with is a supernatural version of The Punisher, surely? I’ll watch it for Norrington in any case, but apprehensively. Either way, I’d certainly prefer this to a CGI Titans…
I like the idea of redoing the Crow without all the gothic overtones to it considering that the original source material isn’t very gothic inspired at all. Its supposed to be a gritty crime drama type thing with supernatural elements. All the gothic stuff came from Proyas basically and did fit for the time that it was released. However, the idea of remaking it appeals to me. Especially if they are planning to stick closer to the source material.