The ‘curse’ of The Crow might be an urban legend – but the franchise still can’t escape it
After the tragic death of star Brandon Lee in a freak stunt accident, the 1994 film earned a reputation for being ‘cursed’. With a new reboot now out in cinemas, Geoffrey Macnab asks whether the franchise has ever really been able to recover from that loss
When you ask producer Jeff Most if his 1994 film The Crow was indeed cursed, he takes a moment or two to answer. It’s a question that’s been put to him many times before. For three decades now, the media has pushed the idea that the film – on whose set the actor Brandon Lee was fatally wounded in a stunt accident – was somehow jinxed.
The notion irritates him – but he can’t altogether dismiss it. “Looking through the lens of the media, I understand why much is made of the purported curse of The Crow,” Most says. Whether or not you give any credence to the “curse”, it’s clear that the franchise was scarred by the tragedy.
The latest Crow picture, directed by Rupert Sanders and starring Bill Skarsgård and FKA Twigs, is out in cinemas this week. It’s the fifth theatrical release in a franchise that’s also harboured a short-lived TV series and two cancelled sequels. In 30 years, no one has managed to successfully re-adapt The Crow: each subsequent movie has been warped by the lens of the original picture, and deemed opportunistic, distasteful, or simply not very good.
This new Crow faces a daunting challenge in trying to come out from under the wing of the Brandon Lee version. A Gothic revenge fantasy directed in bravura fashion by Alex Proyas, The Crow (the original and best) is notable for its craftsmanship: the way it blends MTV pop video aesthetics with traditional horror tropes; its Clockwork Orange-like mix of violence and lyricism; and the epicene star Lee’s brilliant performance. He plays Eric Draven/the Crow, “the killer of killers”, a rock musician who has dug himself out of his grave and come back to avenge his own death and that of his beloved fiancée Shelly (Sofia Shinas).
The Crow was tarred with grim footnotes from the outset. It was based on a graphic novel by James O’Barr, who had grown up as an orphan in Detroit. He had been 18 when his fiancée was run over and killed by a drunk driver.
The filmmakers had started with high ambitions, but the original budget of only $15.2m was far from adequate for a stunt-driven, effects-filled fantasy epic like this. The Crow was being made in the dead of winter in Wilmington, North Carolina (at the same facility where Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles had shot a few years before). Much of the filming was being done at night. Rain featured in most of the exterior shots – but it would quickly turn to ice. “We were wet, we were frozen, we were under a very difficult schedule,” Most recalls.
Lee, the 28-year-old son of Kung Fu legend Bruce Lee, had the athleticism, martial arts skills and likability that would surely have turned him into a major figure in Hollywood – if only he had lived. But even before the up-and-coming actor was killed in a freak accident with a prop gun toward the end of production, there had been strange incidents on set.
Most remembers that on the day before principal photography began, two crew members were electrocuted on the backlot when a truck’s cherry picker struck a cable. A carpenter suffered life-changing injuries.
Aussie director Proyas was from the world of pop promo and commercials. Yet he was a perfectionist, not someone to be rushed. All the while, the clock was ticking and the money risked running out. Cast and crew members were becoming increasingly tired, and many were suffering from flu, but there was never time to rest.
Chinese-American star Bai Ling, who plays the fiendish Myca, the lover and half-sister of the film’s long-haired villain Top Dollar (Michael Wincott), believes it is only natural to think the film was damned.
“I don’t think it’s a cliché of the media. Somebody died in the film… that’s not a cliche,” she says. “That’s serious, a serious event that people have to wake up [to]. We are doing a movie, not playing death and life.” She describes the shoot as “a beautiful nightmare, a surreal experience”.
The death of Lee ranks among the most shocking workplace safety lapses in Hollywood history. “But [the ‘curse’] didn’t start with Brandon Lee. There was a magazine article that appeared on newsstands hours before the fateful night,” Most says. The filmmakers had been called for comment by the magazine after reports of mishaps during shooting had made their way back to Hollywood.
“I actually told my production coordinator I didn’t want to speak to anyone about it and directed her not to put anyone on the phone,” Most adds. “Of course, giving credence to these kinds of media conspiracies and to the idea there was something more behind what were truly unrelated accidents was not something we wanted to promote. Long story short, she made the very silly comment to the journalist ‘look we’ve had a lot of accidents but it’s not like anybody has died.’”
Hours later, Lee was hit by a bullet. He had chosen not to wear the bulletproof vest specially designed for him. Ling and the rest of the actors were at their hotel at the time of his death. “That was a stormy [night],” she says. “It was rainy, it was horrible. When we heard the news, I just couldn’t believe it because I was sitting there every day with him [during make-up]. I said no, no. This must be a joke. It’s not real.”
The film was released nationwide in the US on 13 May 1994 – Friday the 13th. By conventional measures, The Crow was a resounding success – a No 1 hit at the US box office that spawned a franchise.
Watching the film today, you realise just how far its influence extends. Other movies picked up quickly on its themes and stylistic innovations - the desaturated colours and heavy use of chiaroscuro (strong compositional contrasts between light and dark). The brilliant cinematographer Dariusz Wolski, with whom Proyas also worked on neo-noir sci-fi drama Dark City (1998), made sure that no primary colours featured other than the occasional flashes of bloody red.
You cannot top the original Crow... There’s a life there dedicated to it
The film was groundbreaking. But while others were able to build on some of its innovations, a shadow hung over the franchise itself. Lee was such an indelible part of The Crow that new filmmakers were never able to impose their own vision onto the material.
Detractors have long claimed that the original movie benefitted from the morbid curiosity of audiences. Most sharply disagrees, arguing that many more fans stayed away from The Crow than went to see it because of Lee’s death. “I frankly think that if Brandon had lived, the film would have been infinitely more successful… it was a tragic loss in every respect and the media attention has thrown a lot of negativity toward the film and towards the franchise in a way that makes people stay away.”
Lee had already signed up for sequels. “The contract with Brandon Lee was for two additional pictures. We intended to continue to work with him. We even talked about precisely [what] we wanted to do with the character after [the first film],” Most says.
This was a story about love and loss. Inevitably, the Lee tragedy lent it yet more grim pathos in the eyes of the public. Director Proyas, though, was devastated and initially wanted to scrap the film. He eventually reconsidered, completing it several months later and then dedicating it to Lee and his fiancée, Eliza Hutton.
The director certainly wasn’t interested in extending the franchise. Proyas made clear his opposition to further films in a 2019 interview, explaining: “He [Lee] made that movie, he made that character… it’s one man’s legacy and it should be treated with that level of respect.”
The Crow sequels City of Angels (1996), Salvation (2000) and Wicked Prayer (2005) didn’t exhume the Eric Draven character played by Lee but used different protagonists. The filmmakers were determined “not to retread our own steps” as Most puts it. These movies did far less well than the original – but Hollywood still won’t leave the franchise alone.
Most argues that the sequels and TV series are justified. “It is very hard to imagine someone stepping into Brandon’s shoes but, at the same time, I am as much a believer [in the story] today as when I started the process by optioning the comic back in 1989,” he said.
Among the fine filmmakers to take a stab at their own Birdman movies is Tim Pope, a legendary figure in the pop video world. His film, City of Angels, ended up having its wings clipped by Harvey “Scissorhands” Weinstein and his brother Bob at Miramax.
British-Indian director Bharat Nalluri was highly respected for his TV work but his Crow film, Salvation, was dismissed by critics as “dour” and “repugnant”. And these were, in a sense, the lucky ones: Rob Zombie’s touted sequel, titled The Crow: 2037, never even made it to production, while rapper DMX saw a mooted film called The Crow: Lazarus similarly die in the womb.
Now, the new version has gone back to the original graphic novel. The filmmakers have tried both to distance themselves from the Brandon Lee movie and to pay honour to it. Director Sanders has described it as a tribute to Lee. “His soul is very much alive in this film,” the director told Vanity Fair earlier this year. He has also labelled his reinvention of The Crow as “a scrappy indie movie” with the naturalistic feel of 1970s character-based dramas.
As for the curse, or at least the rancour and misfortune that has always surrounded The Crow, the problems seem to be continuing. The new film has had an extraordinarily tortuous gestation. Its development history stretches back over 15 years. A mob of different stars have been linked to the project, everybody from Jason Momoa to Bradley Cooper, from Channing Tatum to Luke Evans. Most himself isn’t involved after what he calls “an unfortunate contractual dispute” with his fellow producer Ed Pressman.
It’s one of Eric’s hallmarks that no one notices when he enters a room. (His presence is only observed when the crow that accompanies him everywhere flies ahead). In keeping with the character, the latest film is being released in surprisingly stealthy fashion. It is not being shown to the UK press – generally an ominous sign suggesting a morbid fear of negative reviews. Fans aren’t sure what to expect, be it extreme violence or heady romance. The trailer suggests a mixture of both.
Whether the new film is a hit or a flop, it’s clear the curse isn’t going to be lifted any time soon. It has become part of the mythology of a franchise that many believe should have been abandoned long ago. “You cannot top the original Crow,” Ling insists. “There’s a life there dedicated to it… for the respect of Brandon Lee and the beautiful original film, you should just leave it alone.”
‘The Crow’ is in cinemas
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