The Crow remake has long seemed like a bad idea. And it seems like it’s been fated to falter given just how long it’s spent in production limbo. But the movie now has another roadblock in front of it: A personal, heartbreaking plea from the original film’s director, Alex Proyas.
Image: Miramax
Proyas has remained relatively quiet about the ongoing attempt to reboot his 1994 cult classic, itself based on James O’Barr’s comic series. But the recent news that Aquaman‘s Jason Momoa joined the project in the latest attempt to revive the franchise has seen Proyas take to Facebook to make an emotional plea to let The Crow be.
Proyas’ statement doesn’t come from a distaste for Hollywood’s endless fascination with mining old material for remakes and revivals, but instead because of the infamous tragedy that befell The Crow in its original production – the awful, accidental death of star Brandon Lee, mortally wounded by a misfired gun during the final days of filming.
Proyas truly believes in leaving The Crow as a tribute to Lee’s memory, something he feels would be tarnished if the movie was rebooted and Lee’s role went unacknowledged. As he notes in the statement, sequels and TV continuations were fine – the very premise of the film meant that the series could technically be continued with a new host for the mystical crow, beyond Lee’s character, Eric Draven – but it’s the act of rebooting the movie altogether that he feels erases the tragedy of Lee’s final performance.
The Crow still has a long way to go if it ever does get remade – and Momoa is far from the first actor to be attached to the project. But after all this time, and given Proyas’ own misgivings about the reboot, maybe it’s time to finally let this project go.