Age of The Nerd
Many fans of “The Crow” have had mixed opinions about the upcoming reboot of the original film tentatively titled “The Crow Reborn”. Some feel that the studio should just leave well enough alone, while others are incredibly excited to see what can be done to bring this iconic character back to life.
The upcoming reboot is said to begin filming in February of 2018 after the project was resurrected by Sony Pictures after it was dropped by Relativity Media back in early 2017. It has all but been completely confirmed that Jason Momoa will be taking on the role of the title character Eric Draven and that author James O’Barr who created the original “The Crow” comic book series will most definitely be heavily involved.
There has been some that are criticizing Momoa as the choice to play Draven, as many feel that it would be impossible for anyone to possibly fill shoes of actor Brandon Lee, who portrayed Draven in the original film. Lee was tragically killed in an on-set accident during the making of the “The Crow” back in 1993. His death was the result of an accident with a prop gun in which actual bullets were inserted into the gun rather than dummy cartridges.
According to Wikipedia, in the scene in which Lee was accidentally shot, Lee’s character walks into his apartment and discovers his fiancée being beaten and raped by thugs. Actor Michael Massee’s character fires a .44 Magnum revolver at Lee as he walks into the room. A previous scene using the same gun had called for inert dummy cartridges fitted with bullets (but no powder or primer) to be loaded in the revolver for a close-up scene; for film scenes that utilize a revolver (where the bullets are visible from the front) and do not require the gun to actually be fired, dummy cartridges provide the realistic appearance of actual rounds.
Instead of purchasing commercial dummy cartridges, the film’s prop crew created their own by pulling the bullets from live rounds, dumping the powder charge then reinserting the bullets. However, they unknowingly or unintentionally left the live primer in place at the rear of the cartridge. At some point during filming, the revolver was apparently discharged with one of these improperly-deactivated cartridges in the chamber, setting off the primer with enough force to drive the bullet partway into the barrel, where it became stuck (a condition known as a squib load). The prop crew either failed to notice this or failed to recognize the significance of this issue.
In the fatal scene, which called for the revolver to be fired at Lee from a distance of 3.6–4.5 meters (12–15 feet), the dummy cartridges were exchanged with blank rounds, which feature a live powder charge and primer, but no bullet, thus allowing the gun to be fired without the risk of an actual projectile. But since the bullet from the dummy round was already trapped in the barrel, this caused the .44 Magnum bullet to be fired out of the barrel with virtually the same force as if the gun had been loaded with a live round, and it struck Lee in the abdomen, mortally wounding him. He was rushed to the New Hanover Regional Medical Center in Wilmington, North Carolina, where he underwent six hours of surgery. Attempts to save him were unsuccessful, and Lee was pronounced dead at 1:03 p.m. EST.
It was a hard decision, but the film ended up being completed as most of Lee’s scenes were finished. The director used Lee’s stunt double to fill in the missing pieces.
So, as we can see, Momoa will certainly have his work cut out for him to appease fans and keep the legacy of Brandon Lee alive and well. All that we know thus far is that casting is leaning toward Momoa and that the new film will be helmed by British director Corin Hardy and James O’Barr plans to be heavily involved as well!
Let’s hope that they will do this amazing story justice and that fans will be able to keep an open mind to a new interpretation with “The Crow Reborn”.
