Now that the legal dispute between Relativity Media and the Weinsteins has more-or-less gone away, Relativity are once again moving forward with their Crow reboot. Alex Tse is the latest writer to be tasked with re-adapting James O'Barr's original graphic novel.
Tse doesn't have a great many credits on his CV, but the one that got him the gig was presumably a little thing called Watchmen, for which he has a co-writer credit with David Hayter. He's also penned as-yet un-produced adaptations of Ninja Scroll, The Phantom Tollbooth and The Illustrated Man, and Spike Lee's TV movie Sucker Free City. And he's known as a script doctor, reportedly providing uncredited polishes for the Step Up films and House of Wax.
The Crow is, of course, the story of rocker Eric Draven, murdered along with his girlfriend, and returning from the grave as a goth'd up avenger to right that wrong. O'Barr wrote the comics as catharsis following the death of his own fiancee, and it was previously filmed by Alex Proyas, tragically constituting Brandon Lee's final role. Three sequels and a TV series followed, all of which are a bit of a chore.
Relativity's "reinvention" has been on the books for some time now. For a while it was going ahead with Stephen Norrington behind the camera, and a script by Nick Cave, but Norrington's departure over "creative differences" with the suits, prompted a page-one start-over, and sadly we can now only imagine what Cave might have brought to the project.
The Crow is now underway with Juan Carlos Fresnadillo (28 Weeks Later) directing, and Bradley Cooper currently attached to play Draven. Relativity promise it will be "gritty", and said in a press release that "The original film is known for its breakthrough visual style as well as its unique production design and cinematography. Fresnadillo and Tse are perfectly suited to bring these beloved characters back to life, and to create a world worthy of this modern classic."
No start date yet.