It's been a while since we heard anything about the project, but MTV have news on Stephen Norrington's reboot of **The Crow. To whit (no wait, that's an owl), according to producer Edward R Pressman, shooting is expected to start this year, and "things are moving ahead very aggressively".
"We've got an offer out to a major actor," says Pressman, tantalisingly. He also teases that this will be a very different film to the Alex Proyas / Brandon Lee original from 1994. "Steve has created a very different visual idea," we're told, with Avatar production designer Rob Stromberg's sketches apparently looking quite unlike what's gone before.
There will be two locations, an urban centre (possibly Detroit, like the original) and a South-West setting, which suggests that, maybe, The Crow is flying into Western territory that might suit the formula (wronged murder victim back from the grave to exact revenge on the perps) rather well. Wicked Prayer, the last of the increasingly bad original sequels, already went there, but we've chosen to forget that.
Mythology-wise, it sounds like Norrington is returning to James O'Barr's graphic novel, with Pressman promising that "The Crow itself is a character in this movie: it's not just a bird. It's got a personality... and a more active role in the story." The (talking) Crow in the book acts as both the hero Eric Draven's guide, and his harshest critic. "It's not like Godzilla, exactly" says Pressman, peculiarly. Maybe that statement made more sense in context.
"It's a different time and a different idea," Pressman concludes. Sounds like the same idea but with tweaks to us. But the director of Blade returning to goth-action-horror territory has got us quite excited anyway. Casting announcements are on the way. watch this space.