Stephen Norrington emotionally ran himself out of Hollywood after directing the embarasing League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, which also marked the end of Sean Connery’s film career too. He returned to his own writing and artwork, and nearly came back to direct a remake of Clash of the Titans, but then backed out.
So the latest piece of cheese to lure out the mouse has been his own take on the gothic antihero The Crow.
Norrington resolved to focus on independent projects, and sparked to an approach on The Crow from Relativity production chief Tucker Tooley and Pressman. Norrington had a relationship with Pressman when they came close to making The Mutant Chronicles several years ago. Both embraced Norrington’s vision of the antihero, which Norrington said will be different than the film Proyas made.
“Whereas Proyas’ original was gloriously gothic and stylized, the new movie will be realistic, hard-edged and mysterious, almost documentary-style,” Norrington said.
I have to say I liked Norrington’s take on Blade, and though I felt the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen was nothing like the book (only shared the name and characters) which was a noble effort, but missed the mark.
Now that he is taking on the Crow, I don’t know how I feel yet. The “documentary style” comment distracts me because I cant picture how it would work just yet. I loved the first Crow movie, I just don’t think it would need a reboot.
Not that I think a reboot would be bad, just not really appropriate with this franchise. The spirit of vengence that brings wrongly murdered souls back to seek justice serves a different person in every movie. If he wanted to do a movie with a little different take on the spirit of the Crow, I don’t see how it would require a reboot. Each sequel is kind of a reboot anyways.
Is league hated that much? I like that movie but i’m stupid i guess.
I’m of the same opinion as Sean. Make a new story but don’t remake The Crow or reboot the franchise by starting over.
do not want. make a new story, based off o’barr’s work, but don’t touch the original.
I’m a huge Crow fan, and apart from two of the comics, one of which the first movie is based off of, there is no gothic style in the comics. That’s something the movies all added. Each comic has a different style and tone from any of the other comics (The good ones anyway. There are one or two that try, and fail, to copy some of the better ones).
So I have no problem removing the gothicness. However, I would rather they just make a Crow 5, give it some good production values, and release it in theaters instead of just restarting the series off again. I try my hardest to keep an open mind, but it kind of is pissing me off a little bit that all these companies seem to be needlessly going back and restarting various series’, when all they have to do is make a sequel.
I’m rather split on this.
One one side of the saltine (I’m eating soup right now) we have the salted side- Norrington. Norrington actually helmed a small guilty pleasure of mine, Death Machine and then there was the surprise Blade . Aside from the disaster that was LXG, Norrington had been connected to other comics to film related projects that never came to be at least under his watch, such as Ghost Rider.
So I’m very intrerested in seeing Steve Norrington back in a director’s chair. I’d prefer a non-comics related film, but that’s just me.
I’m a salt freak. What can I say….ah, but then there’s the other side…
the dull side with no taste.
“Whereas Proyas’ original was gloriously gothic and stylized, the new movie will be realistic, hard-edged and mysterious, almost documentary-style”
A reboot? There’s that ugly buzzword again. But this time it has a slight advantage. Tell ya what…is there something wrong with going back to the source material? In other words, the James O’ Barr graphic novel on which the first film is based but has several adaptive changes (Craven being a rock star musician for one) which was also carried over into the short lived TV series. But taking out the gothic, supernatural tone-? Not so sure about that. I mean, you take away that element, and what you have is another vigilante film. Ye, that’s what it is at the core, but Draven (and those Crows to follow him) come back from the dead and adhere to ‘supernatural rules’. That makes the character slightly unique.
But we have another problem.
While sequels have been made, not one of the actors who played “a new crow” could fill Brandon Lee’s shoes. Even Marc Dacascos from the show. There’s a reason for that. Brandon Lee died on the set of the first film. The film was then delayed in post and release for almost a year. It was released, and Eric Draven rises from the grave “one year” after the character’s tragedy. Draven gives speeches and quips about life and death. ” I’m dead and I move” and as stylish as the film was, as impressive as Proyas was -even more so on Dark City- it’s Brandon lee’s best and final performance, which, for better or worse, takes on a whole new morbid level.
I’ll go one step further- even if that were not the case, and one could argue that City Of Angels, Salvation and Wicked Prayer were bad movies (and they were-Angels basically a rehash of the first with a different palette) …let’s take the gothic and/or the slight supernatural element out of it. Now that runs a huge gamble, as that applies to the fanbase of The Crow, or at least the fans of the films.
Does The Crow appeal to anyone else? I’d have to say no. Take out the core base…anyone see where I’m going with this? Yeah, I’m a Crow fan. I’m also a Punisher one. I hated the new Punisher film. But over the net I hear “Finally! A film for the fans!” due to the hard edged carnage. Where is that film now? I think (sadly) any Crow audience is just as limited- but the sequels went right to video, and the core was somewhat happy. But there wasn’t a big enough audience. The sequels stunk anyway…
Maybe it’s just me and I’m spittin’ in the wind.
This is great news! Hopefully Norrington will return to the director’s chair full-time. Many people forget iti was his ‘Blade’ (1998) that led the comic book feature revolution of the past couple years and made them a viable genre after ‘Superman III’ (1983) and ‘Batman forever’ (1995) ruined them for everyone else.
A fantasy assignment of mine would see Norrington direct an X-Men feature, but hopefully not while Fox is still licensing the franchise.