James O’Barr, creator of ‘The Crow‘ spoke this last weekend about the film’s delays and who he’d like to portray Eric Draven. Some of the delays are obvious such as lead actor Luke Evans leaving the film and directors changing from F. Javier Gutierrez to newcomer Corin Hardy. However, he stresses that these were not the only reasons.
It all came out at this last weekend’s Wizard World Madison Comic Con. The delay started when Gutierrez left the film to work on the next iteration of ‘The Ring.’ This actually didn’t come as a surprise to O’Barr as he in fact encouraged the director to bow out so that he wouldn’t be stuck on a film that might never happen.
The big blow that many of us felt occurred when Evans officially left the movie. With the long delays on the film, his option had expired and with Evans’ star having risen so high since he first signed on in 2012, the studio could no longer afford to pay his new salary.
Money came up again, though, and in a big way. The film right now is suffering from a big hit due to the project’s long delay spent in pre-production and the studio has now taken $20 million off the budget. With having already wanted to do a small and gritty film, that much out of the already low budget is going to make things difficult.
Difficult doesn’t mean impossible though as O’Barr has faith in Corin Hardy being able to tackle the film. He believes in the director after how well his recent work directing ‘The Hallow’ has been doing at Sundance. That film also had a lower budget. Not only that, but it sounds as if O’Barr is already pushing for his choice of actors to replace Evans – Sam Witwer.
Movie goers may recognize him for his minor role in ‘The Mist’ but his true talent shined through in his 3 year stint as Aidan on Syfy’s ‘Being Human’. Truly a surprisingly well rounded actor he brought true life to his unlife in the series.
Having already played one kind of the undead could easily lead to his ability to take on the character of Eric Draven. O’Barr has already been in talks with the actor and with his genre filled background really thinks he would be the perfect for both the part and to bring genre fans to the table.
The audience reaction to O’Barr’s casting preference? It sounded like unanimous approval. I know that I’d love to see him take on the part!
Witwer seemed excited for the opportunity as well and offered to mow the creator’s lawn for the rest of their lives if it worked out. Budgeting fears aside, if Hardy taps Witwer to take the lead we might finally see the film go into production.
What do you think of Witwer taking on the role that Brandon Lee made famous? Do you think that with a take based on the comics with all the cut material would be worth checking out? Share your thoughts below!
Source: Blastr
