For what feels like the past decade, Hollywood has been trying to mount a new version of The Crow, tossing a small army of directors, writers, and would-be stars at the project in the hopes that one of them might make it over the starting line. Time and time again these projects fizzled out, and for a while there it seemed like The Crow was destined never to take flight on the big screen again.
But then, against all odds, director Rupert Sanders stepped up to the plate with a new script written by Zach Baylin and Will Schneider, Bill Skarsgård signed on to headline the film as the titular anti-hero, and the goddamn movie finally got made. It’s opening in June, and today we’re getting our first look at Skarsgård in full Crow regalia.
Let’s see…
Well, this version of The Crow looks a bit more like Jared Leto’s Joker than we may have been expecting, but they’ve certainly got the “moody goth” part down. Skarsgård’s Eric Draven looks lean, mean, and ready to dole out some good ol’ fashioned vengeance to the scumbags that killed both him and his girlfriend (played in the film by FKA Twigs, and seen in the images below).
Says Sanders about Skarsgård’s look:
“I think the beauty of Bill is that he has a disturbing beauty, and as he transforms through his loss he becomes this thing that even he can’t control. It’s that famous line: ‘Whoever fights monsters must be careful that they don’t become one.’ That look was me in the ’90s when we were squat-raving in London, [mixed with some modern influences] like Post Malone and Lil Peep. I hope people who are 19 today look at him and go, ‘That guy is us.’”
For anyone unfamiliar with The Crow (if such a thing is possible), here’s an official synopsis for Sanders’ film:
“Soulmates Eric Draven (Skarsgård) and Shelly Webster (FKA Twigs) are brutally murdered when the demons of her dark past catch up with them. Given the chance to save his true love by sacrificing himself, Eric sets out to seek merciless revenge on their killers, traversing the worlds of the living and the dead to put the wrong things right.”
As previously reported, the new version of The Crow will hit theaters on June 7th. Stay tuned for further updates as they roll in, folks.
