Over the years, filmmaker Alex Proyas has maintained that his 1994 feature The Crow should not get a reboot out of respect for Brandon Lee, his star who died in an on-set accident. Now, after years of development, a The Crow reboot is indeed ready for release, and Proyas is once again expressing his concerns.
“I really don’t get any joy from seeing negativity about any fellow filmmakers work. And I’m certain the cast and crew really had all good intentions, as we all do on any film. So it pains me to say any more on this topic, but I think the fan’s response speaks volumes,” Proyas wrote on Facebook Monday, along with a link to an article noting that The Crow reboot’s trailer received numerous dislikes on YouTube. “THE CROW is not just a movie. Brandon Lee died making it, and it was finished as a testament to his lost brilliance and tragic loss. It is his legacy. That’s how it should remain.”
Proyas previously expounded at greater length on the topic in 2017, back when star Jason Momoa was poised to star in the reboot. “I finished the film for Brandon – struggling through grief, along with the hugely supportive cast & crew who all loved Brandon, to complete it in his absence,” Proyas wrote. “We were imbued with the strength of Brandon’s spirit and his inspiration. Not only Brandon’s wonderful work as an actor and a film-maker, but as a man, whose humanity had touched us.”
Lee, the son of Bruce Lee, was killed by a prop gun on set in 1993 at the age of 28. Rupert Sanders, the director of the new The Crow, previously noted he hoped his film could serve as a tribute to Lee.
“Brandon was an original voice and I think he will always be synonymous with The Crow and I hope he’s proud of what we’ve done and how we’ve brought the story back again. His soul is very much alive in this film. There’s a real fragility and beauty to his version of the Crow, and I think Bill feels like he is a successor to that,” Sanders told Vanity Fair in an article published last month.
Lionsgate is behind The Crow, which is due out June 7. The Crow is based on James O’Barr’s comics, which debuted in 1989 and tells the story of a man who is murdered, alongside his fiancee, only to be resurrected to seek vengence. Multiple sequels followed the 1994 film, including The Crow: City of Angels (1996), The Crow: Salvation (2000) and The Crow: Wicked Prayer (2005).