The director of The Crow hopes you’ll listen to him about the character’s new design

To adjust The Crow is once again a daunting task.

Director Alex Proyas made a famous adaptation of the comic book series by James O’Barr in 1994. His film became a cult classic for its bleak, gothic tone and the unforgettable performance of star Brandon Lee, who died during filming in an accident with a prop gun.

Three sequels followed the 1994 film, but none found the original film’s box office success or long-lasting legacy. Thirty years later, we have a new version of The Crow —not a reboot or remake of the first film, but a new adaptation of O’Barr’s comic strip.

The Crow (2024) has been in development since 2008with different directors and stars working on it at different times. Leaf director Stephen Norrington had originally planned to take on the project, while Bradley Cooper, Lucas EvansAnd Jason Momoa were all lining up at one point to play the main character Eric.

After more than a decade in development, The Crow found its final pairing: director Rupert Sanders and star Bill Skarsgård. Sanders is no stranger to adaptation — his previous films Snow White and the Huntsmanthe 2017 live action Ghost in the shelland even his television pilot for Foundation are all reworkings of previous works. (“It’s a little tedious, honestly,” he tells Polygon, adding that he has 20 to 30 original projects he’s trying to get off the ground.) And Skarsgård is no stranger to makeup-heavy physical performances: He’s perhaps best known for his role as Pennywise the Clown in Andy Muschietti’s It films.

Sanders, a longtime fan of both O’Barr’s comic book and the Proyas film, wanted to put his own spin on the source material. He resists the idea that this project carried more pressure than any of his others: He says that making any film is “daunting” because “you still have to explore the world in the same way.”

“I like the edginess of (this story),” he says. “I like the youth culture side of it. I like the music (from the 1994 film). I like the kind of goth-gothic film, the kind of mythic fable, horror elements to it. I felt there was a version, an adaptation, a reinterpretation that would be very contemporary, and that there were themes in it that could be further developed for today’s audience.”

His desire to modernize The Crow emerges in Skarsgård’s radically different design as Eric: Sanders eschews the heavy black-and-white makeup worn by Brandon Lee in the 1994 film. Instead, Skarsgård’s Eric is heavily tattooed, with lighter accents of black makeup to fulfill Sanders’ vision for a “more grounded” version of this story, with a character design he says is inspired by what was around him growing up — particularly England’s rave scene of the ’90s and the New Age travelers.

“I think what we were wearing in the ’90s is essentially what kids are wearing now,” Sanders explains. “Eric is like a graffiti-writing street kid who tattooed himself to push people away. I didn’t feel like the character was wearing white face makeup because ours isn’t as stylized as the original. I think it worked within the black-and-white lines of the comic. The original (the film) was very theatrical and staged in a kind of miniature world. But our world was a little more grounded.

“I think at first people thought, ‘Oh my God, what have they done? The Crow?’” he says. “It’s like the Batman costume. Christian Bale didn’t just step into Michael Keaton’s Batman costume and say, ‘Sweet, I got this.’ And the Superman wardrobe, none of them are[the same]they’re always an evolution. I recognize that[this adaptation]is very different. It’s based on personal experiences, and it’s based on conversations between Bill and I creating a character. And I think it works for Bill, and it works for the film.”

Eric’s design isn’t the only major change in this version of The CrowThe role of his love interest Shelly (played by musician FKA Twigs) is very different in Sanders’ film. After meeting in rehab, the two instantly bond over their shared isolation and deep grief. When the demons of Shelly’s past catch up with her in the rehab, the agents of an evil crime lord (Danny Huston) track her down and murder both young lovers. Eric comes back to life as an avatar of vengeance, and is promised that if he kills all the people responsible for their murders, Shelly will come back to life.

Sanders wanted to emphasize the beauty of the tragic romance between Eric and Shelly, rather than immediately moving on to an act of revenge.

“It’s kind of like two movies, in a way,” he says. “People were like, Oh no, he has to be The Crow on page 10. And I’m like, No, he doesn’t. I really fought for that part of the movie because to me it’s kind of a cool Romeo and Juliet meets Larry Clark. Children. It’s the streetwise kids who are broken and find each other. And there was something really beautiful in that, and something really important to his journey.”

Sanders also felt that society views crime differently today than it did 30 years ago, and he wanted this to be reflected in the incident that prompted Eric to seek revenge.

“The original Shelly is kind of a flashback. She’s never there in the flesh,” he says. “It’s cold. You killed her, I’ll kill all of you, hundreds of you. And I didn’t think that was really timely. I thought we had a little more understanding of why people are criminals and why people are in gangs. (The comic book story) just felt a little bleak, and so I thought the most important thing was that Shelly had to be the engine of the movie. She’s the one he falls in love with. She has to be the beating heart of the movie.”

The 2024 action plan The Crow also stands in stark contrast to the 1994 film: it’s a different kind of gore, thanks in part to technological advances in CGI and the influences of modern action films like the John Wick movies.

But the nature of Eric’s powers also creates a potential problem for action scenes: as long as his love remains “pure,” he cannot die, no matter how many times he is shot or stabbed. How do you create tension in scenes where the audience is not afraid for the protagonist’s life?

The answer turns out to be pain. “Are we emotionally connected to him if there’s no suffering?” stunt coordinator Adam Horton tells Polygon. “I think that was the key word. He may not die, but he’s suffering. He feels everything that he’s going through on the journey. We wanted to push the boundaries of not being a slasher, but being painful.”

Sanders hopes that this new Crowwhile not specifically designed for teens, it could find a new young audience unfamiliar with the first film. He feels the core of the story is timeless: the tone and story of tragic young lovers still resonates today.

“There’s something about the comfort of melancholy,” he says. “I think that sentiment will stay with teenagers throughout time. That’s how we made the soundtrack. I wanted to build on some of the music from[the late ’80s, early ’90s]but also[with]people who are making music now about the same sadness that they were making then. And I think there’s a really good thread of goth culture, or emo culture, whatever you want to call it, that’s still as present now as it was then.”

Sanders understands why loyal fans might be concerned about his new vision for the franchise — he’s a fan, after all. But he maintains that a new version of The Crow can only increase the visibility of other versions.

“I think the people who are concerned, and rightfully so, are the people who grew up with it. But the people who are 17 now are not going to go back and watch that movie,” he says. “So if they see this movie, I think they have a reason to go back and watch that movie again. I think it’s a win-win for everybody, really.”

Horton agrees, saying that an outright imitation of Proyas’ adaptation would be a “disrespect” to the people who made it, because it was “great” and should not be copied.

“Leave that alone, and (…) make (this) really different,” he says. “How do we make the audience and (the people who) made that film at that time proud?”

“I hope that in 30 years – I hope it won’t be that long – maybe in 10 years they will all go away, There’s only one Bill Skarsgård“, says Sanders.

“Nobody dug a big hole and threw that cult film in there so no one could ever see it again,” Sanders says. “We didn’t record it on their VHS. It’s still there.”

The Crow is now playing in theaters.