Development James O'Barr wrote what would become
The Crow as a means to cope with the unexpected death of his fiancée, who was killed by a drunk driver. The first meeting O'Barr had with a major studio was quickly dismissed after the studio's vision for the film was a
musical with
Michael Jackson as the lead. Around the time of
The Crows publication, writer
John Shirley had
pitched Angry Angel to
Caliber Press, who turned it down due to similarities with
The Crow. Shirley sought the comic out and decided to adapt it into a film. O'Barr was receptive and agreed to workshop the film with Shirley and producer
Jeff Most, turning down a significant offer from
New Line Cinema in the process. O'Barr oversaw three different script
treatments by Shirley and Most before directly collaborating on the first two drafts of the screenplay. Shirley penned the third and fourth draft by himself which awarded him screenplay credit by the
Writers Guild of America. Most claimed to have written a "substantial proportion" of the script, but was denied credit due to a rule in the WGA which prohibited producers from receiving credit. The addition of producer
Edward Pressman gave
The Crow further momentum, but Shirley would be fired during development after clashing with a development head at Pressman's studio.
Splatterpunk writer
David J. Schow was brought in for rewrites. From a suggestion by Most, Pressman primarily pursued music video and commercial directors to helm the film;
Julien Temple being Most's top choice. Australian filmmaker
Alex Proyas was hired to direct the film.
Christian Slater and
River Phoenix were early considerations for the role of
Eric Draven. Shirley and Most pushed for Slater while Pressman wanted River Phoenix.
Brandon Lee was suggested to play Draven, but O'Barr was unconvinced fearing he wouldn't be suited for the material. However, Lee won O'Barr over and was given the role shortly thereafter. Lee dropped 20 pounds to portray Draven and worked closely with the crew to shape the film, co-
choreographing his action sequences with
Jeff Imada, performing most of his stunts, and removing a subplot due to its Asian stereotyping. Rochelle Davis,
Ernie Hudson,
Michael Wincott,
Bai Ling,
Sofia Shinas,
Michael Massee,
David Patrick Kelly,
Tony Todd, and
Jon Polito rounded out the supporting cast.
Filming Production began on
The Crow in February 1993 in
Wilmington, North Carolina and was scheduled to last 54 days. A scene filmed two weeks before Lee's had called for the same gun to be shown in close-up. Revolvers often use
dummy cartridges fitted with bullets, but no
powder or
primer, during close-ups as they look more realistic than
blank rounds which have no bullet. Instead of purchasing commercial dummy cartridges, the film's prop crew, hampered by time and money constraints, created their own by pulling the bullets from live rounds, dumping the powder charge but not the primer, then reinserting the bullets. Witnesses reported that two weeks before Lee's death they saw an unsupervised actor pulling the trigger on the gun while it was loaded with the powderless but primed round. Since the primer was still live, it could launch the bullet with enough force to push it out of the case and wedge it in the barrel. After Lee's death, the producers were faced with the decision of whether or not to continue with the film. Lee had completed most of his scenes for the film and was scheduled to shoot for only three more days. Lee's stunt double
Chad Stahelski was used as a stand-in and
digital face replacement was used to superimpose Lee's face onto the head of the double. The beginning of the movie, which had not been finished, was rewritten, and the apartment scene remade using computer graphics from an earlier scene of Lee. A character from the original comic book called Skull Cowboy was originally planned to be part of the adaptation and even had scenes filmed. He acted as a guide for Eric Draven between the worlds of the dead and the living. He was set to be played by
Michael Berryman, but the role was cut from the film due to Lee's death. O'Barr later remarked that losing Lee was like losing his fiancée all over again, and he regretted ever writing the comic in the first place. ==Reception==