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A Boy and His Bird News 1999
 August 31st, 1999 Salvation Poster Mention Again The Crow: Salvation: Sorting through some promo stuff in his town's best movie theatre, 'Heath' uncovered a great poster for the upcoming third "The Crow" film and thought he'd send it in - and I'm glad he did. Just click the thumbnail to access the larger version. From: Dark Horizons August 30th, 1999 CRigg sends along this excellent feature at eon magazine from the comicon, check it out here! Also, expect a faster news page coming up soon! August 29th, 1999 While The Crow: Stairway to Heaven television series remain in limbo, executive producer Bryce Zabel told The Continuum he's moved on to a new project. He's co-executive producer of Taken. Thanks to: Comic Book Continuum August 28th, 1999 When asked if what Jeff Most said about Zombie appearing on the new Salvation sound track, our friends over at robzombie.com stated that at was "Not true at all." This does not mean that it could be subject to change or might be keeping it quiet, but as they work with Rob Zombie, then it is highly credible. August 27th, 1999 Here is the interview with Kirsten Dunst from #7 of The Crow, the pics are very big, and if they are too large, don't despair, as they'll be typed up soon! Click part one and part two! August 26th, 1999 Here's a pic of the new Crow STH video that's coming out in September! Those that have seen the European and Australian video will notice a large difference, click here to see the pic! Yes, Salvation Stuff Soon! August 25th, 1999 It's finally confirmed, the comics are cancelled: "Thanks for your support of The Crow. Issue #10 will be the last monthly book. We might possibly be doing a Crow Magazine and collected volumes of The Crow. Please check with us and I will also pass your thoughts on to Todd McFarlane. Thank you for your time Beau Smith Executive Director of Pubishing and Marketing " Send mail to try and save the series to: Melsimmons@aol.com (Melanie Simmons, editor [Director of Production]) Beausmith2@earthlink.net (Beau Smith, Executive Director of Publishing) Thanks goes out to: Crow331 SOON: Salvation Pics and Interview August 24th, 1999 Most Talks The Crow: SalvationProducer Jeff Most previewed clips from The Crow: Salvation for fans at the Comic-Con International in San Diego. Cinescape reported on the preview and on the comments made by Most about the current and future Crow. Most talked about Crow creator James O'Barr's involvement with the latest movie, "[O'Barr] was very excited at the notion of creating a menacing group of bad guys who are police. He was really excited at the notion of not having the murdered victims, particularly the Crow, witness the murder of his loved one so that the efforts that needed to be made to find the killers and then as well for the Crow to prove to Kirsten Dunst's character Erin that his innocence was real, made it a really compelling story for him. So we did obviously bring this to him when we were first fashioning the story. He thought it was a great way to go and he gave us his big thumbs up and that's very important thing to us. Hollywood isn't particularly known for involving the creators of underlying works, whether they are comics or novels, on an on-going basis and we really do pride ourselves in going back to the source with James. It is certainly instrumental in our process of moving ahead with the franchise and with each story having had James' full thumbs up approval." The producer also told fans that O'Barr had recently screened the movie and that he loved it. "We look to James as our touchstone for not only an approval but for his great instincts. We bring James the script as it's developed and involve him in all aspects of our plans. When he gets to see a Crow film and is just ear-to-ear smiles and tells us he loved it we're feeling like we're doing our jobs right." Eric Mabius, who plays the title character this time out, was also on hand for Q & A. He told fans he had some anxiety about being compared to Brandon Lee, who was tragically killed starring in the first Crow movie. Mabius feels that Salvation plays to his particular strengths as an actor, where the original movie played to Lee's. Thanks to: Comics2Film Cinescape With Poster The poster art for The Crow: Salvation has popped up online, on the Detroit News Comic Book Continuum. Click on the pic above to see the larger version. Thanks to www.cinescape.com SOON: Comic News and (Hopefully) Salvation News/Pics! August 23rd, 1999 Bharat Nalluri, director of the upcoming The Crow: Salvation, told The Continuum that he's getting close to completing post-production on the film, which is being targeted for a March release. "We've got about a month-and-a-half left," Nalluri said. "We've been working on the sound." The film's score was recently recorded in Seattle. Some of the first images of The Crow: Salvation star Eric Mabius, in his Crow make-up, have been released. In this film, The Crow facial markings are actually scars, the result of Mabius' character, Alex Corvis, being wrongly electrocuted for the murder of his girlfriend. "It's the first film (in the series) that the make-up is justified by events in the story," Mabius explained. "The contact points on the mask are burned into my face and that's why these scars are not as symmetrical as they were previously. They are not ink at all; they are, in fact, scars from the botched electrocution. Sort of a nice statement on anti-capital punishment because people do catch on fire." The Crow: Salvation remains on track for the March release, producer Jeff Most said. For a feature from the set, CLICK HERE, and look for much more on The Crow: Salvation here in The Continuum.
August 22nd, 1999 Beau Smith, a director of Todd McFarlane Productions mentioned in the San Diego ComicCon that The Crow Comics might just be saved! In his words, sales are 'dangerously low' but this is not a true confirmation, so please send along an e-mail to the people at McFarlane Productions to help save the comics! Melsimmons@aol.com (Melanie Simmons, editor [Director of Production]) Beausmith2@earthlink.net (Beau Smith, Executive Director of Publishing) FAQ Section The FAQ section has been created in ABaHB, with constantly changing answers as to the Crow events that occur, check it out! SOON: Interview and pics from Salvation! August 21st, 1999 Rob Zombie Distances From Black Rider X
Thanks to: RobZombie.com August 20th, 1999 CROW prepares to fly
August 19th, 1999 Bryce Zabel, executive producer of The Crow: Stairway to Heaven, was not as optimistic about the future of the show as comments made last weekend at the Comic-Con International in San Diego. Producer Jeff Most said that Pressman Films have reacquired the rights to the series and that production could start up again as early as the fall. "I think Jeff got ahead of himself," Zabel told The Continuum. "The rights have yet to be granted back to Pressman and, even after that event, he will need to find a new financier. "Then we would have to gear back up for production. We have no hold on actors, the sets have been torn down, the crew is gone. I have not been approached about a thing and, in fact, am at work on a new series."
‘Crow’ TV Future Hazy? "Then we would have to gear back up for production. We have no hold on actors, the sets have been torn down, the crew is gone. I have not been approached about a thing and, in fact, am at work on a new series." Thanks to: Cinescape August 18th, 1999 Although there will be a hiatus, plans are for The Crow: Stairway to Heaven syndicated television series to return, producer Jeff Most revealed at Comic-Con International in San Diego last weekend. ShellyAngel Reports From Comicon! HI guys well, I just wanted to tell you all what a BITCHIN'
weekend I had at the Con!!!! OK first I got off the train practically
dying I had not slept for like 2 days now because of work. So Draven
picked me up and I went to her place and straight for the bathroom
for my 3 hour make up session, hey I actually got a little faster
LOL!!! hahaha Anyway we were off at about 3 pm so we get there and
there is a HUGE ASS line to get your registration!!!! My God my make
up was melting in the sun!!!! LOL!!!! So we finally get in there in
barely enough time for the Crow: Salvation presentation. OK Jeff
Most, Eric Mabius, ( the new Crow dude) , and Kirsten Dunst, were on the
panel and the trailer to the movie was going to start. They had some
music mixed in the movie from the 1st Crow and well, the what we saw
from the trailer was not to pleasing. OK Eric has the Crow mask burnt
into his face yes, when he is electrocuted, but as the movie goes on,
the scars heal so that he has the traditional lines going down his face
like Brandon's Crow make up. Well, The movie looked like it was going
true to the script that I have read but I thought Alex Corvis (Eric
Mabius ) was not supposed to have the Crow traditional make up on, so
that was kind nice to see. Now since this was only a trailer I CAN NOT
tell you if this movie is going to be good or if it is going to SUCK!!!
But let me put it to you this way. I don't consider all the Crow fans
that were in the audience getting up and leaving a good sign!!! I
swear to you ppl, everyone was either leaving or Booing!!!!!! God and I
swear that Eric looks like S**T with that Crow make up on!! He will
never compare to Brandon's Crow!!! Good Lord even Vincent Perez looked better
in the make up than Eric did, what a DORK, and I am not the only one
that thought this way too. I liked the actress, I forget her real name, who
plays Alex's fiancee in the Crow: Salvation, she is a beauty and kinda looks
like Sophia Shinas from the 1st Crow movie.
Now that is straight from a room of a thousand ppl in there. Kirsten
Dunst is a total airhead, for the whole hour they were up there they
only thing that came out of her mouth when they asked her, is this the 1st
time for you to see the trailer to Salvation? and you know what she
said, she said ( OK now you have to make your voice into a little
high pitched voice and giggle for this one ) she said O WOW that
movie looks so cool yeah I love the way it came out, I wish I was in it
.. WHAT???? she is so dense she couldn't even realise HELLO chick
you are in the movie !!!! man maybe it should be Kirsten DUNST!!!!!
LOL!!!!! I am not kidding that is what she said and it was like
crickets in the audience!!! How embarrassing for her!!!! I swear
besides the 10 sec. clip they threw in the middle of the trailer of
Brandon's Crow, that was the best part of the whole trailer and you
should have heard everyone cheered when Brandon came on and stopped
when Salvation came on!!!!!
OK now this is when it got really bad. The panel has to
ask Eric the stupid question of, How do you compare yourself to
Brandon Lee? O Good Lord that is when the room got stiff and tense.
OK Eric is an articulate speaker, a lot more than what I can say that
DUNST chick is. And he just said well, I don't want to answer that
question, but then went on to answer it anyway!!!! I was getting so
freaking frustrated and the panel kept going on and on and finally they
just said OK forget don't answer that any more!!!! I am not kidding
ppl, you could hear the audience getting all pissed off!!! I
couldn't stand to hear this and I left and took Draven with me, she
wanted to leave too!!! Man I was so disgusted, Everyone was at this
point!!!!
OK the only good news is that Jeff Most did announce and
state, The Crow: STH starring Mark Dacascos is re-newed for a second
season and production will begin in the fall!!!!!! YESSSSS!!!!!!! The
whole audience cheered we were so happy!!!!!! So it is
confirmed!!!!! STH is back and here to stay!!!!! I am telling you
that was the best part of that whole Crow: Salvation crap!!!!! I am
so utterly disappointed!!!!!
So this is when the fun began, Draven and I headed out to the
exhibitions and I swear I didn't even get to go around to any of the
tables!!!! I stopped at 2 Crow tables and I had this mob of ppl
wanting to take my pic!!!! hahaha it was great!!!!! I have never had
so many pictures I think taken of me before put together in my entire
life !!!!! =D I was at this one table and it turns out this guy I
e-mail all the time who sells James O' Barr's art work turned out to be
him. He had this Crow Statue for sale from England and that is what
caught my attention!!!! He asked me are you ShellyAngel, you sent me
your Crow Iris Shaw pics one time and I was like yeah I thought that
was you I had a feeling you are the one I always ask for the Crow
statue and it was him!!!! HA what a small world huh =). So
anyhow that is where my adventures began I was at that table the whole
night and ppl were constantly coming up to me and his girlfriend who
had her face painted as the Crow too, and ppl were just contently
taking our pics! There were ppl even with video cameras and ppl
just waiting for like 20 mins. until I was free to take a photo with
me. I felt like a star for a day hehehehe it was GREAT fun!!!! I
really can't wait for Halloween now hahahaha =D. This little kid
even asked for my autograph!!!! I was like really hehehe OK!!!! I
signed this tee shirt he was wearing!! How cool huh!!! There were
two other guys dressed as the Crow, but they sure didn't compare to
Lon, my friend who I swear to God is as close as your gonna get to
Brandon as the Crow =D!!!! HI Lon!!!!! James was not there.
After the picture craze I went to the MASQUERADE costume contest and
there were some awesome costumes. Everything from Edward Scissorhands
to Harley Quinn and the Joker, to tow Darth Maul's from Star
Wars. And Damn if I wouldn't have know I could have sworn it was
the actual actor from the movie himself!!!! He had the horns in his
head and an awesome make up job!!!! I was so impressed with
everyone's hard work !!!!! Ppl really get into this stuff LOL
kinda like me huh = )
And even after the Contest I had a photoshoot hahahaha ppl came
up to me can I take your picture can we take your picture you
look great!!!! I was ecstatic hehheheehe I even brought my gun to
pose for the shots and I loved it. I will show you all my pics when I
get them out!!!! =)
OK well, I babbled and babbled on long enough so I will depart with
this, As long as we believe in undying love, no matter what Crow movie
is made, The Crow is FOREVER!!!!!!! We love and miss you so much
Brandon!!!!
ShellyAngel
The Living Dead Girl
Expect a lot more Salvation things in the next few days! August 17th, 1999 'Crow: Salvation' Info Not surprisingly, the San Diego crowd was packed with fans of the comic-book spawned franchise, and one of the foremost issues on their minds seemed to be Crow creator James O'Barr's role in the project. "We actually discussed in detail the various stories we were considering making as a third anthological feature," producer Jeff Most said. "And this is the first Crow feature that does not having any repeating characters from either the first film or the second. As many of you are aware we had the continuing saga of Sarah. "[O'Barr] was very excited at the notion of creating a menacing group of bad guys who are police. He was really excited at the notion of not having the murdered victims, particularly the Crow, witness the murder of his loved one so that the efforts that needed to be made to find the killers and then as well for the Crow to prove to Kirsten Dunst's character Erin that his innocence was real, made it a really compelling story for him. So we did obviously bring this to him when we were first fashioning the story. He thought it was a great way to go and he gave us his big thumbs up and that's very important thing to us. Hollywood isn't particularly known for involving the creators of underlying works, whether they are comics or novels, on an on-going basis and we really do pride ourselves in going back to the source with James. It is certainly instrumental in our process of moving ahead with the franchise and with each story having had James' full thumbs up approval." Jeff Most also revealed that O'Barr recently viewed at cut of the film, and gave his account of the Crow creator's reaction: "He loved the film," the producer assured Crow fans. "We look to James as our touchstone for not only an approval but for his great instincts. We bring James the script as it's developed and involve him in all aspects of our plans. When he gets to see a Crow film and is just ear-to-ear smiles and tells us he loved it we're feeling like we're doing our jobs right. It was great to hear James. He really does think this is a tremendous film. He really likes how we reinvented the storytelling of it so that it doesn't play the same beats as the previous two Crow films. It's much more of a mystery. There's many more levels of emotion going on in this film and he was really appreciative of that." Inevitably, new Crow lead Eric Mabius was confronted with the question of how it feels to follow in the footsteps of the late Brandon Lee. "I sat down with [director] Bharat [Nalluri] and was nervous about the comparisons and worried that I wasn't the marital artist that Brandon was," Mabius explained. "[He] said, 'Relax. That script played to Brandon's strengths.' And this script plays to mine and that's why I was cast in it." Mabius went on to say, "A lot of people, understandably, because of how amazing Brandon was are going to compare the successors -- but the Crow is a reference to the animal, not the person playing the character in the film. So it's different people with different tragedies and they are trying lay the restless souls to rest. So that's why each film ended up having a different actor." Crow: Salvation is in the post-production phase right now, with work being done on the film's the sound. Indications are that the film will hit theaters in time to take advantage of the Easter break a la The Matrix this year. 'Crow' TV Update 'Crow 3' Soundtrack Info Thanks to www.cinescape.com Future 'Crow' Plans 'Black Rider' Update Crow 331 Report from Comicon With Poster! Crow331 back from the San Diego Comicon with some news (some already reported). First of all, you are correct about Stairway to Heaven. According to Jeff Most the movies producer, he indicated that Pressman films has indeed gotten the rights back from Universal for STH since they have decided to get out of the tv business. The show will begin production as soon as they can with a relaunch in the fall. He mentioned that Mark Dacascos would indeed be back along with Marc Gomes and executive producer Bryce Zabel. He did not mention any of the other cast by name so I don't know what their status is. OK, now movie news. Stabbing Westward will indeed be on the soundtrack as you previously reported. Jeff Most named off a bunch of bands that will be on the soundtrack, but unfortunately since I am not a heavy metal/rock guru I didn't recognize or recall any of the others. Jeff did say that 3 "major acts" would be announced next week, but would not elaborate on who they were, but later in the Q&A Eric Mabius (new Crow) let the cat out of the bag that Rob Zombie would be on the soundtrack as well. While I'm mentioning Rob Zombie, I might as well bring up the fact that Jeff Most commented on the Zombie Crow script from a few years past. Jeff said that Pressman films felt strongly about Robs script, but ultimately it was passed on as a "Crow" script because they thought maybe it was going to be too costly among other things. He said that the script lent itself to not just being a Crow movie and that is they way they are approaching it. The property will indeed be produced, but not as a crow movie.It will be its own movie and will begin production in the spring. It is titled Black Rider. Back to Salvation news. This movie will indeed be released in March of 2000 as previously announced according to Jeff Most. They are still in the post production process. They showed a trailer to the new film which was created for the Cannes film festival along with some behind the scenes still frames from the set. My guess is that when the trailer finally hits the theatres it will probably not be the same as the one they showed at the convention. I think the trailer looked really good by the way. They showed the Crow in makeup and the scars looked really good I thought. I noticed some similar themes to the previous movies but overall it did looked different and seemed to focus a lot on the love story. I really think this might be pretty good. The stars and directors were on hand to answer questions and sign autographs. I was impressed with Eric Mabius and his knowledge of the whole Crow mythology. He obviously did a lot or research and even had read the original James O'Barr comics. He was asked about the obvious comparisons that would be made between him and Brandon Lee and I thought he answered the question quite well. He said basically that the base of the movies is The Crow bird and how it can bring back the souls of those who were unjustly killed. He said that there are many victims with many stories and that Eric Draven had one story, Ashe Corvin had another and now Alex Corvis will have his story told. Anyways, Eric Mabius was soft spoken, but I think he presented himself just fine. As far as Kirsten Dunst, she looked beautiful at the convention and seemed to be just a bubbly little school girl. She didn't have a whole lot say because the presentation had to be cut short because of time constraints, but she looked really good in the trailer and she had seen the trailer for the first time with all of us. She commented that while she was watching it, she thought the movie looked great and thought to herself "I wanna be in that movie". She was also asked about a female crow and she thought it was "a great idea". She said that women should be able to kick butt once in a while which got the whole auditorium cheering. Eric Mabius, Jeff Most & Bharat Nalluri (director) signed autographs in the early afternoon at the Dimension films booth and they were all very gracious. They signed a mini movie poster for the Crow Salvation and I enclosed a picture as best as I could. The poster was mini, but it wouldn't completely fit under my scanner so I had to piece it together, plus I have a crappy scanner, but I think you get the idea. The words that don't read too well in the middle of the poster say FOR VENGEANCE, FOR JUSTICE, FOR LOVE. Jeff Conner, who was one of the writers on the original Crow, was also there just hanging out. Later in the afternoon, Kirsten Dunst was signing autographs by herself. She was also taking pictures. She was great and signed for everyone in line. Really a very nice girl. Ok, one last thing that I can remember, I had a chat with Jeff Conner while getting my autograph for Kirsten Dunst and I asked him about a director's cut for the original Crow. He said that they just pitched the idea to Miramax and they loved it! He did not say exactly when or where, but he said that they were going forward with the idea to re-release The original Crow in theatres with some behind the scense stuff added, maybe some cut scenes and other things. He said that this would lead into a bigger version put to DVD with a lot more stuff too like a directors audio commentary, storyboard art, production notes, interviews etc. Doesn't that sound great! Well, he didn't give a time frame but he said Miramax loves the idea and they are going full steam ahead with it. That's it from here. Crow331 CROW SALVATION POSTER HERE August 16th, 1999 As what ABaHB's been reporting all along, it's now official, Marla Jones send this along: Now, the news that you've all been wanting to hear. According to Jeff Most, Ed Pressman has gotten independent financing and Stairway will start shooting (as early as this fall was he estimate), will take this season off, be back next season with - THE ORIGINAL CAST - STARRING MARK DACASCOS - at which point Shelly Angel and I, being the reserved type, starting screaming. We, however, were not alone. Seems the show is a bit popular. Jeff also said it was ranked in 3rd place as far as the new shows went. He explained what we all already know - what happened - that Universal, who wants out of television bought the rights and decided not to renew most of their TV shows. He said Ed Pressman got the rights back from Univeral and sought independent financing. So, if you want to take him at his word, which he gave in front of about a thousand people at a con that has over 30,000 attendees (I don't think he'd lie or make a statement he couldn't back up to that many people), then the rumor is true - STH LIVES!!!!! Shelly and Draven signing off. And Again... It isn't on my site yet, but here is the latest crow update. Pressman has report that Universal is giving him a hard time about the Crow:STH rights to the show. However, he believes he will get them, soon. daarksun http://members.xoom.com/daarksun For more info, check out A Dead Man Visits You August 15th, 1999 Aaron Knier send this along about the Crow Salvation soundtrack: Andy Kubiszewski, drummer for Stabbing Westward, released this information to Chris Mazurk who passed it along to the Stabbing Westward mailing list. Fan Fiction! SOON: More on STH! August 14th, 1999 A big thanks goes out to 'Crow_Fan' who sends along the reply to the renewal of The Crow: Stairway to Heaven from daarksun of the SciFi 2000 site: "If something on my site is a rumor I will put that by the information. And if I get it from a magazine or site I will list that as well most of the time. Both crow updates on the front page state the two magazines that the information was originally posted in. They were in SciFi Entertainment and another update in an expose' issue. The issue month is on the site. Hope you liked the site. And that you will pass the site address to your other friends so they can bookmark me. I am constantly updating as I get my hands on information. The info I post there is a firm as I can get. And like I said. If it is nothing more than a rumor, I'll put that on there. But Pressman got his backers for the second season of the Crow:STH and we will see it. Maybe not until next fall, but we will get it. 22 episodes worth. Thanks for visiting the site. To bad my site isn't fact enough. Other magazines report false stuff as well, and the industry is always changing their minds on things. As I get it, so will everyone else. I get like ten mags a month or so, and I am scouring the internet for updates to pass on, so that one stop is all you need. :) Sorry to ramble on. Have a great week. daarksun http://members.xoom.com/daarksun SciFi 2000 netazine/ezine " The Crow steps out Universal pulled the plug recently on The Crow: Stairway to Heaven, a move which infuriated its loyal fan base which has grown slowly but surely since the show began. But fear not because producer Edward Pressman isn’t quite so keen to let it slip away. Pressman is looking to move the show to cable and has secured a second season by developing a financial organization which includes both domestic and foreign investors. Expect the second season of 22 episodes to start winging your way within the year. Thanks to: Marla Jones and Visual Imagination SOON: Rumours of the Salvation soundtrack! August 13th, 1999 ABaHB is opening up a new Frequently Asked Questions section that will be continuously updated as The Crow New changes ... 'Krow' writes in that thecrowsalvation.com is certainly owned by a Crow Fan ... Expect some *Big* news on Salvation coming (hopefully) this week, trust us, it should be big ... Thanks to Amy Constantce Y for waking us up tho the fact, as picture submissions are now open in the Misc Page, so if anyone has any drawings of The Crow or any aspect of The Crow, please send them in and we'll use the pics to grace the Misc Page section! Send all to abahb@xoommail.com ... Also, check out yesterday's update and write to the people over at McFarlane Productions to help save the Crow Comics! August 12th, 1999 Please write to: Melsimmons@aol.com (Melanie Simmons, editor [Director of Production]) Beausmith2@earthlink.net (Beau Smith, Executive Director of Publishing) And try to save The Crow comics, as the image comic is being cancelled, all the effort is needed to resurrect the comic from certain destruction! Also, this is nothing official, but www.thecrowsalvation.com has been reserved! This doesn't mean that Miramax has it, it could just be a fan. But stay tuned for more info regarding the future of it. NameCheck Resultthecrowsalvation.com is not available. August 11th, 1999 The ABaHB contest that's been running the past month in aid of the people at Darkest Days, has been won and this picture will be the banner for the independent film The Crow; Darkest Days. For more info on Darkest Days, contact Chris Freytag at hitman_chris@hotmail.com as he is making the film! SOON: More Comic News! August 10th, 1999 The Crow Image comics have been cancelled and it's up to you as a Crow Fan to help save the Crow series. See the August 8th update for more info, but send your thoughts and reasons why it shouldn't be axed to : Melsimmons@aol.com (Melanie Simmons, editor [Director of Production]) Beausmith2@earthlink.net (Beau Smith, Executive Director of Publishing) Send all letters to these people and help save the comics! August 9th, 1999 After Brandon Lee tragically died while filming The Crow in 1993, it seemed unlikely that the star-crossed film could turn a profit, let alone develop into a franchise. But the sleeper hit didn't just spawn a 1996 follow-up, the Crow: City of Angels. It has lead to a moderately successful syndicated television series and to a third sequel, The Crow: Salvation, slated to be released by Dimension Films sometime in 2000. This third instalment in the motion picture series stars relative newcomer Eric Mabius (Welcome to the Dollhouse, Cruel Intentions) in the title role. Mabius plays Alex Corvis, a young man wrongly executed for the brutal murder of his girlfriend (Jodi Lyn O'Keefe of Halloween H20). Corvis is resurrected as The Crow and begins to unravel a conspiracy that framed him and also threatens the life of his dead girlfriend's teen sister (played by Interview With the Vampire's Kirsten Dunst). The screenplay was written by Chip Johannessen, who moonlights as writer/producer on Chris Carter's Millennium. The film also marks the American debut of British director Bharat Nalluri (Killing Time), who says that Salvation does manage to set itself apart from its franchise predecessors. "Structurally, it's very different," he explains. "This movie is more of a mystery. Our hero comes back not knowing who's responsible for his girlfriend's death, so he has to be a detective of sorts before he can find vengeance." Of course, The Crow: Salvation's most prominent innovation is the new leading man. Nalluri says that while Mabius isn't particularly well-known, he brings a new sensibility to the role. "Eric's a fresh face - he's only 21 years old, so he's younger than Brandon Lee and Vincent Perez [who played the lead role in City of Angels]. Plus, he comes from an acting, rather than a martial-arts, background, so he's able to combine a physicality with the acting requirements of the role. I think he's great for the part" - Annabelle Villanueva. August 8th, 1999 (Special Update) News from inside Todd McFarlane Productions states that the Crow comics have been cancelled after issue 10. The writers were hired for a 9 run series, issue 10 was authorised, but due to heavily sagging sales, the series is under the knife. Todd McFarlane himself is at the centre of it all, so please voice your opinion of The Crow comics and why you don't want them to be cancelled by going to this site and mailing to him at http://www.spawn.com/email.html - use the 'scribble' button and point it to Todd McFarlane, then write away, there should be a more direct address coming soon, but this matter needs attention now, so get writing Crow Fans and help save the series! STH Update Darkest Days Update "After an hour and half meeting with Public Access in Eugene, Oregon the future of the Crow: Darkest Days is no longer in limbo. While the production company does not like any of the dark storylines, the entire crow mythos were brought into the discussion and Public Access changed their minds. The only downside is that Darkest Days is back to the drawing board. Public Access agreed to go ahead with the project, as long as the crew agreed to drop the 'religion' storyline. The crew agreed. With the script completed, and the satanic thugs already worked into it, it was a real shot taken at the crew. Public Access suggested that the crew follow one of the many comics that are out there, but Chris Freytag made it crystal clear that he wanted to be original. Just remain true to the Crow theme. August 7th, 1999 A big, big thanks goes out to Carl Burgess for sending this along from 'Science Fiction 2000' AUGUST 5: The Crow: STH second season update. Pressman is trying for this fall season but we might not see the second season until next fall. But it will happen. Salvation Rumblings ShellyAngel sends in some info about James O'Barr, so enjoy! "Hello, We are preparing for the show in San Diego this week along with a big computer show in LA.. James is coming out this weekend. Reviewing the new film is on the list of things to do. Will have him sign up a bunch of stuff, do a video interview & hope to be doing the comic show too. Here is a pic of the latest limited edition. We'll be releasing that and 4 others at the show. Will get the website updated after that. The movie has been done for a couple of weeks. James O'Barr is coming to Los Angeles to review the new movie next week. He has told me we can go with him. Will be doing an interview with him & releasing the details on crowfanclub.com. In addition he may be at the San Diego comic con ,his only apperance of the year. Have new lithograph images by him that he will sign then. We will be offering them for sale /. If interested in them email me & will send you a jpeg. Ciao" THE CROW #10 Expect some *big* upcoming news on The Crow comics soon, but for now, here's a rundown of issue 10! Written by John Kuramoto and Jon J Muth, art by Paul Lee, colored by Mark Nicholas, cover by Simon Davis. "Ashes to Ashes" Shelly's grave has been robbed. Who has taken her body and for what dark purpose? The Crow must recover his true love at any cost, but that cost may prove to be greater than he could possibly imagine. 32 pages, $2.50. August 6th, 1999 Two reports have flown in about Salvation, from ShellyAngel and Crow331 and here they are! 4:30 pm The Crow Find out the next chapter in the story of this popular gothic anti-hero. See a new trailer and a special slide show and panel discussion. Kirsten Dunst, Eric Mabius, Bharat Nalluri, Jeff Most, Ed Pressman, Greg Woertz, Zach Schiff-Abrams, Emily "Hey I just found out some fun news from a friend at work. He told me about the upcoming 30th Anniversary Comic Con at San Diego, CA, it will be August 12th to the 15th I believe. Well anyway, I mentioned what a HUGE Crow and Brandon fan I am and he told me that there is this special table there for the upcoming movie, The Crow: Salvation, so right away I said cool, I want to go to this, I always heard what a big thing this was and lots of celebrities there too. They are having a Crow discussion table and Eric Maribus the new Crow guy and Kristen Dunst and Ed Pressman and Jeff Most the producers from the original Crow will be there to answer questions on the new movie and they are also having a movie tralior of the new movie The Crow: Salvation!!!! Cool huh!!!!! I will be driving out there to meet a friend ( Draven =) ) and I wanted to know if any one living here in the LA area or anyone else willing to come meet me here Saturday August 14th and we can go together. Even if you can't go down with me you should all still try to come!! This sounds like alot of fun!! They are having a MASQUERADE costume contest there Saturday night and I know this is a perfect chance for my Iris Shaw costume to appear once again before Halloween. There will also be a party after! I have enclosed the URL for the Comic Con site. We have to buy the tickets at the door because it is too late now, all the pricing info is here." Follow this link to have a look see: http://www.hotsites.net/comiccon/Pages2/comic-conh.html August 5th, 1999 Just another attempt to crush all the rumours flying around about Salvation, here are some Salvation facts! The 'Crow' does die again in this film, leaving Alex powerless. Alex is resurrected a second time by Erin Randall Lauren Randall is stabbed fifty-three times In the script, Alex takes a police badge from his victim and wears it August 4th, 1999 Here's the continuation of a story written by Amy Constantce Y. titled What If? Part one was in the July News section but can now be found in the Misc. Page, give it a read as it's an excellent story! For any other Crow stories or poems, send them to abahb@xoommail.com Mention of Salvation "Crow: Salvation" 2000? Thanks to: www.horroronline.com August 3rd, 1999 'John Kuramoto' the co-storywriter of The Crow comics has informed us that #9 will be pencilled by Jamie Tolagson. Darkest Days Info and Pics Despite an earlier report by the creator of the Darkest Days project Chris Freytag, the independent film is said to be going ahead! For any further questions about Darkest Days, direct them to him here Here are some Darkest Days pics, 1, 2 and 3 of the new Crow named 'Gabriel Animus'. Thanks to Chris Freytag August 2nd, 1999 Just a small note that the Crow: Stairway to Heaven video has been released in Europe and Australia for retail and for hire. Both videos have different covers. The US Version is to be released in September! (click on July news for more detail) August 1st, 1999 The Crow turned ten in January this year, and to commemorate this event, ABaHB takes a look back over the past ten years: The Crow: Ten years later Written by: LLcruize Edited by: CrowFinder O’Barr started writing and drawing The Crow in the late 70’s and 80’s, while on loan to the Army by the Marines as an illustrator for hand to hand combat manuals. The basis for his pain was loosing his girlfriend/fiancee in a car accident. The pain and rage inside O’Barr needed to be focused on something, so he went to the blank pages of paper and started forming the words and images that would some day become a modern day tale of love, pain, and revenge. After years of working on the story, stopping, and working on it again (a person does have to make money to survive) , O’Barr’s tale finally made it to the pages of Caliber comics in 1989. Though at first the response was not overwhelming, The Crow achieved a very loyal following from people who embraced, and empathised with O’Barr’s tale. Never before had someone’s pain translated to the page so gracefully, so powerfully. O’Barr held back no punches and delivered a story that brought its readers to tears. Mid-tale, the comic was taken over by Tundra comics due to low sales at Caliber. The volumes that followed, combined with the previous Caliber volumes, would one day make up the Kitchen Sink Press graphic novel, The Crow. Edward Pressman, a well-known and respected producer, caught wind of The Crow and pressed forward to secure a movie deal for a bigscreen adaptation. In the beginning, none of the big companies wanted The Crow. Its dark themes and setting were not appealing to Hollywood execs, looking for the next big hit. Finally, Miramax agreed to take on the project. No one knew at the time, but The Crow would tap into a sector of the population long ignored by Hollywood. People fascinated by dark love stories, predominantly mid to late teens associating themselves with the growing "gothic" world, were never looked at as a viable audience. Their number was thought to be very small, not worth risking money on a movie that would highlight love and violence in a dark/gothic setting. Pressman brought in Alex Proyas, a well-respected music video director, to direct. This was a bold move. Though Proyas was well versed in music video, he had never directed a full-length movie. After numerous leading men were looked at, Brandon Lee was chosen to take on the role of Eric Draven, the martyr of the O’Barr tale. All looked right with the world until late March of 1993. The Crow set had seen its share of accidents, and reports of a possible "other worldly" curse hovering over the shoot. What happened in late March of 1993, would forever change the world of The Crow. On the last night of principle gun play shooting, Eric/Brandon was to walk into the apartment he and Shelly shared. The scene was to be part of the flashback sequences that Eric would experience during his return to the living. All was going well with the shoot. Michael Masse/Funboy fired a shot at Eric/Brandon Lee as he entered the apartment. As scripted. Brandon fell to the ground, and Proyas called "cut" , to end the scene. It was apparent after the initial call to cut, that something was not right with Brandon. As crew members rushed over to see what was wrong, they found that Brandon had sustained a gunshot wound to the abdomen. Paramedics were summoned immediately. It was almost 13 hours later when Brandon took his last breath, dying on the operating table. Doctors were unable to stop the bleeding, and so ended a very promising life. Reports of a family curse started immediately. Foul play was also insinuated. In the end, it came down to negligence on the set. The rest of the shoot was finished and the film wrapped up. It would be many months before Alex Proyas could attempt to finish the film. At first, he didn’t want to finish it but a spirit inside him encouraged the filmmaker. He realised that the right thing to do was finish the work to which Brandon gave his all, and ultimately, his life. It would be a forever-lasting tribute to the spirit of the original tale of love, pain, and loss. The Crow was released in March of 1994 to overwhelming positive reviews from critics. More importantly, the audience, for which the movie was made, finally had a movie that they could say told their love story. What no one knew at the time was the enormous following that would result from the movie. In death, Brandon had not only become a martyr in the eyes of his followers, but also a symbol of promise unfulfilled . It is without any doubt the emotions ,evoked by the film, were tied directly to Brandon’s death. Fuelled by the success of the movie, the graphic novel sales increased drastically. With the renewed success, Kitchen Sink Press produced four different comic stories inspired and based on the original tale. With the success of the first film, a sequel was a given. The Crow: City of Angels, came out in August of 1996. Though a lot of fans, at first, were turned off from the movie due to unfair comparisons to the first, in time the movie has gained more of an acceptance in The Crow fan world. It had to live up to unattainable emotions that the first movie evoked, mainly because of Brandon’s death. In 1996 and 1998 Kitchen Sink Press met with financial troubles and had to discontinue their comic operations in December of 1998. The Crow lives on. In early 1998, Everette Hartose and O’Barr combined characters for the very successful crossover comic "Crow/Razor: Kill the Pain". Mid 1998 saw Harper Collins start a Crow summer novel series, issuing three successful novels that told new tales of death, pain, love, and revenge. September of 1998 saw the start of the syndicated TV series, The Crow: Stairway to Heaven. Its success was cut short when Universal purchased Polygram and had different expectations and needs for their TV lineup. Pressman continues to negotiate to purchase the rights for the series from Universal, as he has the financial backing to start a second season. Late in 1998, O’Barr acted as editor and contributor for a Crow anthology novel titled "Shattered Lives and Broken Dreams". February of 1999 saw the start of the new Crow comic series from Image comics, owned by Todd McFarlane. To date, six volumes have been issued with no end in sight, as they have proved to be very successful. Currently in post-production is the new Pressman/Miramax film, The Crow: Salvation, due out in March of 2000. Harper Collins will be starting up a fall Crow novel series in November of 1999. There are two independent fan movies based on The Crow being made. I do not think, in the beginning, O’Barr had any idea that his tale would hit such a chord with people. The Crow is going into its 2nd generation of fans, and continues to grow in popularity. The one thing that continues to fuel the popularity is the underlying love story that is woven into the dark and violent themes. Never before has a story combined these elements so successfully. It is ten years later. Those of us who have been fans since 1989 are 10yrs older. Yet, the original tale, the movies, and all of the stories since, all seem to be suspended in time, there for us to forever remember love and pain. I look forward to the next 10yrs. Monthly Clean Up Just as a little note, all of last month's news is in the Archives section under July! |
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