IN-D

Adaptation of James Obarr's: The Crow

The Production: Part 1

            JAMES O'BARR'S THE CROW began shooting on June 11^th 1994, not one month after David Ullman and Matt Jackson saw the premiere of the Miramax/Brandon Lee film. The young filmmakers were so inspired by the movie that much of their early footage resembled the Miramax adaptation far more than the O'Barr comic. “Our original intent was to do it from the comic book,” Jackson recalls, “but we were also taking scenes from the movie that we thought were cool. We tried doing a rooftop running scene that looked terrible. We completely re-created Gideon's. We did a lot from the movie that we ended up cutting out or re-filming.” Ullman concurs: “In the beginning, we did veer more towards re-doing the Miramax version. But, after certain point, we really began to focus on the comic. The comic was our script. We took a few liberties here and there for narrative purposes, and there were a few things that, with our very meager budget, we simply could not do; however, in spirit, and largely in content as well, our movie is the comic.”

The filmmakers went to great lengths in their attempts to recreate the world that O'Barr depicts in THE CROW. Only 14 years old when they began the project, Ullman and Jackson had very few resources, and even fewer funds, at their disposal. Ullman says it was evident very early on that there would need to be some sets created for a project of this stature. “We were used to making movies in and around our homes. So when it came time to construct sets, my basement was quickly drafted as the room that we would time and again dress up according to the various indoor locations called for in the book.”

Prior to production, Ullman, with the help of his family, cleaned out the cluttered basement of their Ohio home, a task that turned out to be quite an undertaking, because for years the Ullman basement had served as a junk room of sorts, but after a few full days spent cleaning, there was ample room in which to construct sets.

The first of these to be built was the Gin Mill, the bar where Eric confronts a dozen or so of T-Bird's gang members whom he quickly dispatches in a particularly gruesome gun battle. With absolutely no prior experience in woodworking, Ullman and Jackson managed to create a suitable bar for the scene in the confines of the Ullmans' basement using only found wood from their equally cluttered attic. Other sets constructed in the basement were Top Dollar's lair, Fun Boy's Bedroom, and T-Bird's kitchen, each making use of the same two corners. “It was somewhat constricting” Ullman remembers, “but it forced us to be creative.” Jackson adds: “it was fun to make one little room into so many different sets. One day it was Fun Boy's room, the next day we'd have a bar up, then it'd be the kitchen of T-Bird's house… But, actually my most vivid memory from making the movie was making Gideon's Pawn in my basement.

“The basement of my family's house had a mini-bar. There was so much stuff, family decorations and things, on this counter, and, to do this scene, we had to take everything off, the microwave, all the decorations and stuff and replace them with the pawn shop props. It was such an ordeal, and by the end of the day the place would be covered in blood, covered in detergent, which was supposed to be gasoline, and my dad was so pissed off. During the making of this movie, I think my family turned on me for a very long time.”