About "The Crow"
07-19-03, 01:58 AM
#1
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About "The Crow"
After Brandon's death, the producers insisted on de-emphasising many aspects interpreted as 'morbid' in the context of the tragedy. The only omission that crippled the film was Eric's discovery of a circlet of five bullet hole scars on his chest -- essentially, one scar for each of the guys originally involved in his death. This pattern was to be duplicated in the number of knives stuck into Tin-Tin, the number of needles stuck into Funboy, and so forth. That got lost. Eric's discovery of the scars (in the alley, right after he pulls off his shirt) was cut; subsequent to that, he is only shot twice in the loft. If you look very closely in certain shots, you can still see the five scars.
Other stuff deleted after a rough cut was completed in October of 1993 were several characters -- Alison, a woman who gets blown up inside of Arcade Games, and Axel and Chopper, two 12-year-olds who hold up the liquor store Skank visits to score road beers. A whole fight between Eric and Funboy (which explains how Eric's trenchcoat got slashed) was filmed, then dropped. Shots of Funboy free-basing and licking the needle he uses on Darla were cut, along with the impact shot of Top Dollar's body actually hitting the gargoyle in a spray of blood, the impalement.
The Skull Cowboy, played by Michael Berryman, was originally intended as a 'tour guide' to walk Eric through some metaphysical basics, define his mission, etc. Alex Proyas decided we didn't need him; rightly so, I think, because the beginning of the story is good visual storytelling that doesn't need any words to belabour it. It's also a good litmus test for whether you'll like the movie: if you visually understand the fact that Eric follows the crow, you'll buy it. If you get bogged down in why, then you probably won't like the rest of the film.
We shot two scenes with Eric and Skull Cowboy. The disinterment scene, and a sequence near the end where Eric has to literally pass through the Cowboy to enter the church to rescue Sarah. Again, if you look close -- or if you have a really good imagination -- you can see the edge of the shadow of the Cowboy's hat on the church door in the background, as the crow flies to meet Eric for the first time. http://www.tabula-rasa.info/Horror/DavidJSchow.html
Other stuff deleted after a rough cut was completed in October of 1993 were several characters -- Alison, a woman who gets blown up inside of Arcade Games, and Axel and Chopper, two 12-year-olds who hold up the liquor store Skank visits to score road beers. A whole fight between Eric and Funboy (which explains how Eric's trenchcoat got slashed) was filmed, then dropped. Shots of Funboy free-basing and licking the needle he uses on Darla were cut, along with the impact shot of Top Dollar's body actually hitting the gargoyle in a spray of blood, the impalement.
The Skull Cowboy, played by Michael Berryman, was originally intended as a 'tour guide' to walk Eric through some metaphysical basics, define his mission, etc. Alex Proyas decided we didn't need him; rightly so, I think, because the beginning of the story is good visual storytelling that doesn't need any words to belabour it. It's also a good litmus test for whether you'll like the movie: if you visually understand the fact that Eric follows the crow, you'll buy it. If you get bogged down in why, then you probably won't like the rest of the film.
We shot two scenes with Eric and Skull Cowboy. The disinterment scene, and a sequence near the end where Eric has to literally pass through the Cowboy to enter the church to rescue Sarah. Again, if you look close -- or if you have a really good imagination -- you can see the edge of the shadow of the Cowboy's hat on the church door in the background, as the crow flies to meet Eric for the first time. http://www.tabula-rasa.info/Horror/DavidJSchow.html
07-19-03, 12:43 PM
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I am annoyed by this DVD because there was a ton of great material with the director, but the producer insisted on getting to show off with a commentary, so the original material was all dropped.
07-19-03, 02:13 PM
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Yeah, someone needs to post what the Crow director said about the CE DVD. He basically said it's not all that it could've been b/c the producer didn't want a 90min documentary or dir com. included, even though they were already made.
07-19-03, 02:24 PM
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Yeah, I remember reading about some of that stuff. It really does suck. But this is one of my favorite movies of the 90's, so I had to own it. Well, actually, I bought it before I even learned about the stuff that was left off. Heck, before I even learned about this website. But I'm glad to at least own a copy. I'm still convinced that Criterion should get the rights and release their own version with all the deleted scenes, the commentary and the documentary. Oh, yeah, and a trailer would be nice. It'll probably never happen, obviously, but a boy can hope, can't he?
It can't rain all the time.
K
It can't rain all the time.
K
07-19-03, 02:31 PM
#6
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Zodo,
Where'd you read about this? The only website that I found that talked about why the stuff was cut stated that Miramax claimed that Alex Proyas himself requested that the footage stay out of the DVD and that he refused to participate on the DVD in any way.
Where'd you read about this? The only website that I found that talked about why the stuff was cut stated that Miramax claimed that Alex Proyas himself requested that the footage stay out of the DVD and that he refused to participate on the DVD in any way.
07-19-03, 03:03 PM
#7
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he refused to participate because of a fued with the producer. It went something like, if Mirimax does it with the producer they will get another crow feature. If they went with a director's cut, the producer would sever ties with Miramax and they won't get any future crow installments. Needless to say future movies have the potential to make more money than 1 dvd release.
Something to the effect. I am searching for the quote now. Not sure if I can find it.
Something to the effect. I am searching for the quote now. Not sure if I can find it.
07-19-03, 03:19 PM
#8
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Thanks for the info, Michael Corvin (love the name BTW). I wonder why the producer didn't want Alex Proyas to include his director's cut on the DVD. 
Is it because of differences in opinion regarding how the film should be that this feud got started?
Do you know why Miramax still refuses to show the original cut of The Crow: City of Angels? Based on all the cut footage listed on imdb (that they claim was available in the workprint), the sequel could have potentially been even better than the first film.
Is it because of differences in opinion regarding how the film should be that this feud got started?Do you know why Miramax still refuses to show the original cut of The Crow: City of Angels? Based on all the cut footage listed on imdb (that they claim was available in the workprint), the sequel could have potentially been even better than the first film.
