More bad news for The Crow remake: Luke Evans has dropped out of the project.
First, the high-profile remake of the dark graphic novel (and 1994 movie adaptation) The Crow lost its director, as Corin Hardy replaced F. Javier Gutiérrez.
Now, The Hobbit star Luke Evans has officially quit the project after previously hinting that his schedule might be too busy for the job.
Evans was set to play lead character Eric, a murder victim who comes back to life to avenge his and his fiancée’s brutal deaths.
The role had previously been offered to Tom Hiddleston and Bradley Cooper, who both allegedly turned it down.
While the news is upsetting, it isn’t altogether surprising considering Evans’ comments to Den of Geek in December 2014.
When asked about The Crow, Evans admitted that the project was not progressing, and hinted that he would be dropping out.
“I’m sure it’s going to go ahead at some point, but I have other projects that are greenlit and ready to go,” Evans said. Alluding to a lack of attachment to The Crow, the actor described his other commitments as, “projects that I’m very interested in … I can’t wait much longer.”
Relativity Media is now looking for a new star, with Hardy expected to begin casting later this month.
The director is currently at Sundance promoting The Hallow, and spoke to Fangoria about his Crow remake:
“I’m a huge, huge fan of both the first film and James O’Barr’s graphic novel,” Hardy said. “I was obsessed with The Crow when I was growing up.”
Explaining what drew him to the remake, Hardy described the Crow character as an “outsider,” adding, “I kind of felt he would be the right character for me if I got the chance to do it.”
Hardy will look to the original graphic novels for inspiration, “picking out all those beautiful ideas and details that haven’t really been used yet.”