Movies
‘The Crow’ Remake No Longer Has Jack Huston
Just a few hours ago, we posted that actor Forest Whitaker was in negotiations to play a role in the upcoming remake of The Crow. However, some bad news has befallen the production as Jack Huston, who was supposed to play the main character Eric Draven, has dropped out of the film.
Director Corin Hardy told Variety:
“Jack Huston is unfortunately unavailable to continue with us on ‘The Crow.’
‘The Crow’ is an amazing project, and I am grateful that we have the time and patience to get it right. We look forward to unveiling our new lead and starting to film over the next several weeks.”
The site adds that Relativity Studios is eyeing Nicholas Hoult (Warm Bodies, Mad Max, X-Men) and Unbroken‘s Jack O’Connell, among others, as possible replacements.
The studio also commented on the situation, saying:
“Jack is a remarkably gifted actor, and we look forward to working with him in the future. Corin Hardy has a tremendous vision for ‘The Crow,’ and we are working closely with him to continue prepping the movie and supporting him as he brings his vision to the big screen.”
It’s yet another blow to the film, which has been in the works for several years.
The trailer for Ti West’s upcoming adaptation of A Christmas Carol raised a lot of eyebrows when it dropped earlier this week. While plenty of folks initially dismissed Ebenezer as a derivative project meant to cash in on the recent wave of unnecessary prequels that expand the backstory of beloved characters (such as 2023’s Wonka), Charles Dickens’ original novel already made a point of exploring Ebenezer Scrooge’s origins in detail – meaning that this new film is likely just a particularly faithful adaptation of the source material under a different name.
Couple that with the fact that the movie is being helmed by a genuine horror auteur and I think it’s safe to say that the latest iteration of the first modern ghost story is in good hands.
That being said, one detail that immediately jumped out at me during the brief teaser (other than a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it nod to Johnny Depp’s iconic bedroom death scene from the original A Nightmare on Elm Street) is the fact that many of Ebenezer’s ghosts appear to have been directly lifted from the iconic John Leech illustrations that accompanied the first edition of Dickens’ novel.
Here are a couple of stills from the trailer compared to the original artwork:
The Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come in ‘Ebenezer’ and ‘A Christmas Carol’
The Phantoms in ‘A Christmas Carol’ and ‘Ebenezer’
Marley’s Ghost in ‘Ebenezer’ and ‘A Christmas Carol’
Mainly working with old-school wood and steel engravings that would later be transferred to print, Leech was instrumental in crafting the iconic look of history’s most influential phantoms – especially since Dickens is said to have been deeply involved with the creation of these so-called “comic illustrations.”
And since the novel is commonly said to have popularized spiritualism in Victorian England, much of the ghostly iconography that we still see in genre media to this very day (including some of Ti West’s previous films) can be traced back to the author’s partnership with Leech.
Ebenezer won’t be the first A Christmas Carol adaptation to borrow heavily from these designs, but I can appreciate how Ti West is incorporating an important part of horror history into his latest film.
Ebenezer will be available in theaters starting November 13.
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