Tag: Stephen Norrington

Norrington submits script for THE CROW

thecrow_graphicnovel

Stephen Norrington (BLADE) has submitted his script for a new take on THE CROW to Relativity Media. The script has apparently been getting praise and Norrington has promised an “almost documentary style” approach. This, in an effort to differentiate his film from the original.

Norrington’s version of THE CROW, based on James O’Barr’s modern classic graphic novel, in not intended to be a remake of the first movie. In fact, it may not even be a remake of the graphic novel, per se. Norrington has also promised a “new character and storyline” as well, which raises a question of how different?

The first film (and only good one) was a Gothic take, dark and moody. directed by Alex Proyas (DARK CITY) and starred Brandon Lee, immortalized by his role in the film and his tragic, somewhat mysterious and untimely death during production.

Source: Empire

Norrington and Dorff want Deacon Frost prequels

deaconfrostblade

Here’s the latest in a trend to take a successful franchise and push it further with prequels. Apparently, director Stephen Norrington has confirmed that he and actor Stephen Dorff are indeed moving forward with a project that, is all goes well, chronicles the story of Deacon Frost in a trilogy of prequels.

Norrington directed the first ‘Blade’ and Dorff played the vampirous villain Deacon Frost in the same film. Norrington gives credit for the idea to Dorff and says the story still hinges heavily on a connection between Frost and Blade.

Personally, I’m having trouble deciding if I like this idea or not. On the one hand, I’m always in the mood for a new (well-made) vampire flick, but this seems like it may have a very real risk of being about as successful as ‘Underworld: Rise of the Lycans’.

OK, if you dig a little, you’ll probably find that I enjoyed ‘Rise of the Lycans’ a little more than the average genre fan, but still… it wasn’t a “great” movie. This is what worries me about this new project. Does it have the potential to shine, or will it just end up feeling like an afterthought to the relatively successful ‘Blade’ trilogy.

Aside from that, I found it curious that the story apparently still somehow involves Blade himself. In that case, will Wesley Snipes return to reprise his role as the day-walking vampire hunter? If not, who’ll pick up the role and will it be the same? [IMO: If they need someone to replace Snipes, they should consider Michael Jai White.]

[source: SuperheroHype, Mania.com]

Stephen Norrington set to reinvent ‘The Crow’

Let me just say this… I am a huge fan of the original graphic novel by James O’Barr and a huge fan of the original film adaptation by Alex Proyas. However, the multitude of sequels, both in print and on celluloid, offered much to be desired on varying levels. ‘The Crow’ is a wonderfully dark and powerful story, so this news surprisingly affected me in a less “powerful” way than I imagined.

Stephen Norrington (a sculptor turned filmmaker) has been tapped to write and direct a “reinvention” on ‘The Crow’. In theory, I’m not entirely opposed to another film, but I am skeptical at best. Plus, the word “reinvention” does bother me a bit. Norrington isn’t a filmmaker I dislike, but also is not a filmmaker I feel has truly honed his craft enough to be “reinventing” anyone’s work.

His biggest two films to date have been the first installment of the ‘Blade’ franchise [not my favorite] and the less-than-successful [although enjoyable, in my opinion] ‘League of Extraordinary gentlemen’. By the way, Norrington hasn’t made a film since ‘LOEG’ and it also holds a bookmark in cinematic history as the straw that broke Sean Connery’s back, who [as the legend goes] chose to place himself into early retirement and never act again as a result of his experience making this movie.

“Whereas Proyas’ original was gloriously gothic and stylized, the new movie will be realistic, hard-edged and mysterious, almost documentary-style,† Norrington told Daily Variety.

[source: Variety.com]