Bridget Baiss - The Crow

BRIDGET BAISS

TITAN BOOKS

The Crow The Story Behind the Film

Ebook edition

Print edition ISBN: 9781840237795

E-book edition ISBN: 9781781161845

Published by

Titan Books

A division of Titan Publishing Group Ltd

144 Southwark St

London

SE1 0UP

First published in 2004

The Crow: The Story Behind the Film 2004, 2012 Bridget Baiss

Front cover image 2004, 2012 Lance Anderson

Poem p.233 2004, 2012 Robert Zuckerman

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Bridget Baiss has asserted her right to be identified as Author of this Work, in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988.

The views and opinions expressed by the interviewees in this book are not necessarily those of the author or publisher, and the author and publisher accept no responsibility for inaccuracies or omissions, and the author and publisher specifically disclaim any liability, loss, or risk, whether personal, financial, or otherwise, that is incurred as a consequence, directly or indirectly, from the contents of this book.

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means without the prior written permission of the publisher, nor be otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.

A CIP catalogue record for this title is available from the British Library.

Printed and bound in Great Britain by MPG Books Ltd, Bodmin, Cornwall.

To Sean, for his endless reservoir of strength and patience. His unwavering commitment during the trials of authorship has been a true blessing and a revelation.

Till now, all else has been prologue. The future, we shall write together.

Special thanks to Francis Megahy for his great help and encouragement and Peter Fenton for his confidence in me. Without their support, this book would not have been written.

Also, very special thanks to my dear friend Steve Gold, in his own way, almost superhuman.

And, of course, deepest thanks to my parents, Jim and Helen, for all their love, faith and a lifetime of support.

Thanks to all those I interviewed:

Lance Anderson, Ken Arlidge, Clyde Baisey, Roberta Bile, New Hanover County District Attorney John Carriker, Angel David, Rochelle Davis, Greg Gale, Mark Galvin, Mike Gibbons, John Goldwyn, Bobby Griffin, Vick Griffin, Ernie Hudson, Charles Chunky Huse, Jeff Imada, Attorney James Janowitz, Ian Jessel, Attorney Robert W Johnson, Michelle Johnson, J B Jones, Randall LaFollette, Darryl Levine, Larry Madrid, Paul Maslak, Lawrence Mason, Frankie Nardiello aka Groovie Mann, Claudio Miranda, Jeff Most, James OBarr, Sandra Orsolyak, Sergeant Brian Pettus, Wilmington Police, Arianne Phillips, Graeme Revell, Cornelia Nini Rogan, Robert L Rosen, Sofia Shinas, John Shirley, Chad Stahelski, Rachel Talalay, Robert Zuckerman.

Thanks also to those, who I have not mentioned, who spoke to me off the record.

Original Manuscript Editor, Francis Megahy.

O ne dreary evening in March 1994, my best friend Steve Gold, who I had met at UCLA where we both majored in Theater, Film & Television, dragged me through the rain-slick streets of Los Angeles into a movie theater in Westwood Village to see The Crow.

It wasnt a film either of us was particularly interested in, but Steve who has since gone on to be a respected animation producer and a recognized expert in science fiction, fantasy and all things superheroic had considered Brandon Lee an extremely promising young star and was curious about his last performance.

I enjoyed the film, but by 1998, when I had dinner one evening with a publisher from London, I had almost forgotten it. When he told me that he had noticed a tremendous international interest in anything to do with the movie, I was very surprised. Four years after it had hit the screens? But I was intrigued, and we began to talk about the possibility of me writing a book on the making of the film.

My career up to this point had consisted of playing some roles in small movies and TV shows, acting in professional theater, producing television documentaries and print journalism. Then, in 1996, I had established myself as an international television reporter, specializing in the entertainment industry. I had always thought that at some time I would write a book, but at a vague, unspecified date. But now, after I had done some research, some reading, and seen the movie again a couple of times, I became fascinated by the subject of The Crow.

For a start, I had forgotten just how compelling the look of the film was. I had just seen Dark City, the most recent film from Alex Proyas, The Crows director, and I immediately noted many visual similarities. This was particularly striking in The Crows opening shot, as the camera flew over an obvious model city dark, gloomy, and full of mystery and danger.

I quickly discovered that Crow merchandise was hot: comics, T-shirts, calendars, toys and photos were big sellers, and there were many frequently-visited fan websites on the Internet. Even after the release of the second, much less successful Crow film, The Crow: City of Angels, anything to do with the original film was still a hot commodity at book fairs, conventions and flea markets around the world.

So, in December of 1998, I agreed to write the book, and set myself on a course that, at least for a year, changed the rhythm and structure of my otherwise extroverted life. I had no idea that the journalists staple characteristic, persistence, would become so vital.

The research itself turned out to be a much bigger challenge than I could have imagined. I came up against endless layers of suspicion and hostility, and I was always having to defend my credibility.

A tragic accident to the star of the movie on the set cast a pall over the lives of many of the cast and crew, some of whom are affected by it to this day.

When I started the book, I naturally tried to interview every single person I could reach who had been involved with The Crow. I soon found that simply tracking down the members of the cast and crew was difficult. Some of them had dropped out of the fickle movie industry, while others apparently had their own reasons for being hard to find. Their elusiveness was not hard to fathom, since the last time many of these people were contacted by any journalist was immediately after Brandon Lees fatal shooting.

So, I wasnt entirely surprised, but my patience was to be sorely tested. One key member of the production team, who had since gone on to work on some of Hollywoods biggest movies, arranged and canceled a date for an interview no less than five times, some of those at thirty minutes notice or with no notice at all.

Nevertheless, many people close to Brandon Lee did talk to me candidly and at length. Many of them felt it was finally time to have their say about what had happened during the shooting of the film, which had been kept something of a mystery. For many, it was a much-needed release. By talking about it, they hoped to finally heal the tragic wound of the young actors death.