Trivia for
The Crow (1994) More at IMDbPro »

• Cameron Diaz was offered the role of Shelly, but turned it down because she didn't like the script.
  
  
• Brandon Lee died during a mishap on the set. A scene required a gun to be loaded, cocked, and then pointed at the camera. Because of the close-range of the shot, the bullets loaded had real brass caps, but no powder. After the cut, the props master (not the arms master - he had left the set for the day) dry-fired the gun to get the cock off, knocking an empty cartridge into the barrel of the gun. The next scene to be filmed involving that gun was the rape of Shelly. The gun was loaded with blanks (which usually contain double or triple the powder of a normal bullet to make a loud noise). Lee entered the set carrying a bag of groceries containing an explosive blood pack. The script called for Funboy (Michael Massee) to shoot Eric Draven (Lee) as he entered the room, triggering the blood pack. The cartridge that was stuck in the barrel was blasted at Lee through the bag he was carrying, killing him. The footage of his death was destroyed without being developed. Lee is the son of martial arts legend Bruce Lee, who died in mysterious circumstances before completing Game of Death (1978). See also Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story (1993).
  
  
• The following scenes were completed after Brandon Lee's death: - Draven first enters the apartment after digging himself out of his grave: footage of Lee walking through an alley in the rain was digitally composited into the scene where he walks through the doorway. Computer technology added drops of water to the door frame to make the water on his back not seem out of place. - The shot of Draven falling from the window was made by digitally compositing Lee's face (complete with simulated blood) onto a body double. - The scene where Draven puts on his make-up was filmed using a double. The face in the smashed mirror was Lee's, computer-altered to fit the shards. The image of Draven walking towards the window with the crow on his shoulder was a double with Lee's face added during lightning flashes. - When Sarah visits the apartment, we never see Draven's face as it is a double.
  
  
• According to the biography of Bruce Lee, Brandon Lee's death was predicted by his father Bruce Lee after awaking from his coma. His death was foreseen before Brandon even considered taking up acting as a career.
  
  
• Scenes featuring Michael Berryman as the Skull Cowboy were cut.
  
  
• The poem that Eric Draven misquotes when he breaks into Gideon's shop is "The Raven" by Edgar Allan Poe. Draven says "Suddenly I heard a tapping..." while Poe's poem actually reads "Suddenly there came a tapping."
  
  
• T-Bird's final words are from Book IV of Milton's "Paradise Lost". When Lucifer is found in Paradise by two Cherubs, he rebukes them for not recognizing him. They rebuke right back saying that his appearance has changed from being in Hell. "So spake the Cherub; and his grave rebuke, Severe in youthful beauty, added grace Invincible: Abashed the Devil stood, And felt how awful goodness is, and saw Virtue in her shape how lovely; saw, and pined His loss"
  
  
• Cameo: [James O'Barr] stealing a TV set after Gideon's shop was blown up.
  
  
• During the first day of shooting in Wilmington, North Carolina, a carpenter suffered severe burns after his crane hit live power lines. On subsequent days, a grip truck caught fire, a disgruntled sculptor crashed his car through the studio's plaster shop, and a crew member accidentally drove a screwdriver through his hand.
  
  
• James O'Barr modeled the comic book "Eric's Face" on an amalgam of Ian Curtis and Daniel Ash. Iggy Pop served as the model for comic Eric's torso and more importantly, the comic Funboy's overall look and attitude. Iggy was slated to star as Funboy in the film, however he was forced to decline the role due to touring/recording conflicts. To make up for his cancellation he agreed to be in the sequel.
  
  
• Top Dollar, Myca, and Grange are never referred to by name in the movie.
  
  
• Set in Detroit (evidenced by references to "Devil's Night" (the traditional arson and vandalism "holiday") and "motor city").
  
  
• The order in which Draven hunts down the four killers is the same order in which they attack and rape Shelley.
  
  
• One of the villains in this movie is named Skank. The Wraith (1986), another movie about an avenger who's back from the dead, also has a villain named Skank.
  
  
• Cameo: [David J. Schow] the writer is one of the first men to get killed during the boardroom fight. You see him fall and then abruptly disappear under the table.
  
  
• In the scene where T-Bird, Fun Boy, Tin-Tin and Skank destroy the arcade, T-Bird says, "You know, Lake Erie actually caught on fire once from all the crap floating around in it. I wish I could've seen that." Something like this did actually happen, but it wasn't Lake Erie, it was the Cuyahoga River in Cleveland, Ohio.
  
  
• The latter part of the scene in Albrecht's apartment was ad-libbed by Brandon Lee and Ernie Hudson. The line about Shelley ("Believe me, nothing is trivial") was not in the script.
  
  
• Eric Mabius, who played in the lead for The Crow: Salvation (2000) auditioned for the role of Funboy.
  
  
• One of the crows used in this film, Magic, was used in all of the following movies.
  
  
• Linda Lee Cadwell, the widow of Bruce Lee and mother of Brandon Lee, filed a negligence case against producer Edward R. Pressman, actor Michael Massee and 12 other defendants over the death of her son on-set. She settled out of court to the tune of $3 million.
  
  
• James O'Barr constantly listened to the songs of Joy Division and The Cure while shaping and creating this film. He was delighted when Robert Smith of "The Cure" agreed to write an original song for the movie. Although a hugely popular song, introducing legions of new fans to "The Cure", they've never performed "Burn" live, even though it's often requested. When a fan asked if they'd play the song at a concert, bassist Simon Gallup replied, "Did we do that one for a soundtrack? I don't remember it."
  
  
• Ernie Hudson's character, Officer Albrecht, is named after Joy Division member Bernard Sumner. While writing the comic on which the movie is based, artist/writer James O'Barr drew inspiration from the band's music as well as that of The Cure and Iggy Pop. In the early days of "Joy Division", Sumner had taken the surname of Albrecht for no apparent reason.
  
  
• When Gideon is sitting at the bar he is drinking Crown Royal.
  
  
• Just before sending T-Bird off in his car, Eric roots through the trunk and picks up a bundle of TNT with a digital detonator. He apparently arms it, because when the car blows up the explosion starts in the trunk.
  
  
• The incendiary device which Eric drops in T-Bird's lap is a white phosphorous grenade. When it detonates it burns at 2500 degrees Fahrenheit.
  
  
• Left out of the final production scene, Eric harms himself with a blade in frustration over his resurrection. As these wounds were self inflicted they did not heal like those caused by the gang; so to stem the bleeding he used electrical tape down his arms and on his body - thus the tape we see on his black top later in the movie
  
  
• During the boardroom shootout, Draven rolls onto his back to kick a shooter through a window, then nips back up to his feet in one movement: a similar move to one performed in Enter the Dragon (1973) - which, coincidentally, was his father Bruce Lee's last film before an untimely death.
  
  
• Although the tone of the film is very similar to the comic, there were many changes. In the comics, Top Dollar is a member of T-Bird's gang as opposed to heading up crime in the city. Myca and Grange were also not present in the comic and there was never any mention about the crow being a power source. Also in the comic, Skank was not involved in the murders of Eric and Shelly, instead a character named Tom-Tom was. Sarah also served a minor role, first meeting Eric after his death and Albrecht as he appears in the movie is a combination of a street officer named Albrecht in the comics and Police Captain Hook. Another major change is Eric is a mechanic in the comic and his last name was never mentioned. He was changed to a musician as an homage to all the music references James O'Barr had in the comic. In the comic, the murders are actually a twist of bad luck with T-Bird's gang while high on drugs ambushing Eric and Shelly when their car breaks down. And in the comic, Eric is actually the one who lasts for thirty hours of intensive care with most of the events implied as possibly being a revenge fantasy as he lies in a coma.
  
  
• The line "I see you've made your decision. Now let's see you enforce it," is taken from a statement made by President Andrew Jackson regarding the ruling of Supreme Court that the Indian Removal Act was illegal. The line was altered from "That's John Marshall's decision; now let's see him enforce it," to use it in the movie.
  
  
• Director Alex Proyas originally wanted to shoot the entire movie in "black and white" closer to the comics and only using color in Draven's flash backs scenes with high contrast theme, but the studio executives didn't allow him to experiment with approach. This made Proyas shoot much of the movie in a monochromatic color theme mixed with red and dark gray.
  
  
• According to James O'Barr, he didn't like casting Brandon Lee as the main lead for his comic-book adaptation. At that time he had only seen him in Showdown in Little Tokyo (1991) and fearing that it would end up like a Kung Fu movie and go straight to video. But he was thrilled when he first met Brandon on the set with the makeups and Crow outfit. He was amazed by Brandon's take on the character when he spoke the exact lines from the comics.
  
  

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