The Crow: formerly attached screenwriter describes new film as horrible, unwatchable

Lionsgate will be bringing a new version of The Crow to theatres on August 23rd – and while we had previously been referring to this project as a remake, Lionsgate recently let it be known that this is not to be called a remake, but rather a new adaptation of the source material, the comic book series created by James O’Barr. This is a project that spent fifteen years making its way through development hell, and one of the screenwriters attached along the way was Cliff Dorfman, the writer of Warrior. Dorfman recently took to social media to reveal that he has seen the new adaptation of The Crow… and he thought it was horrible.

Dorfman has since removed his post from X, but the memory lingers online. Geek Tyrant reports that Dorfman wrote, “If hypothetically, one happened to see a screening of @TheCrow_Movie #thecrow which @Lionsgate is releasing in August, one might say, it’s horrible, it’s unwatchable, don’t waste your money, or can’t believe it’s so much worse than the original. It is. And don’t.“

Dorfman worked on The Crow several years ago, back when F. Javier Gutierrez was attached to direct, so his opinion could be influenced by the fact that the vision he and Gutierrez had for the project never made it to the screen. We’ll see how many other viewers share his opinion when the movie is released in August.

Rupert Sanders (Snow White and the Huntsman) directed the version of The Crow that did make it into production, working from a screenplay by Oscar nominee Zach Baylin (King Richard). The film is produced by Victor Hadida, Molly Hassell, John Jencks, and Edward R. Pressman. Dan Farah serves as executive producer. Here’s the synopsis: Soulmates Eric (Bill Skarsgard) and Shelly (FKA twigs) are brutally murdered when the demons of her dark past catch up with them. Given the chance to save his true love by sacrificing himself, Eric sets out to seek merciless revenge on their killers, traversing the worlds of the living and the dead to put the wrong things right.

As the synopsis mentions, Bill Skarsgard plays the lead character and is joined in the cast of The Crow by singer FKA twigs, who takes on the role of Shelly, the love of Eric’s life. Danny Huston (Yellowstone) plays the lead villain. David Bowles (Brothers), Isabella Wei (1899), Laura Birn (A Walk Among the Tombstones), Sami Bouajila (The Bouncer), and Jordan Bolger (Peaky Blinders) are also in the cast.

Are you looking forward to The Crow? What do you think of the comments posted by formerly attached screenwriter Cliff Dorfman? Let us know by leaving a comment below.