Trivia for
The Crow (1994)

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• 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 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 Lee 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 villians in this movie is named Skank. "The Wraith", 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 The Crow. 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.
  
  
• The car which hits Skank is a Volkswagen Rabbit.
  
  
• Eric's surname is actually an elaborate pun: Eric Draven, or, Eric D. (the) Raven. Ravens and crows are frequently mistaken for each other, and ravens are symbols of death.
  
  
• When Gideon is sitting at the bar he is drinking Chivas Regal.
  
  
• 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 Farenheit.
  
  

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