Alex Proyas’ “The Crow,” based on the comic series by James O’Barr, was released in May 1994, but its dark legacy lives on to this day. An infamous accident with a prop gun on the set of “The Crow” took the life of star Brandon Lee, making the stylized revenge film that much more tragic. The story goes that a prop gun had been loaded with “dummy” bullets earlier in the shoot, a common practice for close-ups of guns. The “dummy” bullets have shells and bullets but no gunpowder. The trigger can be pulled, but the bullet will, at most, detach from the shell.
The prop gun in question was fired and the dummy bullet dislodged and became stuck in the barrel. Later during filming, that same gun was to be loaded with blanks for an actual firefight sequence. Blanks have no bullets but do have gunpowder, causing a real explosion. Sadly, when the blank discharged inside the prop gun in question, it dislodged the bullet, firing it into Brandon Lee’s body. He was shot in the stomach and mortally wounded.
The film was finished with Brandon Lee’s stunt double — future “John Wick” director Chad Stahelski — and his final film was released posthumously. The tragedy caused a lot of sadness and pain in the hearts of the filmmakers and the public, and O’Barr cursed that he ever invented “The Crow” in the first place. Lee’s death was well-remembered by the makers of the new adaptation of “The Crow” starring Bill Skarsgård. Indeed, according to a new report in Variety, guns were explicitly banned from the set for the remake.
‘The Crow,’ ‘Rust,’ and gun safety on set
The new version of “The Crow” was directed by Rupert Sanders, and he had two tragedies to consider. Not only was Lee shot and killed while filming the 1994 film, but many recall with clarity the tragedy on the set of “Rust” from October 2021. On the set of the Western, actor Alec Baldwin was handed a prop gun that also hadn’t been properly checked. When he fired the gun, a pellet in the barrel discharged and struck cinematographer Halyna Hutchins, killing her. The incident sparked an ongoing debate about the use of real guns on movie sets, and how too many productions aren’t safe enough with their firearms.
Sanders, then, wanted to make sure no one would be hurt on the set of “The Crow,” and instigated a no-guns ban. He was quoted as saying:
“Safety is a number one priority. Film sets are very dangerous. There are fast-moving cars with cranes stuck on the top. There are stunt guys falling on high wires down steps. Even just walking around a set at night with rain machines and lights, you’re working in an industrial environment. So it’s dangerous. You have to be safe. The first day I met with the special effects department and the armorer, who was great, in Prague. They were very safety-conscious. They follow all the same guidelines as the military when dealing with weapons, but I didn’t even want to risk that.”
This meant that Sanders found creative ways to film firearms without having to worry about having actual guns on set. All of the guns seen in Sanders’ “The Crow” are made of plastic or rubber and none of them were loaded.
No firing guns on set
Sanders continued:
“I said, categorically, ‘We will have no firing weapons on set,’ which means we didn’t have one gun that could have had a live round or a blank round anywhere near it ever, so that no projectile could go in. […] They’re all Airsoft guns, and some of them are just rubber or metal decoys that are functional but have no firing mechanism.”
No bullets could be fired — at all — on the set of “The Crow.” Sanders even said that the Airsoft toy guns can serve as perfectly reasonable gun facsimiles. They look like they are firing bullets, and even move and vibrate like real guns, but they aren’t capable of firing anything beyond puffs of air. All that is required for an Airsoft to look like a real gun is a flashing muzzle flair, and Sanders said that was easily taken care of in post. In his own words:
“You have to add a muzzle flash and smoke, but that was a price worth paying. It took a fair bit of money out of my very limited visual effects budget, but I think it was worth it. The visual effects on this movie were very much in-camera. We were mainly a location shoot with set extension. So you have to balance where you spend the money when you don’t have a massive budget to do visual effects. But to me, that was a very worthwhile spend for everyone’s safety and comfort going into this project.”
“The Crow” will be released in theaters on August 23, 2024. It is the fifth film to be based on James O’Barr’s comic in a franchise that also includes video games, books, and a TV series.
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