When it was reported yesterday that Relativity Media and The Weinstein Company had settled their lawsuit regarding a remake of The Crow, I surmised that it wouldn't take long before the project started taking steps forward and preparing for pre-production. When I said that I assumed that the companies would want to take a few days and look at all of the details before making any actual deals. Apparently "patience" is not what they're going for right now as they are now in negotiations to bring on a new writer and have landed a new director.
Jesse Wigutow is now in talks with Relativity Media to write the script for the remake of The Crow according to Deadline while Variety has learned that F. Javier Gutierrez is officially on board to direct. The project was originally going to be helmed by Juan Carlos Fresnadillo and star Bradley Cooper, but they both dropped the project while Relativity and the Weinsteins were sorting out their legal issues. Witgutow's only previous feature film credit is the drama It Runs in The Family, which starred Kirk, Michael, Cameron and Diana Douglas. The movie will be the first English-language project for Gutierrez, who is best known for making the 2008 Spanish film Before The Fall. The director was first mentioned as being in contention for the gig last October.
It is interesting that Relativity would go from Fresnadillo to Gutierrez. Are they actually looking for a Spanish influence or did they just see these two as the best men for the job. Provided that both deals are set, the question now is who will be brought on board to star. When Cooper left there was talk about Mark Wahlberg or Channing Tatum taking over. What we don't know is if the studio is still interested.
