When Lance Mungia began work on The Crow: Wicked Prayer, the third sequel in the film series, the director/screenwriter knew what aspects of the character he wanted to keep, but he also knew there was a new story that he wanted to tell and a different version of the Crow character he wanted to introduce.
By the time the project was finished, Mungia had made a film that took the story out of the urban environment of past movies, but kept the epic feeling of love, death, revenge and ultimately redemption.
In an interview with Monsters and Critics, Mungia reveals the story behind Wicked Prayer, the reasons for the changes made to the legend, and how his Crow, played by Edward Furlong, differs from past actors that have played the role.
M&C: What drew you to the Crow: Wicked Prayer?
M&C: How did you go about making it different from past films?
MUNGIA: The Crow has always been about revenge. But, I wanted to make a movie more about the process of revenge, of how somebody gets to the point of murder and how cyclical it is. Everybody in Wicked Prayer feels like they’ve been wronged somehow, that was very intentional. It sprang from the feelings I had after 9/11, which made revenge a big ticket topic of discussion for me. Don’t get me wrong, this movie is not artsy fartsy high art, but that process was on my mind and I thought it was a good time to make a revenge movie for me. I thought a lot about how hatred begets hatred and I felt that the previous Crow movies were very clear cut about how they viewed good and evil, and I could make something that is not so clear cut in some ways, although it still can be seen as a straight ahead revenge tale, if you look at what the actors are doing you see more than that.
M&C: Being a convicted felon for murder, your hero is different than in the previous movies. What was your reason for making this change to the “formula” of the previous films?
Lily’s love for Jimmy is what compels as The Crow
MUNGIA: And I really thought it was interesting to take the most unlikely hero possible, a guy that everyone hated except his true love, and make him the savior of this town. I like the underdog in (Edward) Furlong. I also liked that the villains could have just as easily been ordinary people too at one point, but they all become much more. They chose the path they are on for good reason, all of them, because nobody thinks of themselves as bad, and desperate circumstances bring out the righteous, and it seems there’s more and more of that these days all around.
I think because we infused that quality in the script, it is why we attracted great actors to the project. I knew that this film would be about the actors primarily, and I really liked that challenge. My first film was all about action and film poetry, but this film wasn’t, it was character driven, it was at times steady and more harsh, and it was a good switch for me.
M&C: The first Crow was dark and urban. The second had a gold tint to most of the filming and was also set in an urban environment. Your film takes the Crow out of the urban environment and into a desert setting.
MUNGIA: Well, the setting was important for a number of reasons. First of all, it was important because I wanted to explore the characters in a way that hadn’t been done in the past with the franchise. I liked the idea of revenge amongst people who knew each other, who had a personal beef. I grew up in a small town and to me there is a lot of opportunity for conflict in that sort of environment, especially when the town is poor and desperate and everyone is looking for scapegoats. I talked a lot with Jeff Most, my co-writer, about Weimar, Germany, pre WWII. They thought of themselves as victims, which is dangerous in my opinion. The desperation, people would follow anyone that sounded like they had a better idea.
Furlong’s Crow was intended to look more dead and cold, as opposed to painted
That to me was Luc’s character, and in a small desert town environment, well, that just seemed like a good place for the Devil to look for a back door in. The back-stories for these characters wouldn’t have worked as well in an urban environment. Especially the massacre that happens with War later in. In a small town, it made the hatred so personal, because these are people War and the other horsemen had grown to despise beyond any reason. Although the idea of raising Satan is silly, I didn’t want to trivialize what the gang was doing, if I could avoid it.
M&C: Why did you feel it was important to change the environment and how does it help separate the film from past sequels?
MUNGIA: I think the worst thing we could have done would be to copy the earlier environments. I thought a lot about the first movie and I would rather let that be it’s own thing, while I do mine. You can’t mess with a classic and I don’t know much about Detroit, but I grew up in the West. And then, I also just love Westerns. I was spoon-fed them and I like the tone, the mood that a Western creates. That was a big part of it too. That’s also why I sparked to the idea in the first place of making a Crow western of sorts.<!--page-->
M&C: Wicked Prayer combines a lot of the Native American mythology with that of the Crow mythology. Did you feel this was a good way to explore a new side to The Crow?.
Furlong’s character is the guy everyone hated except his true love
MUNGIA: I can never get over how I felt the first time I watched the original Crow, and the blackbird appears over the burning city, and Sarah starts to speak in that kid’s voice. I always wondered, where did the black bird come from? What was this myth? I did some research into Native traditions with the Crow, and then Jeff Most and I decided not to pattern the mythology on anything real, because I wanted the native influence to be more post-modern than that, because in our society today we get such a mix of cultures and ideas and I didn’t want to try and emulate one. But I still wanted one character, Lily’s character, to be pure, to harken back to a true native American spirituality that the rest have lost track of, because to me she represented the purity of spirit that is involved with love overcoming, transforming death into life and all that.
The spiritual nature of the Crow is what always attracted me to it. To me though, the tribe used in the film is very mixed, they’ve moved away from their spiritual beliefs and are very mixed with Latin and mainstream influences. Harold, the leader, is like Barnum and Baileys’ trying to capitalize on his heritage. But it’s Lily, always remaining true, that guides them all. She’s the reminder that true spirituality can live on in a chaotic environment. I never thought of the tribe as a realistic interpretation, but more like a guy very much like Danny Trejo saying, we used to be Indians, and maybe we’ll be better off getting back to that. They WANT to believe in the Crow, but they know it’s just a fairy tale. Every character is trying to be something they aren’t, except Lily, she believes. One of my favorite moments is between Danny and Eddie, as Danny asks, “how could God pick such a man?” and Eddie replies, “why not, she did.” To me, that’s what the movie is about and why the spirituality is important, because people forget there is not just one type of good, any more than there is one type of Christian or Native or whatever other label you want to mention.
M&C: Edward Furlong’s version of the Crow seems to be less “in your face” as past performances. His character seems to not want to kill and even says he doesn’t want the power. What was the reason for this change and how does it separate Furlong’s character from past actors that have played the role?
MUNGIA: I didn’t feel compelled to make any changes just for the sake of it, but from very early on I was attracted to the idea of a Crow who already was a murderer before he became the Crow, and that by becoming the Crow, he was going to have to face a very bad part of himself. Jimmy Cuervo, the Crow, played at being a nice guy with Lily, but he wasn’t. She made him better than he was. By becoming a killer of killers as the Crow, he became the worst he could be, but he still did it for her, and for basically the greater good. I just liked playing with shades of grey. The other Crows have been played rather insane and straightforward, but none of the characters were that simple to me here. With Eddie, we always talked about his character WISHING he was insane, but he wasn’t, he knew what he was doing every moment, and it hurt him.
Mungia was attracted to the spiritual nature of The Crow
To me it was just more interesting and much of it is subtext, in Eddie’s eyes. In my opinion, I think you really see the torment, the pain there, he’s dangerous, because he’s very sane. I think Eddie gives an amazing performance, he wears it like he’s been carrying it a thousand years, and he doesn’t have to do much to get it across. I really liked that Eddie could have just been the dude from across the street, the underdog, but you know that no matter how hard he gets hit, he’ll aways get back up, he’ll just keep coming. Eddie has the soul for that kind of passion, and he also has the gentleness that still makes the character likeable too.
M&C: Furlong also seems to wear less Crow make-up than in previous films. Why was this done? Did you feel that it was important to make some changes to the appearance of the Crow character to separate what has been on the screen before?
MUNGIA: As for the makeup being different, well, it is not the typical “Drama mask” makeup from the first Crow. The dual lines where designed for “Raven Fest” a spiritual festival that he had attended with Lily the year before, which is where the costume came from too. I thought it was a nice touch that he just grabs a marker and makes the lines himself. And as for the face paint, well, if you notice his clothes are all died with acid from the toxic dump when he comes back and his skin is lighter. It was intended more as just being dead, and cold, as opposed to painted. That was the intent anyway. When he makes the transformation, it’s like the last vestige of warmth has left him.<!--page-->
MUNGIA: It is like I said, love that transcends time and death. I think everyone wants to believe that a love can be so powerful that it can bring a person back from the grave. In real life, people are brought back not literally, but in our memories, in their essence, in the way they inform our lives. For me, really, it’s completely summed up in Evey Christopherson’s end credits song for the film, “In Your Memories.” It is absolutely a beautiful love song about someone who has died but who will never leave their true love behind. I hope it gets play because it’s such an inspiring, uplifting piece. Love at it’s best is transcendent and I think people feel that from the original movie, and I hope I’ve at least gotten that much right with my movie, because to me it was the most important aspect. I think also that people like to believe that wrong things can be made right, and all that, and I suppose that also is an appeal of the crow.
But in my mind, I would still like to add, “who’s wrongs? Who’s rights?” All of us have been wronged and there are things in the world that are too horrible to comprehend, and the idea of divine justice is inviting. But, it seems that we deal with that idea more and more in the real world, and the only thing that still transcends and will keep people coming back for more, is an absolute faith in love, and I really feel that’s what it’s all about.
The Crow: Wicked Prayer is now available at Amazon . As of yet, there is no release date for the UK. Visit the film’s database for more information.
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