One of the Best Things About the New Version of ‘The Crow’ Is What It’s Missing (2024)

Recently, Rupert Sanders, director of The Crow reboot, sat down with Variety and spoke about how real guns, anything that could “have had a live round or blank round anywhere near it ever”, were banned from the set. This comes after Brandon Lee was tragically shot in an accident on set of the original 1994 film of the same title, leading to an audible objection to the use of real firearms on set, which was only echoed when a similar accident led to Alec Baldwin shooting a woman on the set of Rust in 2021. The debate has sides for and against, but Sanders' commitment to safety came before money and he made exactly the right decision.

What Is the Debate Around Real Guns On Set?

There is a pushback on the idea of banning firearms from sets, as Gary Tuers, a prop master who owns his own weapon rental business in California, explained to the LA Times. Armorers such as Tuers argue that the rules in place should prevent these accidents, pointing to human error as a bigger reason than the weapons themselves. However, if there were no weapons on set, the danger is best minimized.

As Sanders pointed out, even though the armorers he met in Prague were “very safety-conscious," he didn’t “even want to risk that." It has to be said that Sanders is not trying to remove firearms from his film, or making the case for fewer firearms in film in general. On the contrary, The Crow has many graphic moments of violence that Sanders does not shy away from. The debate only exists outside the narrative, about practical concerns for human safety, as it should. Rules can always be better, but humans will always come with a degree of error.

How Did Rupert Sanders Replace Real Guns On Set For 'The Crow'?

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Rather than using real guns on set that could hold live ammunition, Sanders explained in his previously mentioned interview with Variety, that airsoft guns were primarily used, or “metal decoys” which had “no firing mechanism”. Sanders elaborated, saying that the "beauty" of using an airsoft gun was that "the slide on a Glock will still move back and forth", and this gives the appearance of it firing as if it were a real gun. By doing this, they only needed to add a flash from the muzzle in post, as well as smoke from the chamber, and along with some clever sound design, as all films have, you have a - to all intents and purposes - real gun.

Not only were practical measures in place to mask the absence of live, functional firearms, but in the film the action doesn't let you notice if the guns are real or not. This is because all the best action is with knives, swords, or just blunt force trauma. Whether it is the knife fight Bill Skarsgård Eric has with the crooked cop, Milch (Dukagjin Podrimaj), Eric falling out of a car, or slicing guards with his blade, it is these moments where the audience can feel the pain of Eric or his victims and the action just becomes more dynamic and personal. It proves there is no need for an over-reliance on guns as these moments are far stronger and, in that case, the risk of using live firearms on set becomes even less worth it.

Rupert Sanders' Decision Should Be Praised For Its Integrity

Dwayne Johnson’s production company has also switched to not using functional weapons and in both cases, Johnsons and Sanders pointed to how, whilst it was more expensive, it was certainly safer. Whilst not the universal steps needed, it provides hope that someday all sets will ban functional firearms and points to Sanders' integrity as a filmmaker. In the interview with Variety, he spoke about how the extra CGI costs did hurt his already “very limited visual effects budget” but that it was a “price worth paying”. It is certainly not often that we see anyone in business putting the interests of others before the interests of investments, so whilst this should be a rule everyone follows, it should still be praised as an important issue being addressed.

Overall, Rupert Sanders made the correct decision in banning real guns from the set of The Crow. Not only do the arguments in favor of using real firearms not weigh up well enough against the risks involved, but the practical and narrative tools a filmmaker can use to hide the use of decoy guns simply make any risk unacceptable. Hopefully, even more films and production houses will follow Sanders' example, but only time will tell.

The Crow is in theaters in the U.S. Click below for showtimes.

The Crow (2024)

510

Action

Fantasy

Superhero

A modern re-imagining of the beloved character, The Crow, based on the original graphic novel by James O'Barr.

Release Date

June 7, 2024

Director

Rupert Sanders

Cast

Bill Skarsgard , FKA Twigs , Danny Huston

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