Bill Skarsgård sounds disappointed with The Crow’s ending

Whether we like it or not, The Crow is flying back into theaters this summer. The newer, bigger, and, apparently, more expansive Crow promises not a remake of the infamous 1994 blockbuster but a new adaptation of the comic it’s based on. Still, considering the original’s production ended with the tragic death of Brandon Lee, many fans are pretty protective of the property, even Skarsgård. There have been several other Crows since the 1994 film, but Skarsgård is the first to play the original Crow, Eric, since Lee. Unfortunately, while the hype for the new movie is percolating, especially in a summer movie season mostly devoid of superheroes, Skarsgård seems a little down on it, particularly the ending. “I personally preferred something more definitive,” Skarsgård tells Esquire. We guess he’s not a fan of sequels.

The profile doesn’t make the Crow’s production sound pleasant. After four months of grueling night shoots with few days off, during which Skarsgård ate “about a pound of raw meat” every day like he was prepping for a Liver King biopic, even the final day was difficult. Director Rupert Sanders says, “On the last night of shooting, I said to him—we had this agricultural tank filled with black syrup—and I said, ‘Bill, I know it’s eleven at night, and it’s not very warm in there, but would you get in that oil and thrash around and scream and come up out of that oil as if you’re possessed?’” Suddenly, his vocal disappointment regarding the ending seems a little justified. But, who knows, maybe this one will have a killer soundtrack, too, and everything will be fine.

The profile notes that, while he’s “ambivalent” about the Crow’s ending, he perks up when discussing the long-gestating remake of Nosferatu. This marks the third makeup-heavy genre remake Skarsgård has led in the last decade, following on turns in It (originally performed by Tim Curry), The Crow (Brandon Lee), and Nosforateau (Max Schreck and Klaus Kinski), but he doesn’t seem to mind. When asked to describe his look, which is being kept under lock and key (good news for Skarsgård, who criticizes Warner Bros. in the profile for releasing the Pennywise makeup early), the actor says he’s “gross” but “very sexualized.”

“It’s playing with a sexual fetish about the power of the monster and what that appeal has to you,” he says. “Hopefully, you’ll get a little bit attracted by it and disgusted by your attraction at the same time.”

Let’s just hope it doesn’t tease a sequel.

Correction: An earlier version of this article stated that Bill Skarsgård was playing “Eric Draven” in the film. This is incorrect. He is playing a character named “Eric,” who does not have a credited last name in the film. The post has been updated to reflect this. We regret the error.