Bill Skarsgard Talks About Embracing Dark Roles and His Mental State During Filming The Crow
The Crow is Lionsgate’s upcoming action fantasy film, which stars Bill Skarsgard and singer-songwriter FKA Twigs as the lead. Their characters, Eric and Shelly, are star-crossed lovers who are brutally murdered. Hanging between life and death, Eric is given a chance to rescue the love of his life, transforming him into an invincible being known as The Crow.
The superhero born amidst death, horror, tragedy, and vengeance has a dark conscience, which Skarsgard had fun exploring. On August 20, during a chat with The Hollywood Reporter at the Lionsgate film’s world premiere held at New York’s Village East by Angelika, the actor talked about his mental state while shooting for the film.
“I had a great shoot, a lot of night shoots. … You’re kind of preoccupied in a bleak state of mind for a while,” he said. However, he admitted that he enjoys that aspect of playing dark roles. “I like to be consumed by it when I’m doing it. Actually, we were working out a lot; I found it really helpful,” he added.
The Crow is filmmaker Rupert Sanders’ new adaptation of James O’Barr’s comic book series, which is being released thirty years after the original 1994 film adaptation. The superhero, originally portrayed by Brandon Lee, is a peculiar character in its own right, but the quality Skarsgard found most attractive was his generosity as a lover.
Talking about his character, the IT actor told THR that at first, he appears to be a fragile individual who’s almost “given up on life,” but after falling in love with Shelly, he developed resilience and strength.
“[Eric] him finding Shelly and falling madly in love with her and how he projects onto her this kind of saving angel” was something Skarsgard found interesting to perform. And when he loses her, he’s willing to do extreme things, including self-sacrifice, to rescue the love of his life.
“It’s kind of the beautiful archetypal story about what people do for love, and he’s commendable that way, I think, Eric as a character — very generous,” he added.
The Crow will be released theatrically on August 23.