IN-D

Adaptation of James Obarr's: The Crow

In the beginning: Part 2

            With the decision made to go ahead with the project, the young filmmakers began approaching friends and family about appearing in the movie. “We were not in a position to hire professional actors. Matt and I assumed two of the larger roles and, fortunately, being still in high school at that time, we had a student body to draw from as well.” First stop: the drama club, where they found their Fun Boy (Corey Steele) and T-Bird (Ken Starcher) as well as other supporting players. This proved to be a wise move. Fun Boy and T-Bird were the most demanding parts being portrayed by persons not otherwise involved in making the movie.

            “When I first caught wind that David Ullman wanted to do THE CROW, I thought ‘OK, this'll be just another stupid, throw-it-together high school flick'.” Starcher said. “But, as time went on and people that I knew got involved, and I learned more about David Ullman, started talking to David Ullman, I really wanted to be in THE CROW. I wanted as big a part as I could get. And, because of my previous acting experience, David could say to me ‘this is what I want,' and I would understand it.”

            In his attempt to best portray the complex and deranged Eric, Ullman began reading books on Method Acting. “I started to grasp what an inspired and interesting character Eric was, and I became very interested in doing the best job I could. Brandon Lee's performance and approach inspired me immeasurably. In fact, for the first month of production, I was doing little more than mimicking his work. But once I recognized that, and we started to focus more on the book, I began searching for a more personal interpretation of Eric.”

During this time, it was obvious to those around him that Ullman had slipped a little too far into the skin of a very morose character. “There was a period where, probably on purpose, I really let it affect me,” he said.  “Playing this character became an outlet for some pain I was going through at the time in real life. I could identify with Eric's feelings of loss, longing, and also anger. Plus, I was really going for this Method Acting thing. I think that I thought it was cool, and it wasn't trivial to me at the time. I couldn't be a basket case on the set, I had to keep the production together, but I let myself be a basket case in other areas of my life. The movie was an easy scapegoat for the troubles I was having in real life. I would blame my behavior on the stress of making the movie, but people were kind of on to that and on to this little self-indulgent kick that I was on. At that time, though, it was something that was pretty real for me. There also came a time when I had to let that go and just do the work.”