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‘X-Men’ star James McAvoy in talks for ‘The Crow’ reboot?

Given the dark and storied history of "The Crow" franchise, Hollywood’s enthusiasm for rebooting the undead superhero series seems, well, a little creepy.

Although director Alex Proyas's 1994 film adaptation of James O'Barr's best-selling comic book "The Crow" was both a critical and financial success, the film was marred by the tragic on-set death of star Brandon Lee, son of action movie legend Bruce Lee. A clear forerunner of the dark and gritty comic book movies that are so en vogue these days, "The Crow" followed the story of murdered musician Eric Draven (Lee) who returns from the grave to avenge the death of himself and his fiancée. The hit movie spawned a Canadian television series and several low-budget sequels, but no follow-up could recapture the magic that the late Lee brought to the title role. That all might change with news that after a lengthy and very public search, "X-Men: First Class" star James McAvoy is in talks to play Eric Draven in the long-gestating "Crow" remake.

Film studio Relativity Media has been trying to get a reboot of "The Crow" off the ground since 2009, but has had trouble locking down both a star and director for the project. Actors Bradley Cooper and Mark Wahlberg were both rumoured to be in talks for the project at one point or another -- Cooper was even the subject of some much-mocked official character concept art before dropping out of the project. More recently, names like Channing Tatum and Ryan Gosling have been mentioned in the same breath as the film, but it now sounds as though Scottish actor McAvoy is the presumed frontrunner.

Filmmakers who have been associated with the project over the past few years include genre specialists Stephen Norrington ("Blade") and Juan Carlos Fresnadillo ("28 Weeks Later"). "Before the Fall" director F. Javier Gutiérrez is currently attached to helm the project, though given the seeming revolving door associated with the remake who knows how long that will last.

Do you think McAvoy would make a good Eric Draven? With comic book movies like "Wanted" and "First Class" under his belt he's certainly got the geek cred to play the role, but will audiences buy the normally chipper actor as one of the most brooding comic characters in the history of the medium?