WHY VINCENT IS AN EXCELLENT CHOICE

• He's got this poised, alert, energy-coiled body that will work well with the vengeful crow motif.

• "Perez seems to have a nice, haunted look about him without being too much like Brandon to cause discomfort."  (Matt on E-World)

• He's mostly unknown in America - a forgivable stranger - unlike Jon Bon Jovi, who also vied for the role.

• Women swoon at the sight of old Vincent. (Our photographer was having a bit of trouble maintaining her hand-eye coordination during the photo session.) This might expand the sequel's audience beyond goth-nerds.

• He seems obsessed with catharsis, a very Crow-like person.

• Looks great in black.

AND CHARMING THINGS VINCENT DID IN OUR PRESENCE:

• Try really, really hard to remember what they called Charlie's Angels on French TV.

• Speak, with no hesitation, of his love for Jerry Lewis and not care a bit that we found this amazingly cliched.

• Interact dramatically with a stuffed crow.

• Smoke in that cool European way.

• Admit that the puffy pants they made him wear in Queen Margot looked pretty god awful.

• Refuse to stop when we caught him tap-dancing with the stylist, Tiffany.

 

THE ORIGINAL VS. THE SEQUEL

 

With over $50 million in domestic box office, the original Crow surprised a low of people, including its original distributor, Paramount, who dropped the movie after Lee's death.  Though this tragedy fueled the buzz, this dark tale got decent reviews - though mostly for its Munsters-meet-MTV look.

Perez, who let himself watch the movie only once, feels it sacrificed drama for violent thrills.  "The original comic book had less action," he says.  "The emphasis was on drama and a very difficult situation.  It made you face death."

The plot of the first Crow focuses on Eric Draven (Brandon Lee).  A Nine-Inchs-ish rocker, Eric and his girlfriend are murdered by four thugs one night.   On Halloween Eve one year later, Eric is resurrected by a crow, who's decided it's payback time.  Mysteriously, Eric has taken to wearing ghoulish pancake makeup while in the grave.  This helps him freak out the guilty thugs, whom he tracks done one by one (aided by his feathered psychic friend) and - with escalating ingenuity - executes.

SEQUEL:

Let's be perfectly clear:  Perez does not play Brandon Lee's role in The Crow: City of Angels.  He's a totally different dead guy named Ashe Corvin... Both films share MTV-trained directors, alterna-rock soundtracks and a fondness for Rocky Horror makeup...  It's more of a love story than the original.  Sarah was the little street kid  who hung out with The Crow in the first film.  Now all grown-up and played by Mia Kirschner (last seen befriending a pole as a stripper in Exotica), this is the only character carried over from the first film.  No surprise there: most of the characters were slaughtered.

INTERNET:

Months before the sequel's release, web sites sprang up with bulletin boards to let hard-core Crow fans fret and vent.  These are not mild-mannered people.   they use words like "blasphemy" and threaten to claw their "f*ckin eyes" out if Bon Jovi "ever, ever, ever" plays The Crow.  Regarding Vincent, their reactions range from outrage to pious indifference to grudging curiosity, though he does have his defenders.

According to O'Barr, The Crow isn't just one person, it is anyone who comes back to right a wrong. By making a sequel, Hollywood isn't destroying what Brandon helped to create, they are just perpetuating it. 

As Perez points out, O'Barr's comics unmistakably allow for more than one Crow.  But even if the sequel fizzles - if grassroots loyalty to Lee somehow snuffs it - the Internet squabbling will at least make Perez a name.

One to reckon with (we'll bet).