Bradley Cooper Won't Fly As THE CROW... But Who Will?

Back in April, The Hangover's Bradley Cooper read in the trades that Relativity were getting serious about pushing ahead with a new remake of the mid 90's cult classic The Crow with the hiring of 28 Weeks Later helmer Juan Carlos Fresnadillo to helm, and immeaditely the movie star flew out of his nest to meet with the director in Spain and beg pitch himself to star. Despite from what on the outside looked like a gross mis-casting for the ghastly face-painted avenge seeking Goth, Relativity were delighted that a genuine movie star, whose The Hangover 2 had just made $550 million worldwide and his starring vehicle Limitless ($155 million worldwide) showed he could individually showed he could be a box office draw, had shown so much interest in the project and a deal was quickly signed. Cooper, a lifelong fan of The Crow had nabbed himself a dream job and the studio were happy they had a big name to lead. However, problems started to creep in just one week later when The Weinstein Company completely derailed the project with a lawsuit to Relativity claiming ownership of the distribution rights to the film franchise - and the legal dispute put an end to production plans for the summer. The legal case is now in arbitration but the few months delay has allowed Cooper to accept some of the many big time offers that have come his way with The Place Beyond The Pines, The Silver Linings Playbook and the epic blockbuster Paradise Lost all now on his schedule and he no longer has time for The Crow. Despite setbacks, Relativity are confident that The Weinsteins won't win their case and that the film will begin production this year and they have recently tasked Watchmen writer Alex Tse to do a touch-up re-write and are now actively looking for replacements. THR says Mark Wahlberg (last year in talks for a remake of The Crow under previous director Stephen Norrington and long time seen as first choice for the remake from Relativity) and Channing Tatum are said to top the wishlist and Relativity €œis keen on not wasting time€ to get a deal secured. But clearly they don't read the trades themselves as Wahlberg & Tatum are no less busy than Cooper himself! Wahlberg is about to shoot Broken City with Allen Hughes in the fall and Tatum has his leading role in G.I. Joe 2: Retaliation going into production imminently and it seems unlikely either man could film The Crow before the year is out. I guess though as Wahlberg has long been seen as Relativity's first choice, they will be happy to drop down a gear in their race to production and wait until he has completed his next movie and perhaps filming could begin in early 2012? Out of the three choices (Cooper, Wahlberg & Tatum) - it is Marky Mark that would be the best fit for the role but even then, we can't help but feel Relativity would be better of going out and finding someone unknown for this. Brandon Lee has mighty big boots to fill and we don't know how down and dirty Wahlberg could really go for this... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6UCqYrHFzdI