Marc D. Evans has produced such genre fare as THE STRANGERS, DOOMSDAY and THE RETURN. Next on his pallet is THE RAVEN, which follows Edgar Allan Poe as he searches for the serial killer who has kidnapped his fiancee while on a murder spree that mimics the author’s work.
Evans spoke to Screen Daily about the project: “Historically what happened was Poe had disappeared, then turned up on a park bench in someone else’s clothes, fell into a coma and died. We’re playing with the historical happenstance of what could have happened in those missing days.”
The film takes place in Baltimore but was shot in Hungary and Serbia: “It’s hard to replicate 1849 Baltimore in Baltimore. It became apparent that we’d have to create our own vision of the city. James [McTeigue, director] was trying to show Baltimore through Poe’s eyes, which is a darker, macabre vision of the city. That gave us some creative latitude to look domestically and internationally for a location that would allow us to get as much money on the screen as possible.”
“We put [Hungary and Serbia] together and got good crews, stages and the look and feel that we wanted. And most importantly, the price was going to be right.”
THE RAVEN is is directed by James McTeigue (V FOR VENDETTA) and written by Ben Livingston and Hannah Shakespeare. John Cusack, Alice Eve (below), Luke Evans, and Brendan Gleeson star. It’s scheduled to hit theaters on June 13, 2012 from Relativity Media.