The Raven
Short description
The Raven is a crime thriller set in 1849 Baltimore, where Edgar Allan Poe is struggling to make a living and to win approval for his courtship of Emily Hamilton, the daughter of a retired colonel. When a series of killings takes place, Detective Emmett Fields notices that the crime scenes reproduce details from Poe's own writing. Poe is drawn into the investigation and works alongside Fields to interpret the clues and anticipate the killer's next move. The film blends historical fiction with the mystery of Poe's final days.
James McTeigue directed the film, his third feature after V for Vendetta and Ninja Assassin. The screenplay is by Ben Livingston and Hannah Shakespeare, and the cast includes John Cusack as Poe, Luke Evans as Detective Fields, Alice Eve as Emily, Brendan Gleeson as Colonel Hamilton, Kevin McNally and Oliver Jackson-Cohen. The production was an international one, with companies and locations spanning the United States, Hungary, Spain and Serbia, and it cost around 26 million dollars to make. Its worldwide gross of roughly 30 million dollars was modest against that budget.
On IMDb the film holds a rating of 6.4 from about 90,000 votes, and on TMDB it stands at 6.3 from a much smaller number of votes. A critics' score of 4.5 from 143 reviews places it well below the audience ratings.
What's left behind the scenes
- Swedish actress Noomi Rapace could have played the role of Emily, but she moved on to another detective project – 'Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows' – before filming on 'The Raven' began.
- The fire department hats and jackets have the same spelling mistake: “FIRE MARSHALL” (instead of fire marshal).
- Detective Fields reads the story "The Murders in the Rue Morgue" from the collection "Tales of the Grotesque and Arabesque." "Tales of the Grotesque and Arabesque" was published in 1840, a year before the appearance of "The Murders in the Rue Morgue."
- After Captain Hamilton strikes Edgar Poe in the face, he slowly brings a handkerchief to his face. A few seconds later, with Fields and Hamilton, Edgar is shown again bringing the handkerchief to his face. It looks exactly the same as in the previous scene (the same movement, blood in the same place).
- In one of the scenes, a newspaper is shown with the headline "Serial Killer." Although the film takes place in 1849, the term "serial killer" did not exist until the beginning of the 20th century. Various sources state that the term was introduced in the 1960s or 1970s.
- Ewan McGregor (as Edgar Allan Poe) and Jeremy Renner (as Inspector Emmett Fields) were initially planned for the respective roles in the film, but declined.
- According to Kenneth Silverman, a biographer and author of "Edgar A. Poe: Mournful and Never-ending Remembrance" (1992), Edgar Poe's name (during his lifetime) was always printed without "Allan." Allan was Edgar Poe's stepfather, whom Edgar despised.
- When Reynolds pours poison into the glass, he fills it to the brim. In the next scene with Edgar, the glass is filled two-thirds full.
- Edgar Poe is asked if he has written anything about sailors, and he replies, “No.” In fact, he wrote quite a few stories about sailors, including 'A Manuscript Found in a Bottle,' 'A Descent into the Maelström,' 'The Murders in the Rue Morgue,' and 'The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket.'
- Negotiations were held with Joaquin Phoenix to participate in the project alongside Jeremy Renner. Phoenix would have played Edgar Poe, and Renner would have played Inspector Fields. However, the negotiations fell through after Renner decided to star in 'Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol' (2011). As a result, the role of Poe went to John Cusack, and the role of Inspector Fields went to Luke Evans.
Auditions in India
Casting calls in USA
Castingi w Polsce
Кастинги в Україні
