The Crow
The filming of 1994’s fantasy action movie, The Crow, seemed to have been jinxed. Production had been plagued by safety issues, compounded by money issues that further exacerbated those safety issues. In February of 1993, a construction worker was badly burned on the film set. A month later, an even bigger tragedy struck, to claim the life of one of the film’s stars.
Brandon Lee (1965 – 1993) was an American actor and martial artist, and the son of the legendary actor and martial artist Bruce Lee. Brandon had worked his way up the acting ranks, starring in a number of television films and low budget films during the 1980s, before landing a breakthrough role in the movie The Crow. Unfortunately, his big breakthrough would end in tragedy.
Brandon had started his film career at age 20, starting off as a script reader, and doing uncredited cameo roles. In 1986, he got a role in the ABC television film Kung Fu: the Movie, as David Carradine’s son. He then moved to Hong Kong, where he starred in a number of movies, and in the late 80s and early 90s, he appeared in some B-movies in the US. Finally, in 1992, he landed a starring role in The Crow, a film adaptation of a popular comic series.
Early on the morning of March 31st, 1993, one of The Crow’s pivotal scenes, the killing of Brandon’s character, Eric Draven, by street thugs, was staged in Wilmington, North Caroina. Brandon was supposed to enter through a door, carrying groceries, and be met by actor Michael Massee, who would then shoot him with a revolver loaded with blanks.
However, whoever was in charge of the props and safety that day neglected to properly inspect Massee’s revolver. Had that been done, the inspector would have discovered a fragment of a dummy bullet lodged in the barrel, left there from an earlier firing. An inspection was not done, however, and when Massee fired the revolver, the charge from the blank bullet propelled the fragment out of the barrel. It struck Lee in the abdomen and ripped through his vital organs, before finally coming to a rest against his spine. The injuries proved fatal, and Brandon Lee’s life and budding career were cut tragically short.