As much as I hated Terry Gilliam's last film, Tideland, I still consider him my favorite living filmmaker (Tideland was the first to completely disappoint me) and was looking forward to his next feature, The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus more than possibly any other film in the works. Unfortunately, Parnassus lost its star when Heath Ledger died suddenly last week, and there was lots of talk that Gilliam's latest would be scrapped. Anyone who has followed Gilliam's career knows that would be more than tragic, because Parnassus would be the second major work of Gilliam's to go unfinished after shooting had begun (see the depressing documentary Lost in La Mancha for the story on his shut-down project The Man Who Killed Don Quixote). Well, after rumors that Ledger would be replaced by Johnny Depp, who would come in and reshoot the late actor's scenes, there is a new claim that Gilliam is going to keep Ledger's footage and continue the shoot using special effects magic.

The claim comes from Parnassus co-star Christopher Plummer, who spoke to People magazine and had this to say: "Fortunately, because the film deals with magic, there is a way, perhaps, of turning Heath into other people and then, using stills and I think they call it CGI..." Plummer, who plays the title character in the film, also mentioned that Gilliam wants to finish the film for his friend (Ledger) and dedicate it to him, too. Additionally Plummer spoke on the working conditions of the Parnassus shoot in London and on Ledger's health prior to his leaving the set, further providing for speculation that Ledger's death was of non-narcotic causes. Anyway, about the finishing with CGI Ledger, that is excellent news, and something I've been expecting to happen all along (if it was good enough for The Crow 14 years ago, it's good enough now). I absolutely loved Ledger in The Brothers Grimm (the first of Gilliam's films to somewhat disappoint me), and I can't wait to see him and his computerized clones in The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus.

Because of Heath Ledger's premature death and the uncertainty of what will now happen to the actor's unfinished final film, The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, I've been thinking a lot about The Crow this week. Aside from the Joker/Crow connection from last April, I'm sure you recall that Brandon Lee died while filming that comic book adaptation, and some clever special effects had to be employed in order for the picture to be finished. Anyway, I really loved the film when it came out back in 1994, but I eventually let go of being its fan, partly because of the kids who were too obsessed with the title character (if you ever hung out at goth clubs, you know what I'm talking about) and ruined it for me, and partly because of the crappy film franchise that it spawned. But I've been thinking about revisiting the first installment, at least for nostalgic purposes.

I'm apparently not the only one thinking of revisiting The Crow, though others seem to have different reasons for looking back. According to actor Jason Statham, who talked about available comic book roles with IESB.net, there's talk in Hollywood of a remake. The action star seemed to say that if he was offered the part of Eric Draven (aka The Crow), then he would be quick to grab it (the actual quote: "So if that one comes my way, bang!"). He also mentioned taking a meeting to play Namor (aka Sub-Mariner), but wasn't so keen on wearing the green Speedo and ankle wings. He also expressed a desire to play the Hulk, though he points out that he's glad Edward Norton, his Italian Job co-star, is doing that one (The Incredible Hulk is being helmed by Louis Leterrier, Statham's director on the first two Transporter movies, by the way). But despite continuing on with three franchises with Crank 2: High Voltage, Transporter 3 and The Brazilian Job, the actor hopes he'll be able to one day snag a comic book part. Should it be The Crow? Or should there be a remake of The Crow (or new adaptation of James O'Barr's comics) at all?

Here's a good question: Has there ever been a decent Hercules movie? I don't mean guilty-pleasure decent; I mean well-made decent. I don't think there has been. Hercules is pretty much synonymous with cheesy Italian films, a cheesy television series, a movie that dared dub over Arnold Schwarzenegger's voice and arguably one of the least interesting animated features Disney has ever made. All this could change, though, if producer Avi Lerner and his Millennium Pictures (The Black Dahlia) does right with a new live-action Hercules feature. Lerner has been responsible for many, many bad films, but there's definitely a chance this could be good.

Okay, so it will probably actually follow in the awful footsteps of the Hercules efforts before it. Sean Hood, who gave us the scripts for Halloween: Resurrection and The Crow: Wicked Prayer, has written the screenplay, so there's one thing against it already. I think that the only way we could ever get a good movie about the Hercules character, though not necessarily his legendary adventures, is if Marvel Studios for some reason wanted to do a feature on the Marvel version of the demi-god. Of course, we may get to see him included in The Avengers, but I'm not holding my breath. He never was that interesting in the comics, and I don't think he'd be that interesting in the movie either.

To say that director James Wan "hit the lottery" with his debut flick would be a huge neon understatement. Mr. Wan's little Saw movie has yielded a certifiable cash cow for the lucky folks at Lionsgate Films -- so what's next for this young filmmaker? (And by "next," I mean "something other than a producer's credit on Saw 9.) Well, we're still waiting on word regarding the guy's Dead Silence, which I'm pretty sure is, like, completely finished and ready for consumption -- and now comes word that Wan's third feature is a revenge thriller called Death Sentence.

In this one, Kevin Bacon will play a guy who wreaks horrifically creative revenge on the scumbag punks who murdered his family. Former 5th Wheel / Talk Soup hottie Aisha Tyler will play a cop who goes along for the ride. So ... Death Sentence is basically The Crow meets Death Wish meets every revenge thriller ever made? Only time will tell. The project is based on a novel by Brian Garfield, a book in which Aisha Tyler's character is actually a middle-aged man.

Smart rewrite there, fellas.