James McTeigue to Quoth 'The Raven'

While some of us might prefer a kind of bio-pic of Edgar Allan Poe, we will nevertheless be treated to something from the tortured 19th century writer from director James McTeigue. /film talked to McTeigue, whose Ninja Assassin is on the way later this year, and the Wachowski Brothers protege broke the news of his next project. The Raven will someone merge Poe's writings with the last several days of his life, which will now include Poe helping to track down a serial killer as he himself approaches death. Some canards about Poe's death have him found dead in a gutter in Baltimore, but he died in a hospital after being discovered reportedly incoherent and wearing someone else's clothes. One new theory about Poe's death has him suffering from a brain tumor, which would have been very hard to detect in 1849. Says McTeige of the new film, “It’s like the poem, The Raven, itself, crossed with Se7en. It should be pretty cool. The script is really good and everyone responds to it really well. I’m in the middle of casting.” Discounting big movie stars for a second, I'm going to make my second mid-1800s pitch for Jeremy Davies, last seen on Lost. I previously mentioned what a great John Wilkes Booth he would make in Spielberg's proposed Lincoln, but I think he has exactly the right vibe for this movie. But, you know, maybe Ben Stiller's available. Poe is such an intriguing guy, but I hope this doesn't go the extra step that in my opinion muted the overall impact of From Hell by solving the mystery. If we knew the answer, it wouldn't have existed this long. Plus, with Poe, you can get into all sorts of black magic stuff that doesn't have to have a connection to the death of the title character. That should be interesting enough on its own without putting a bow on one of the enduring literary mysteries of all time.