Andrea Riseborough Tapped To Play ‘The Crow’ Reboot’s Top Dollar

Andrea Riseborough is in talks with Relativity Studios to join the reboot of The Crow as the film’s main villain, reported Deadline earlier today. If negotiations go well, Riseborough will play Top Dollar, the leader of an evil syndicate. In the original 1994 film adaptation of the comic book series, Michael Wincott played Top Dollar.

Corin Hardy is onboard to direct The Crow reboot, which will also star Jack Huston as Eric Draven.

“People once believed that when someone dies, a crow carries their soul to the land of the dead. But sometimes, something so bad happens that a terrible sadness is carried with it and the soul can’t rest. Then sometimes, just sometimes, the crow can bring that soul back to put the wrong things right.”

In the story, Top Dollar (to be played by Riseborough) is responsible for the killing of Eric Draven and his girlfriend. The crow revives Draven to seek vegeance upon the gang that murdered him and his girlfriend, leading to an ultimate showdown between Draven and Top Dollar.

Andrea Riseborough, 34, was born in Newcastle upon Tyne, Northumberland, England, on November 20, 1981, and has been acting since 2005. Ms. Riseborough performed in a number of theatrical releases, but it wasn’t until her 2008 starring role as Angelica Fanshawe in The Devil’s Whore, a television miniseries, that she really began to attract attention. Among Andrea’s most notable performances, Ms. Riseborough is well-known for her roles in Birdman: Or The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance (2014), Welcome to the Punch (2013), and Oblivion, also released in 2013. Most recently, Ms. Riseborough has just completed filming the horror film Hidden, where Andrea stars opposite Alexander Skarsgård and Emily Alyn Lind.

Before appearing in film, Ms. Riseborough trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts and was a member of National Youth Theatre. Ms. Riseborough was also the recipient of the 2006 Ian Charleson Award, which recognizes excellence in theater performers under 30. Andrea received the award for her portrayal of Miss Julie in Measure For Measure.

Riseborough will portray Top Dollar in the criminal’s first appearance as a female, though this won’t be the first change Top Dollar has gone through since the character’s initial appearance in The Crow comic books. Top Dollar was introduced as a low-level drug dealer and wasn’t promoted to mob boss until Alex Proyas’ 1994 film adaptation. The character again appeared in the 1998 TV series The Crow: Stairway to Heaven, played by John Pyper-Ferguson.

The Crow reboot, which stars Jessica Brown Findlay, alongside Jack Huston and Andrea Riseborough is scheduled for a 2016 release.

[Featured image: Andrea Riseborough courtesy of Stuart Wilson/Getty Images]