LUKE EVANS

New Edgar Allan Poe movie to save Baltimore Poe museum

by Lauren Linhard, Baltimore Examiner
August 8, 2011

The curiously ever-present string of bad luck that haunted Edgar Allan Poe during his life has continued into his death. Baltimore City leaders have revealed they will not be subsidizing the local Edgar Allan Poe House for the second year in a row.

Located off the regular tourist track, the house where Poe began his writing career has floundered while trying to self-support. Having operated on reserved funds for over a year, the museum’s remaining account is expected to run out as early as next summer, forcing it to close.

But wait, there is a twist, dare I say hope, in this depressing story. The Raven, a film set to release in March of 2012, has the potential to fully revive the Poe following and the Baltimore museum.

Featuring John Cusack as Edgar Allan Poe, the movie focuses on a fictionalized account of the writer’s last living days. When a Baltimore detective, played by Luke Evans, realizes a serial killer is modeling murders after gruesome stories printed in the newspaper, he seeks out the struggling author known as Poe. Together they set out to capture the fiend, but when danger threatens someone in Poe’s personal life, the author calls on his own powers of deduction to solve the case.

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Though the film may be pure inspired fiction, there is no doubt the important place Poe holds in literary history. “He’s one of those figures who was so ahead of his time,” said Cusack during an interview at Comic-Con “He invented the detective genre…he invented gothic horror. He wrote things that were deep in his heart, his soul, his psyche, or the madness of his brain that no one had really put down.”

Poe fans are hoping the movie release will provide the needed funds to keep the Edgar Allan Poe House alive…so to speak. However, local efforts have already begun to keep the museum open. According to the New York Times, a Baltimore artist who goes by Gaia has created a limited-edition print of a raven, which is being sold at a local gallery. 25 of the 100 prints have been sold so far and all the proceeds are being donated. In addition, students from Baltimore’s Crossroads School have begun collection money for the Pennies for Poe campaign along with Rafael Alvarez, president of the Poe Society.

The trailer for The Raven premiered at Comic-Con in July, but has not yet been released to public audiences. Keep an eye out for the promising trailer and local efforts to revive the Baltimore Poe museum.


Source: @LukeEvans_News (Twitter), Article by Examiner.com