From Relativity Media comes the first look at John Cusack as Edgar Allan Poe in director James McTeigue’s The Raven, about the last days in the tempestuous life of the tortured writer. Relativity has also released an official synopsis:

“In this gritty thriller, Edgar Allen Poe (John Cusack, Being John Malkovich) joins forces with a young Baltimore detective (Luke Evans, Immortals) to hunt down a mad serial killer who’s using Poe’s own works as the basis in a string of brutal murders. Directed by James McTeigue (V for Vendetta), the film also stars Alice Eve (Sex and the City 2), Brendan Gleeson (In Bruges) and Oliver Jackson-Cohen (Faster).

When a mother and daughter are found brutally murdered in 19th century Baltimore, Detective Emmett Fields (Luke Evans) makes a startling discovery: the crime resembles a fictional murder described in gory detail in the local newspaper—part of a collection of stories penned by struggling writer and social pariah Edgar Allan Poe. But even as Poe is questioned by police, another grisly murder occurs, also inspired by a popular Poe story.

Realizing a serial killer is on the loose using Poe’s writings as the backdrop for his bloody rampage, Fields enlists the author’s help in stopping the attacks. But when it appears someone close to Poe may become the murderer’s next victim, the stakes become even higher and the inventor of the detective story calls on his own powers of deduction to try to solve the case before it’s too late.”

Director McTeigue has described the film as Poe’s poem ‘The Raven’ “crossed with Se7en“. I’ve been a John Cusack fan since Better Off Dead so this one’s definitely on my radar. He certainly looks the part.

The Raven (which is only a working title, by the way, so it may change) will screen at San Diego’s Comic Con next month and opens in theaters in the US on 9 March 2012.

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