Director James McTeigue’s (V for Vendetta) twist on Edgar Allen Poe, The Raven, is set to open next weekend, and we’ve been provided with a short featurette from the film to share with our readers.  Instead of having actors speak generally about the film in between clips of action, this featurette is a conversation between McTeigue and star John Cusack about what drew them to the project and what makes Poe such an intriguing person.  It’s actually a fascinating watch and worth checking out if you’re a fan of Poe or any of the people involved in the film.  For those unfamiliar, the story finds the author teaming up with a detective (Luke Evans) in order to catch a killer who is modeling his crimes after Poe’s stories.

Hit the jump to watch the featurette.  The film also stars Alice Eve, Oliver Jackson-Cohen, and Brendan Gleeson.  The Raven opens on April 27th.

Here’s the synopsis for The Raven:

In this gritty thriller, Edgar Allan 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,Ninja Assassin), 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.