A lengthy article at Screen Daily talks about Producer Mark D Evans and how he took The Raven to Hungary and Serbia to create James McTeigue’s dark vision of 19th century Baltimore — at a considerable saving. Within the article, Evans reveals more plot details from the thriller starring John Cusack, Ewan McGregor, Luke Evans and Alice Eve.

“Historically what happened was Poe had disappeared, then turned up on a park bench in someone else’s clothes, fell into a coma and died,” said Evans. “We’re playing with the historical happenstance of what could have happened in those missing days.”

The Raven begins with Poe (played by Cusack) arriving in Baltimore as a serial killer is terrorizing the city, using the writer’s stories as the inspiration for his crimes. Poe is a suspect at first, but he eventually joins forces with a police inspector to solve the crimes and save the woman he loves.

“It’s hard to replicate 1849 Baltimore in Baltimore,” he continued. “It became apparent that we’d have to create our own vision of the city. James [McTeigue, director] was trying to show Baltimore through Poe’s eyes, which is a darker, macabre vision of the city. That gave us some creative latitude to look domestically and internationally for a location that would allow us to get as much money on the screen as possible.”

The Raven is currently in post in Los Angeles and London. Relativity Media will release the film.