Speaking of Brandon, some time watch Brandon speaking about The Crow. I watched that on a special edition of the DVD and I had to watch it twice. It was as if he knew something really bad was about to happen and he was rationalizing and coping with it. I can't watch any of the crow movies that came out after his death. I don't know if that monologue is on the internet anywhere.
Even without incident, many movies with heavy special effects can take up to a year to finish the final draft. I kinda suspect it's by design. Get the studio hooked and ask for more money to increase the production values to match the acting.