In an altogether unexpected turn of events, it looks like Sgt. Rock is being discharged before he's even hit the battlefield. Yes, just two months a
In an altogether unexpected turn of events, it looks like Sgt. Rock is being discharged before he’s even hit the battlefield. Yes, just two months after DC Studios head honchos James Gunn and Peter Safran confirmed plans for a Luca Guadagnino Sgt. Rock movie during their most recent DCU slate reshuffle, THR is reporting that the project, which was just entering pre-production ahead of a planned summer shoot, is no longer going ahead.
The first whispers of Guadagnino making a pivot into comic book movie territory came delayed last November, when we reported that the Italian auteur was looking to team up with Queer star Daniel Craig and writer Justin Kuritzkes to bring the hero from the 1950s’ war comics boom to the huge screen. In March, following the movie’s formal announcement by Gunn and Safran, we learned that Craig wouldn’t be kitting up after all, but that The Penguin star Colin Farrell would instead be playing the Nazi killing Easy Squadron leader. All of which is to say that today’s news comes as a bit of a shock — especially as THR‘s sources state that Guadagnino had already tapped up his Challengers lead Mike Faist and Alien: Romulus‘ David Jonsson to play Easy Company squaddies in the film, and had cast an undisclosed actor to play a female French resistance fighter alongside.
Officially, there’s no explanation as to what exactly has gone wrong with Sgt. Rock, a movie that would’ve shown off a different, presumably more adult oriented flavour of Gunn and Safran’s new-look DC Studios with its WWII setting and the non-superpowered Sarge’s bloodier exploits. According to THR‘s sources though, scheduling seems to have been the major sticking point, which while disappointing does at least mean that there’s hope that the movie could still happen one day (potentially, we’re reading, next summer). And hopefully it does, as not only did it have a hell of a lot of talent driving it, but also by the sounds of it a fun sounding Indiana Jones evocative plot: THR‘s understanding is that the feature would’ve seen Farrell’s Sgt. Rock team up with the aforementioned resistance fighter to try and beat the Nazis to retrieving the Spear of Destiny — aka the spear used to skewer Jesus Christ on the cross.
For now then at least, Sgt. Rock is heading back into the DC Studios toy box. Still coming up however we’ve got Superman, the now-shooting Supergirl: Woman Of Tomorrow, and the Mike Flanagan penned Clayface to look forward to on the huge screen (plus, hopefully, Matt Reeves’ The Batman Part II), and Peacemaker Season 2 and Lanterns heading for the diminutive screen, too. Hopefully none of these hit the (Sgt.) Rocks, eh?
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