Sgt Rock continues to stumble on its way to the screen, as a further delay hits: it’s unclear now if Luca Guadagnino is still involved.
The planned adaptation of DC Studios’ World War II comic book hero Sgt Rock has run into some (more) major problems, it seems, although the exact fate of the production differs depending on the outlet reporting on it.
The film was in pre-production, with cameras set to roll this summer. Challengers director Luca Guadagnino was in the chair and while not confirmed, Colin Farrell was believed to have landed the title role of the grizzled WWII combat veteran.
However, those plans have now been shelved, with The Hollywood Reporter claiming that the film is ‘not moving forwards’.
While no official reason has been given, unnamed sources are suggesting that the UK-based production’s ‘scheduling needs of shooting outdoors’ could have been a contributing factor. As if we don’t complain about it enough here in the UK, now we can add the potential cancellation of a Sgt Rock movie to the list of things that the British weather has scuppered.
Anyway, another potential reason that stems (naturally) from an unnamed ‘insider’ is that studio heads began to have doubts about giving Guadagnino – who isn’t known as an action director – a $70m war movie to make.
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This seems like a bit of a stretch to us, given what a talent Guadagnino has proved himself to be over the years. The suggestion that he wouldn’t be able to shoot action sequences is frankly, a little galling. Look at how creative and kinetic the tennis sequences in Challengers are if you need further proof of that.
Anyway, the outlet does state that things will be reassessed for a summer 2026 shoot, but World Of Reel has added a brief addition to its reporting, suggesting that the film will move ahead then with or without Guadagnino. We know that the filmmaker has an incredibly busy slate, with an American Psycho remake being just one film on a list which also includes a Lord Of The Flies adaptation and several other projects. He’s currently in post-oroduction on After The Hunt, starring Julia Roberts.
We were really looking forward to this, not least because successfully pairing an artistically-inclined director with a comic book movie might have signalled an attempt to remove the staleness from such films. Hopefully, Guadagnino will still be attached to the project if and when it returns.
Reporting on the film’s suspension has at least offered a few more details. Challengers’ Mike Faist was set to co-star, with Alien: Romulus’ David Jonsson also linked. A French female resistance fighter would also play a key role, but there’s no word regarding who was in place to fill that role. Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross were lined up to write the score.
Hopefully, this project rotates back around next year with all of those elements fully intact. We’ll let you know more as we hear it.
