Challengers director Luca Guadagnino could be making comic book film Sgt Rock with Daniel Craig next.
Director Luca Guadagnino’s next project has been a matter of speculation for a while now, considering barely a month goes by wthout a new project being added to the filmmaker’s busy slate. This year hosts two films from the revered director: the already-released Challengers and Queer, the latter starring Daniel Craig and set for its UK debut next month. Then there’s After The Hunt, his starry drama which features Julia Roberts and Andrew Garfield. That one’s currently in post-production.
Beyond that, there has been speculation over what Guadagnino will make next. While his planned remake of American Psycho has been bubbling along, there’s his take on Pier Vittorio Tondelli’s Italian novel Separate Rooms and his take on William Golding’s book, Lord Of The Flies.
Rumours of Guadagnino making a comic book movie have been circling for a while, though, and according to Deadline, the filmmaker could next adapt Sgt. Rock. Assuming it happens, it’ll be made at DC Studios in collaboration with James Gunn and Peter Safran, the heads of Warner Bros’ DC division.
When asked what to expect from the DCU’s version of Batman, James Gunn essentially said that nothing would move forward on any project until the screenplay was up to standard. That’s certainly good to hear, given some of the weaker comic book films we’ve seen in recent years, but the report suggests that the Sgt. Rock script may have already cleared that bar. Guadagnino’s regular writer Justin Kuritzkes has reportedly delivered a screenplay that is said to be ‘in good shape.’
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As for the character himself, Sgt Rock is a WWII American soldier whose ‘talent includes shooting down German planes with a single submachine gun and tossing grenades with great accuracy. When he’s without a gun, he’s a great street fighter, and can survive gunshots. He’s a calm guy with heart, but also has a “Combat Antenna” able to detect an incoming enemy siege.’
DC had tried to develop a film based on the character before, most notably with John McTiernan directing and Arnold Schwarzenegger starring. This was in the late 1980s and just after the director and action star collaborated on Predator (screenwriter and actor Shane Black can even be seen reading a Sgt Rock comic book in Predator's end credits). McTiernan has spoken in the past about how the project ultimately fell apart when John Cleese passed on being the film’s second lead. Now there’s a double act we would have loved to have seen.
We’ll bring you more on Sgt Rock as we hear it.
