Luca Guadagnino’s Sgt. Rock movie for DC Studios was shelved mere weeks before shooting was to begin this summer. The reasons were unclear. It followed original star Daniel Craig dropping out, with Colin Farrell eyed to replace him. So there was some talk it could’ve had to do with scheduling, but it seems the problem is deeper and has to do with its creative direction.
James Gunn, who as the co-chief of DC Studios likely made the decision to nix Sgt. Rock, told EW that the reason was it didn’t live up to his standards creatively…
“I feel like we’re in a pretty good place. We’re still moving forward, but it’s not going to be…What would Peter want me to say here? … So it’s still moving forward, but, yeah, right now it wasn’t exactly where I wanted it to be creatively, and so it needs to change a little bit.”
Gunn is referring to Peter Safran, the other co-chair with DC Studios.
Contrary to my assumption made in April, the problem with Sgt. Rock appears to be Justin Kuritzkes’ screenplay. Kuritzkes worked with Guadagnino on Challengers and Queer, and my guess is that he’s going to stick around to try and get it right. Guadagnino likes to stick with the people he trusts and has brought back cinematographer Sayombhu Mukdeeprom, composers Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, and costume designer Jonathan Anderson. So this project isn’t dead, but it could be a long while before we see it.
