Last week, the news broke that DC Studios was moving forward with a new John Constantine movie from Evil Dead Wrath filmmaker Francis Galluppi. That shocked fans, as the expectation had been that Francis Lawrence and Keanu Reeves were being given the chance to reteam for Constantine 2.
The sequel to their 2005 team-up was announced shortly before DC Studios formed, and in multiple interviews and social media posts, James Gunn appeared open to producing what would have presumably been an Elseworlds tale.
However, as the years passed, it seemed that either Lawrence and Reeves weren't as serious as they'd suggested or Gunn and Peter Safran didn't want to make a movie they inherited from the previous regime. Last week's news suggested it must be the latter.
On Monday, Gunn and Safran were fired from their position as DC Studios co-CEOs. Now, in an interview with Collider to promote The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping, Lawrence has confirmed that they were the issue with getting Constantine 2 made:
"Well, I’ll tell you this. Not that I want anybody to lose their jobs, so this is not like a schadenfreude kind of thing, but I will say that we’ve been trying to make Constantine 2 for 20-something years, and we have an idea, and we have a script, and we’ve been wanting to make it, and the people that were at DC were an impediment to us making it."
"So, we are now more hopeful as of yesterday’s news that maybe now there will be another opportunity. But again, we’ve been trying to make this for 20-something years, and there’s always been obstacles in the road to making it, and it’s not me, it’s not Keanu, it’s not Akiva. J.J. [Abrams] is on it, as well. We all want to do it. So, it’s really going to be people at Paramount, Warner, whoever’s running DC now, getting everybody on board to say, like, 'Hey, we can do a sequel of our version of Constantine.'"
It says a lot that a filmmaker as experienced as Lawrence has come out and openly admitted that Gunn and Safran were blocking his and Reeves' attempts to make their sequel.
However, there have been rumblings that Gunn, in particular, struggled to work with other directors, something that became evident from his apparent clashes with Supergirl helmer Craig Gillespie. Interestingly, that was the only DCU project Gunn didn't mention in his farewell.
Someone who is a little less happy about Gunn and Safran's departures is Rick Flag Sr. actor Frank Grillo. In a video posted to social media, the actor made it clear that, despite any online complaints from fans or "jerkoffs" on Instagram, he has a lot of love for his old bosses.
Gunn made a point of putting Grillo front and centre in Creature Commandos and Peacemaker, while his Superman cameo is expected to be followed by a much bigger role in Man of Tomorrow. Outside of the DCU, Grillo mostly stars in direct-to-Digital fare, so if his time as Flag Sr. is up, it's a major blow to his career, though likely a relief to fans who dislike the character.
"I feel like now that the dust has settled a bit, and every jerkoff with an Instagram handle has an opinion, I just wanted to publicly thank two of the finest men that I've met in this business, Peter Safran and James Gunn. Two of the most loyal guys. Two of the most passionate, loving and creative human beings that I've had the pleasure and the honour of getting to work with. Just an amazing experience with both of them, with everything from Creature Commandos to Peacemaker to Superman and now Man of Tomorrow."
"It's just been extraordinary. It's been a gift. These two gentlemen are an example of what class and what men are really capable of in Hollywood. Whether you like their movies or not is irrelevant to me, but on a personal level, there just aren't two better human beings that I've come across. I consider both of them dear, dear friends. Anyway, I want to thank you boys, and I look forward to what we're going to do next."
Stay tuned for updates on the DCU as we have them.