Last May, we learned that DC Studios had chosen to shelve Sgt. Rock. The plan was to start shooting this year, but filmmaker Luca Guadagnino didn't stick around and quickly moved on to a different project, Artificial, starring Andrew Garfield.
His inexperience helming big-budget movies was listed as a possible reason for Sgt. Rock's postponement, as were concerns about the UK's unpredictable weather. There were telltale signs of problems from the start, with Daniel Craig eyed to lead the movie before DC Studios suddenly pivoted to Colin Farrell.
Some believe Farrell was the cheaper option (James Gunn and Peter Safran rarely spend money on actors), despite Guadagnino's eagerness to reunite with Craig, whom he previously worked with on Queer.
We've since learned that "creative issues" came into play, and now Sgt. Rock screenwriter Justin Kuritzkes—who collaborated with Guadagnino on Challengers—has broken his silence on the movie's fate.
In an interview with GQ, the Spider-Man: Brand New Day scribe dismissed the notion that Sgt. Rock was postponed due to weather concerns when he said, "We were more or less in prep." Asked why the movie was scrapped, he replied, "You can ask DC Studios."
"I was so, so excited for that movie," Kuritzkes continued. "None of the people who were planning on doing it were people who were particularly interested in making big superhero movies. 'Sgt. Rock' was very much a superhero movie that was about everyday heroes, humans, normal people, where the superheroes were really not the focus at all. So it was a pretty experimental thing."
In the same profile, actor Mike Faist confirmed that he was set to star in Sgt. Rock, noting, "Luca and I remain talking about things from time to time, for sure."
As you may recall, Gunn said that even after a third draft, Sgt. Rock "just wasn't changing" and "wasn't getting better." He added, "It was staying in the same place. And I said, 'We can’t make this film. We can’t. It’s not good. We know it’s not good.' Just because we have a good director attached and a good screenwriter, it doesn’t mean the script is working."
"Everyone is going to be upset at the end of this. It’s going to come out, the movie’s not going to be good," Gunn continued. "The director’s going to look bad, the screenwriter’s going to look bad, and we’re going to look bad. So I don’t want to have this. We’re not going to make the movie. And so we killed it."
Sgt. Rock was supposed to be released alongside Supergirl and Clayface this year. There's been nothing to suggest that DC Studios intends to move forward with a new version of the movie.